WoodStock: Empowering climate-smart, circular, and zero-waste use of underutilized wood from the forest and building stock in the construction sector to support the New European Bauhaus
IRG/WP 25-50405
L De Ligne, J Van Acker, J Van den Bulcke
There is a clear need for enhanced contribution of the forest-based sector to decarbonisation strategies for buildings, both in terms of operational emissions, embodied emissions, and carbon removals. WoodStock is a multifaceted project dedicated to advancing climate-smart wood construction practices in alignment with the New European Bauhaus (NEB) initiative. A primary focus is the quantification and mapping of wood resources, including under-utilised streams (hardwood, low-quality, damage and post-consumer wood). This will be done using a novel Tier 3 level Harvested Wood Products methodology and dynamic Material Flow Analysis modelling to gain insights into wood utilisation potential, climate mitigation impacts, and resource availability. This also entails a robust dynamic Life Cycle Assessment (LCA) methodology for the assessment of environmental, social, and economic impacts associated with various resource streams and scenarios. WoodStock will tap into collective expertise to develop zero-waste and circular building designs, harnessing the power of digital twins, assessing human health and well-being aspects by co-creation activities with a multitude of actors, following the NEB principles and values, in 6 Living Labs (LLs) in 6 different European regions. Through systemic circular solutions for zero-waste and community-based wood construction, aligning novel business strategies with policy recommendations, and dedicated demo, training and educational activities the project endeavours to incentivise climate-smart and increased sustainable wood use in construction. An inspirational climate-smart guideline document for circular use of wood streams, a WoodBook with building blueprints based on the NEB values, beautiful, together and sustainable, and an EUroadmap for the future are some of the key exploitable results that will be available on the European Wood Construction Observatory (EWCO). This observatory will be a central, AI-powered hub for best practices, guidelines, and innovative solutions, facilitating knowledge exchange and collaboration among stakeholders, and ensuring the longevity and impact beyond the project's lifetime, in alignment with the NEB Academy.
Keywords: circular, zero-waste, underutilised wood resources, material flow analysis, dynamic LCA, carbon storage, Living Labs, NEB