Critical Appraisal of Building Materials

The significant role for sustainable wood was discussed within both the New European Bauhaus and the wider strategy to tackle climate change at a high-level meeting held 9 June 2022 in the Vatican. Hosted by the Pontifical Academy of Science and Bauhaus Earth, the event also featured the Wood4Bauhaus Alliance.

The building sector needs a revolution: it must drive down its excessive material use and harmful carbon emissions escalating climate change. Wood and other nature-based materials sequester and store carbon in multiple long-life products, which can foster reuse, remanufacture and recycling for decades. They represent a tremendous lever for the EU Green Deal and therefore need to be upscaled fast in the construction and renovation markets. Innovation and recovery of traditional woodworking knowledge will lead this revolution. A main driver will be demonstration projects to showcase the various solutions already existing in the market and to bring innovations to market readiness. 

The presentation points out the role of building materials and their benefits they bring to sustainable construction and the sustainable development of society. The New European Bauhaus has rightly focused on nature-based materials such as wood, leading the way to a real paradigm shift in construction, precisely because in wood we can have hope.