This year Wood at Work hosted a practitioner round table in-person event at the International Union of Architects in Copenhagen (UIA 2023). This series of intimate, timely and vital conversations dove deeply into the latest practices and science on sustainable wood sourcing: conservation timber, approaches to net carbon accounting, mass timber considerations, timber sourcing standardization, and more. Conversations were hosted in our Partner Forest zone inside the FSC Lounge.

Roundtable Agenda 

• • • CITIES - Exploring how urban centers can empower sustainable wood. July 3rd @ 11am-12:30pm

      Urban centers have the potential to drive global demand for sustainable wood and forest management.

      The goal of this session was to identify areas of opportunity to drive demand for sustainable wood in cities worldwide. Wood markets, both local and global, can play a strategic role in forest conservation with potentially massive climate and biodiversity benefits. But wood can also be part of the climate problem if it is produced or used wastefully, if it causes forest degradation or, as in some cases, permanent deforestation of priceless carbon-rich forests. Given this complexity, sourcing and specifying “sustainable wood” is the key to capitalizing on the climate and environmental benefits of wood.

      Panelists include:

      • Northon Flores Troche (Municipality of Amsterdam)

      • Staffan Schartner (Omniplan)

      • Tamara Streefland (Built by Nature)

      • Mikkel Jensen (Keflico)
      • Paul Fuge (Naturally Durable)

• CARBON - Addressing carbon, wood, and reaching net zero. July 4th @ 10am-12pm
  

  
  This session will delve into the tools, approaches and innovations at the cutting edge of carbon accounting and life-cycle analysis.
  

  The goal of this session was to co-create a more robust understanding of the carbon profile of wood before it is incorporated into a building. In shifting our focus from the "displacement carbon value" of wood to how wood "shows-up" to the building site – is it net zero, carbon negative, or carbon positive, and on what basis can we make these claims? And perhaps most critically, what are the systemic changes that will define the carbon profile of wood in the coming decade?

  Panelists include:

  • Sietze van Dijk (Probos Foundation)

  • Matti Kuittenen (Aalto University, Professor of Sustainable Construction)

  • Stephane Glannaz (Precious Woods, CEO)

  • Hattie Hartman (Architects’ Journal, Sustainability Editor)
  • Paul Fuge (Naturally Durable)

• DESIGN/ARCHITECTURE - Interrogating the role of design and designers in sustainable systems change. July 5th @ 1-3pm
  

  
  How architects, engineers and project developers can become more active and effective in forest-timber value chains.

  The goal of this session was to engage the architecture and design communities, allied professionals, and managers and stewards of forests across the world in identifying the unique roles they play in bringing forth a future of thriving forests and sustainable building materials. By empowering the architecture and design industry to scale-up demand for sustainable wood products from well-managed forests we can drive investment in improved forest management and reforestation. This demand has the potential to result in net climate benefits derived from carbon sequestration, storage, and substitution, creating new and expanded channels for wood to enter the marketplace, enhancing forest management and rural employment and innovation.
  

  Panelists include:

  • Thais Linhares-Juvenal (UN FAO, Team Leader Forest Economics)

  • Paul Fuge (Naturally Durable)

  • Pernille Modvig (EIT Climate-KIC)
  • Juliette Morgan (Gensler)
  • Mokena Makeka (South African Institute of Architects)

Copenhagen Partner Forest Launch - UIA Side Event

In-person attendees are also invited to join us for our side event, the Copenhagen Partner Forest Launch which is set to take place in the Copenhagen harbor,Teglværkshavnen, on July 4th at 18.30.

Join us for refreshments and networking on the water while exploring an urban floating pavilion constructed with “conservation timber” from a community managed forest in Mozambique. Guests will experience a unique infrastructure and perspective in the City of Copenhagen, and discussions about how conservation timber can uplift forest communities, support city sustainability goals, protect tropical rainforests from degradation, store carbon in the built environment, and support global biodiversity. The Launch will be jointly hosted by project partners:Cities4Forests, CPH Raft, Pilot Projects,Forest Stewardship Council (FSC), theMunicipality of Copenhagen, and LevasForest.