The Softwood Lumber Board and U.S. Endowment Launch Initiatives for Increased Carbon and Sustainability Transparency in Wood Products

SLB Leads Industry Efforts to Support Decarbonizing the Built Environment by Providing Carbon Data for Building and Product Analysis

The Softwood Lumber Board (SLB) announces funding for carbon transparency projects in partnership with the United States Endowment for Forestry and Communities (the Endowment). The funds will support coordinated research exploring the creation of resources and tools to enhance expertise and data across the wood product value chain. Three priority projects will address questions from the architecture, engineering, and construction (AEC) sector regarding wood’s carbon accounting to show how wood products and forests mitigate carbon emissions and the impacts of climate change.

“The SLB is funding these initiatives as a key step in addressing the built environment’s impact on climate change,” explained Cees de Jager, SLB President and CEO. “Wood products, and the forests they come from, are natural climate solutions which can sustainably support the built spaces we need for generations to come.”

“Forests and wood products are an attractive option for carbon reduction commitments,” said Pete Madden, Endowment President and CEO. “To make informed decisions, stakeholders are asking for more up-to-date information on forest carbon and wood products. Our joint efforts build on earlier investments aimed at improving data transparency.”

Earlier this year, a team of subject matter experts, including the American Wood Council, the National Alliance of Forest Owners, and several forestry and wood products stakeholders, gathered to evaluate how existing and new research and tool development can meet stakeholder needs to better understand the carbon and environmental impact of growing and using wood products across the full value chain.

The AEC community is interested in sustainability metrics associated with wood products used to design and build today’s low- and zero-carbon buildings. Beginning this month, the SLB and the Endowment are exploring opportunities to provide information about woodshed carbon balance and create a consistent framework with forestry information at regional levels.

The partnership will also investigate methods of communicating sustainability and fiber sourcing data clearly and concisely for customers and other interested audiences. Because of the multitude of uses for wood products and the potential environmental impacts related to delivering the product to the customer, wood environmental product declarations (EPDs) do not currently include transportation from a mill to a building site (the A4 lifecycle stage). Planned research will review reporting methodologies with the goal of providing a clearer and more complete picture of the carbon impacts of wood transportation.

For more information about the work underway to address wood’s role as a climate solution, please contact the SLB at info@softwoodlumberboard.org.