New Publication: Providing structural timber while safeguarding forest integrity

Contradictory proposals exist on the contribution of wood to climate-change mitigation, ranging from increased wood use to forest conservation.
In this paper, we introduce an option space approach to sustainable wood use, representing options of wood provision that meet material services while safeguarding ecosystem services.
Through model coupling, we quantify the global option space for wood use in the building sector in 2020-2050 from current forest areas. Feasible options diverge regarding regional self-sufficiency, wood availability beyond construction, and climate impacts.
However, substantially increasing the share of wood in construction within ecological limits is only possible in a low demand scenario.

Read the full paper here.