Credible Environmental, Social, and Governance Reporting Can Boost Wood Products Demand in Our Increasingly Climate-Conscious World

The SLB recently published its 2021 Q3 Report, which recaps the SLB’s progress in furthering wood’s positioning as an economic, biophilic, and low carbon material, based on credible environmental, social, and governance (ESG) data and reporting. The SLB, in partnership with its funded programs—the American Wood Council (AWC), Think Wood, and WoodWorks—are making a concerted effort to close knowledge gaps about the use of wood products for their climate benefits, increase timber usage, and capitalize on emerging construction trends.

Highlights from Q3 include:

• The AWC facilitated several industry wins during ICC Group A public comment hearings in September, including an AWC proposal to eliminate an overly restrictive code interpretation that adds cost and complexity to large, multifamily, wood-frame construction, and a proposal to permit fully exposed mass timber ceilings in wood buildings up to 12 stories.
• Think Wood launched a new publication—the Mass Timber Digest—a 30-page journal on mass timber research, design, and innovations. It has been downloaded over 3,600 times.
• WoodWorks directly influenced and converted 112 projects and indirectly influenced 310 projects, driving an incremental 193 million board feet of demand.
• Nearly 1,300 users have joined the Wood Institute YTD, with users completing nearly 2,300 courses, for a total of 3,250 learning hours.

ESG is a popular topic among industries and refers to how businesses measure and report their environmental and social performance. In Q3, the SLB commissioned Summit Strategy Group to assess the ESG performance of the U.S. softwood lumber industry. The analysis indicates that the softwood lumber industry is well positioned to turn ESG into an advantage by harnessing it as a tool to communicate both the sector’s performance and the unique value proposition of lumber products. The SLB and its funded programs can use the findings as an important roadmap to continue positioning the industry as a driver of progress in decarbonizing the industry.

In addition to program successes, the SLB was proud to announce the Mass Timber Competition: Building to Net-Zero Carbon. The SLB and USDA Forest Service partnered to launch the competition to showcase mass timber’s innovative applications in architectural design and highlight its significant role in reducing the carbon footprint of the built environment. The competition, managed by WoodWorks, will award $2 million in total grant funds to winning project teams, enabling them to design and build repeatable, scalable mass timber buildings in the U.S. using sustainable wood products. Submissions are due in March of 2022 with winners announced that summer. The new Mass Timber Competition is the first joint initiative launched by the SLB and USDA since the renewed MOU in September.

We wish you a happy and healthy holiday season and look forward to continuing to build on our success in 2022. Thank you for your continued support of our programs and initiatives. The SLB always welcomes industry feedback, which can be sent to info@softwoodlumberboard.org.