I am pleased to share the SLB 2021 Annual Report. For the 10th consecutive year, the SLB and its program partners delivered year-over-year growth in demand and impact for the softwood lumber industry.
The SLB 2021 Annual Report: Advancing a Natural Climate Solution
I am pleased to share the Softwood Lumber Board 2021 Annual Report. For the 10th consecutive year, the SLB and its program partners—the American Wood Council (AWC), Think Wood, and WoodWorks—delivered year-over-year growth in demand and impact for the softwood lumber industry, generating more than 1.8 billion board feet (bbf) of incremental demand. Since 2012, the SLB and its partners have cumulatively generated more than 9.8 bbf in demand; this equates to an estimated $4.9 billion of incremental revenue and an average return of $39.82 for every $1 invested. And since 2014, the SLB’s efforts have created a net carbon benefit of more than 25 million metric tons of avoided carbon dioxide emissions.
This success would not be possible without the contributions of our talented SLB team who have raised the professionalism and sophistication of our organization and its initiatives. We are very fortunate to benefit from their diverse perspectives, passion, and commitment to our goal of transforming the built environment into a carbon sink by switching from carbon intensive products to wood.
We continued to target our investments across our key program areas of codes, communications, conversions, education, and innovations and research. Key accomplishments include:
The AWC facilitated three major wins for wood in the 2024 IBC, including a provision to allow for fully exposed mass timber ceilings in buildings up to 12 stories tall. This change will accelerate the use of mass timber building systems in the 7-12 story segment which represents an incremental opportunity of 1 bbf per year.
Think Wood grew its lead generation and nurturing efforts, increasing its marketing engagements by more than 129%, adding more than 27,000 new contacts, and increasing its sales qualified leads by more than 600% year-over-year.
WoodWorks influenced 1,700 projects to build with wood, 79% of which were light-frame projects. Collectively these projects represent 789 million board feet of incremental softwood lumber consumption.
The SLB operationalized new partnerships to expand installer and construction-management training and increase university-level wood education so that capacity is in place to design and build with wood.
The SLB strengthened its relationship with the USDA by entering into a new Memorandum of Understanding focused on collaborative initiatives to grow the demand for softwood lumber products.
In partnership with the USDA, the SLB contributed match funding to five Wood Innovations Grants—leveraging our investment by nearly 3-to-1—to support research and implementation of mass timber solutions that will pave the way for more similar projects.
In 2021, we also marked the SLB’s 10th anniversary. I want to extend again my sincere thanks to all who have served on our Board and provided guidance and leadership as Chairs, Committee members, and mentors to those of us tasked with executing on the industry’s vision of what the SLB could achieve. Your efforts directly correlate to the SLB’s success in delivering on its mandate to protect and grow markets for softwood lumber to the degree that we could not have envisioned when this all began.
While we have accomplished much, there is more to come. Our programs, initiatives, and focus areas will continue to evolve to address the opportunities and challenges that are most impactful for the industry and offer the best return on our investment of time, talent, and treasury. We are assessing the role the SLB can and should play in terms of broader sustainability goals, leveraging our products’ value proposition by bringing solutions to the affordable housing crisis, and taking a leadership role in welcoming diverse views to our organization and supporting under-served communities in the markets we target. In doing so, we aim to achieve a quadruple bottom line of increased wood demand and consumption; sustainable forest production that serves as an engine of economic development and jobs in rural communities; reduced carbon emissions; and a high-performing, sustainable, and beautiful built environment.
On behalf of the SLB Board and our partners nationwide, I thank you for your continued commitment and engagement with the SLB, and I look forward to working with you as we continue to advance our common goals.
The Softwood Lumber Board (SLB) is an industry-funded initiative established to promote the benefits and uses of softwood lumber products in outdoor, residential, and non-residential construction. Programs and initiatives supported by the SLB will focus on increasing the demand for appearance and softwood lumber products in the United States.
SOFTWOOD LUMBER BOARD DISCLAIMER This newsletter contains links to third-party sites that are not maintained by the Softwood Lumber Board.
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