July 2011

Sustainable forestry practices that provide timber for the building trades can help mitigate the emissions of carbon dioxide (CO2), a new study found.

One reason is younger trees absorb more CO2 from the atmosphere than mature trees. Another is that cutting trees after their CO2 absorption rates taper provides building materials that can be used instead of steel and concrete, which are created in processes that emit large quantities of CO2.

“Many people believe that wood energy is a main driver for deforestation, though deforestation and forest degradation at a global level is rather a consequence of conversion of the forests for agricultural purposes such as large scale productions for pasture, oil palms, soy beans, or for subsistence production,” Florian Steierer, forestry officer of wood energy at the Food and Agricultural Organization of the United Nations.