The average log house built by the Finnish Log House Industry Association (Hirsitaloteollisuus) member companies store over 30,000 kg of CO2 and locks it into durable storage, out of the atmosphere for decades. Our wooden building elements are sustainably harvested according to Forest Stewardship Council/PEFS principles and remove 0,4869 tonnes of CO2 eq. per m3 of product.
How it works
Growing trees captures CO2 - a tonne of wood binds 1,8 tonnes of CO2 while growing. But the CO2 may go back to the atmosphere if the trees are cut, decompose or are used for paper or energy. In the case of wooden building elements, the place in the value chain where it makes no economic sense to let the CO2 escape back into the atmosphere is the facility where the logs are cut to measure for a specific building. After this point it would be unwise to use the resulting elements for anything else than creating a long term carbon storage.
In Europe, buildings are regulated to have a minimum lifetime of 50 years, and in real life the CO2 storage is likely to be longer. By storing CO2 for a minimum of 50 years, wooden building elements present an opportunity for companies to invest in carbon capture and storage, and take proactive steps towards carbon net zero.
The wood used by the Finnish Log House Industry Association is sustainably harvested according to Forest Stewardship Council/PEFS principles, and thus ensure sustainable harvesting and reforestation with minimal harm to biodiversity. This makes the wooden building elements a full negative emissions technology, as the system boundary is extended to the sustainable biomass production.
After the production has been verified for carbon negativity, the extra carbon stored in the wooden building elements is issued CO2 Removal Certificates, CORCs, per each ton of CO2 removed from the atmosphere. Puro.earth methodology contains a buffer that covers premature reversal of carbon removal.
Annual construction:
Puro.earth CORCs only quantify the net-removal and storage of emissions, not reduced or avoided emissions, increased biodiversity or other positive benefits. Here are co-benefits self-reported by the removal supplier.
The extra income received by carbon removal suppliers helps them lift barriers to much-needed adoption in the construction industry. It is also used for member companies’ development initiatives, such as improving the recyclability of log houses and develop tighter collaboration with universities.
Climate impact
1 tonne of log removes 0,4869 tonnes of CO2 eq. from the atmosphere into long-term storage in the product. Life-Cycle Assessment made by Rakennustieto followed the methodology described in ISO 14044 and ISO 14064 standards where applicable.
The Finnish Log House Industry Association 's log production carbon removal project was reviewed by Carbon Plan, a non-profit research organization that analyzes carbon removal opportunities based on the best available science and data. Their report and comments are publicly available for carbon removal mechanism, volume, negativity, permanence, cost, additionality and specificity, here https://carbonplan.org/reports (search for Finnish Log House Industry Association)