According to the United Nations Environment Programme, building work was responsible for over 38 per cent of global energy-related carbon emissions in 2015 alone. The production of cement, meanwhile, is the largest single industrial emitter of CO2 in the world.
By contrast, wood sequesters carbon dioxide, binding it from the atmosphere and storing it for good.
The city of Skelleftea in Sweden is now home to a 20 storeys (75 meters) tall skyscraper that will capture and store vast quantities of CO2 from the atmosphere. Construction called for 12,000 cubic meters (~423,776 cubic feet) of timber harvested from local forests and is an attempt to move away from carbon-intensive building materials, such as cement – the world’s largest industrial CO2 emitter.
In addition to not emitting any carbon dioxide into the air, the wooden structure is projected to capture as much as 9,000 metric tons of CO2 throughout its lifetime.
Wooden construction is nothing new in Skelleftea, which has relied upon the abundance of nearby forestland to construct its buildings from as early as the 18th century.
Source: The Guardian
