How policies support wood-based sector

Wood stores carbon. It is about 250 kg of carbon or 920 kg of CO2 equivalent stored in 1m3 of wood. Therefore, support for creating conditions for use of wood in long life cycle products like building construction supports climatic goals towards carbon neutrality. Wood-based buildings are seen in policies as an option for energy savings through material substitution and reduction of CO2 emissions. Wood buildings are finished faster and their construction is 4-5 times less energy demanding compared to brick or concrete buildings. In addition to that, wood is a local and sustainably produced raw material and there is also a high potential in woody material recovery. The construction industry is very important to the EU economy where the sector provides 18 million direct jobs and contributes to about 9% of the EU's GDP, thus, support of building from wood has strong potential to support growth of circular bioeconomy.