A wood product is a climate act
Wood has the unique ability to absorb carbon dioxide from the atmosphere and store it. To grow, one kilogram of wood needs approximately 1.55 kilograms of carbon dioxide, and the carbon from this is stored in the wood. The rule of the thumb is that one cubic metre of wood stores a tonne of carbon dioxide.
“Being renewable and recyclable, wood is the best construction material from the climate perspective, because it stores carbon within it,” says Mikko Saavalainen, Senior Vice President, Business Development at Metsä Wood.
Wood’s ability to store carbon will therefore not disappear when a tree is felled. Processed wood will function as a carbon storage for as long as the product made from the wood exists. “A building constructed of wood will function as a carbon storage throughout its life-cycle,” adds Saavalainen.
An average Finnish single-family house built from wood stores roughly 30 tonnes of atmospheric carbon dioxide within its wooden structures. This is equal to the carbon dioxide emissions generated by the average miles driven by one consumer over a period of 10 years.