- Wood is a 100% renewable building product, the only major building material that stores carbon for its useful lifetime
- Wood can contribute to better air quality by minimizing the accumulation of dust and microbes
- West Fraser’s products are independently audited for quality assurance and environmental compliance
Approach
Buildings and the energy services required to maintain them are estimated to be responsible for as much as 20% - 30% of global GHG emissions. To reach the goals set out in the Paris Agreement, buildings and design practices globally must shift towards carbon-neutral or carbon-negative construction. The wood products West Fraser sustainably manufactures can play a role in helping the world meet climate objectives through improved building construction.
Wood is a 100% renewable building product
As a building material, wood is renewable, strong and versatile; and a lower carbon footprint choice. It is the only major building material that stores carbon for its useful lifetime, being 50% carbon by weight.
The wood products West Fraser manufactured in 2020 stored 8.8 million tonnes CO2e.
When considered over a building’s lifetime – from harvest of raw materials through manufacturing, transportation, installation, use, maintenance and disposal or recycling – wood performs better than concrete and steel in terms of embodied energy, air and water pollution, carbon footprint and global warming potential. Further, it is a natural insulator and can contribute to better air quality by minimizing the accumulation of dust and microbes.
West Fraser is committed to producing and delivering quality wood products and, as such, takes steps to ensure requirements are consistently met. West Fraser maintains many additional product quality standards and certifications specific to each of the products we produce.
You can find additional detail about product-specific quality, certification and standards information for every product we make in the Products section or in the life cycle assessment (LCA) and Environmental Product Declarations (EPDs) links below.