The European Parliament adopted on 15 January its position on the European Green Deal, unveiled by Commission President von der Leyen in a plenary debate in December. (The resolution was adopted with 482 votes for, 136 against and 95 abstentions).
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The European Organisation of the Sawmill Industry (EOS) is extremely pleased to see that its call for including forest-based products and bioeconomy in the framework of the Green Deal is now an integrated part of the European Parliament Green Deal Resolution. The European Parliament also requested Member States to “encourage the promotion of timber construction”.
The Resolution at point 27 states that the European Parliament “encourages the promotion of timber construction and ecological building materials”. Furthermore, at point 42, the European Parliament “believes that sustainably-sourced renewable materials will play an important role in the transition to a climate-neutral economy, and highlights the need to stimulate investments in the development of a sustainable bioeconomy where fossil-intensive materials are replaced with renewable and bio-based materials in, for example, buildings, textiles, chemical products, packaging, shipbuilding and, where sustainability can be assured, energy production… calls for the efficient implementation of the EU Bioeconomy Strategy as part of the European Green Deal”.
Considering that more than 90% of the wood utilised by European sawmills is sourced from sustainably-managed European forests, sawn wood products are leading the way in the forest bioeconomy, helping to reduce greenhouse gas emissions and transition Europe to a sustainable carbon neutral economy. Increasing the use of sawn wood materials in construction and in products such as furniture, cabinets, flooring, doors and window frames certainly is a significant opportunity to reduce emissions. With growing pressure to reduce the carbon footprint in buildings, designers are increasingly being called upon to balance functionality and cost objectives with reduced environmental impact. In the production phase, wooden houses consume less energy and have lower carbon dioxide emissions than houses built with other materials.
