Wood and climate
"Climate protection and adaption to climatic change is the most important challenge in context of environmental-, social- and economical-political decisions in these days."
Gert Lindemann, state secretary of the federal ministry of food agriculture and consumer protection (BMELV)
During growth of trees, carbon is withdrawn from the atmosphere in form of CO2 and is bounded in the wood. Therefore, CO2 as a greenhouse gas is bounded for many years during the useful life of the manifold wood products. Positive effects for the climate arise, if energy-intensive products and fosile fuels are replaced by the use of wood products (Effect of substitution). Furthermore, emissions of CO2 are slowed by the use of wood from sustainable forestry (Storage effect). In the fields of activities dealing with wood and environment, techniques and calculation methods are developed to quantify the impact of wood processing and usage on the environment and the carbon storage of wood products. In this context, established methods, e.g. life cycle analysis, are used. In the near future users and consumers shall be informed about the environmental impact of products referenced in environmental product declarations (EDP). The Institute supports this process by elaboration and provision of a sound data base for the wood sector.
Emissions from wood and wood based composites
As a consequence of wood being a natural product, wood based products emit volatile organic substances (VOCs). In view of consumer protection the emission of VOCs shall be limited especially for building products to minimize health hazard in living and working environments. The Institutes' work conduce to the identification of the volatile organic substances and the development of techniques to minimize the emissions from building products. Effective testing and analysis methods are available for this.