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Replacing concrete and steel with solid wood results in a 12 to 25% reduction in building emissions
Published on October 30, 2023 • Last updated 5 days ago • 3 minutes reading time
This Toronto construction site on Yonge Street uses solid wood columns, beams and floor panels. Photo by Timber Systems Limited
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According to a new report from the Royal Bank of Canada, mass timber has enormous potential when it comes to reducing the carbon footprint of buildings, and Canada is well positioned to become a global leader in this area.
The report, released Oct. 27 by the RBC Climate Action Institute, part of the bank’s thought leadership division, finds that while mass timber has a much lower emissions profile than concrete or steel, it still accounts for just one percent of North America’s greenhouse gas emissions from the construction sector.
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“Emissions from concrete and steel (profiles) are six and five times higher than those from wood, respectively,” the report says, pointing out that concrete, steel and aluminum in buildings alone will account for six percent of total greenhouse gas emissions in 2022 of Canada.
If developers replaced concrete and steel with solid wood, building emissions would fall by 12 to 25 percent, the report says.
The construction sector is Canada’s third most carbon-intensive industry. In 2022, it contributed 13 percent of total emissions, or 92 million tons of CO2e. Canada has set a goal of reducing this to 53 million tonnes by 2030 to achieve net-zero emissions by 2050.
The use of mass timber in new residential and commercial buildings – including apartments, condos and office towers – has the potential to help significantly.
To date, Canada has successfully completed 661 mass timber projects, with British Columbia and Quebec leading the way with 257 and 184 projects, respectively. Ontario follows in third place with 90 timber projects.
British Columbia is a leader in mass timber construction due to policies such as the Wood First Act of 2009, which mandates the use of wood in publicly funded buildings. It has also approved the construction of six-story wood-frame residential buildings and adopted the 2020 National Building Code for 12-story solid wood buildings. The province’s approach is consistent with European countries such as Austria, Germany, Sweden and Finland, which have lifted wood-related building regulations and offered support to builders and developers.
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Aside from the emissions reduction benefits, increased use of mass timber could also boost the market for needed wood products by at least $1 billion by 2030.
However, some important issues need to be addressed.
“Insurance underwriting has proven to be the most difficult challenge for both building and residential property insurance,” the report said. “Currently, each building requires a tailored policy, which significantly increases the final cost of a project and is ultimately passed on to the end buyer.”
Patrick Chouinard, the founder of Element5, a timber development company, pointed out that BC’s early adoption resulted in a production base primarily in western Canada, despite increasing demand in the rest of the country and the northeastern United States.
Figures from Bird Construction show that 62 per cent of capacity and 22 per cent of demand is in Western Canada, while Eastern Canada accounts for a significant 78 per cent of demand.
Manufacturers also face hurdles in scaling their operations due to the high cost of purchasing specialized solid wood machinery and technology, manufactured primarily by a few European manufacturers.
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“High costs of production equipment are also preventing new players from entering the solid wood business,” the report said. “The capital required to set up a production facility with a capacity of 50,000 m2 is estimated at $200 million, with the majority of the cost being machinery.”
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To address these challenges, RBC’s Climate Action Institute proposes standardizing insurance underwriting to reduce costs and continuing investment grants to support expansion of production capacity.
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