Builders Merchants Journal – BMJ Publishing to Builders Merchants and the UK merchanting industry for more than 95 years
Timber Development UK (TDUK) – the UK trade association for the timber supply chain – has released average carbon data for the 10 major timber product categories – completely free for all to access.
TDUK’s new independently verified Embodied Carbon Data for Timber Products calculates weighted average A1-A4 embodied carbon data for common timber products such as softwood, engineered timber, and panel products, including and excluding sequestered carbon. More than 80 EPDs were reviewed in this comprehensive new paper.
A1-A4 data is provided for 10 major timber products which means the EPD Database can be used to calculate the carbon impact of more than 95% of timber consumed in the UK.
The A1-A3 data draws only from EPDs for products available in the UK, with the data weighted based on country of origin.
With the addition of A4 data on transport to the UK, calculated using TDUK’s access to imports information to take into account our diverse supply chain – this is the most accurate data for timber products available for Whole Life Cycle assessments in the UK.
Charlie Law, sustainability director, TDUK, said: “If we are to achieve national and international targets to reach net zero carbon emissions by 2050, we need to measure, understand, and significantly reduce the embodied carbon within the buildings and infrastructure we construct. Environmental Product Declarations (EPDs) are key for specifiers to design low-carbon assets, helping them accurately assess the impact of their designs and material selections, but historically, limited data has been available. With a continual push for more EPDs for products in construction, more data is becoming available every day – the results of major efforts made by timber suppliers.
“Our EPD Database capitalises on all of this data by drawing on the available independently verified EPDs for timber products to calculate weighted average A1-A4 embodied carbon data.”
Kelly Harrison, director, Whitby Wood, said: “Having already compared these figures to some of our previous embodied carbon counts we can see a marked improvement. It’s invaluable to have actual datapoints and verified, weighted average EPD information at early design stages to ensure that we make the right decisions.”
The 2024 Embodied Carbon Data for Timber Products is available for download from the Timber Development UK website.
