How Forests and Biogenic Carbon Can Convert Buildings into Carbon Sinks

Buildings and deforestation together produce 50% of global carbon emissions. This session will address how climate-smart forestry and sustainable agriculture can store carbon in ecological landscapes and generate wood and plant-based building materials that reduce embodied carbon in buildings. Key topics include a proposed strategy to double carbon sequestration by global forests, and an assessment of the validity of biogenic carbon claims with an expanded Life Cycle Analysis. We will also consider a case study focused on controlling tropical deforestation and producing negative carbon hardwoods.

Session Speaker(s): 

Session Chair(s): 

Event Time: 

Tuesday, March 1, 2022 - 10:30am to 12:00pm

Room / Location:
Marina 1

CEU Information: 

Attendance for each full conference day offers 4.5 credit hours for both RESNET and MA CSL licensure.

CEU Credits: 

AIA: 1.5 LU
BPI: 1.5 Hours
GBCI: 1.5 Hours (BD+C)
NARI: 1.5 Hours
PHIUS: 1.5 Hours

Learning Objectives:

  • Define the role of forests as both active agents of carbon capture and storage and as sources of emissions. Demonstrate how wood products sourced from well-managed forests can reduce a project’s embodied carbon.
  • Provide an overview of available building materials sourced from forests and agriculture landscapes and compare their relative capacity to store carbon in buildings and to replace high-emissions materials.
  • Evaluate the validity of the claims of negative carbon building materials, using the concept of a Life Cycle Analysis that includes evaluation of the carbon dynamics of the forest or cropland that sourced the material.
  • Describe the large opportunity in tropical forestry to reduce global carbon emissions. Define the embodied carbon impact that wood products sourced from well-managed tropical forests can have on a building project.

Session ID: 

BOS22-304

Session Documents: