A green forest blending into a modern city skyline with wooden skyscrapers, symbolizing sustainable wood construction.

Building a Greener Future: Can Wood Construction Meet Ambitious Environmental Targets?

Soraya Malik in Climate & Environment December 2025 • 4 min read.

"Exploring the potential and challenges of wood-frame multi-story construction in achieving sustainability goals."

The European Commission is championing the bioeconomy as a solution to critical global challenges. These challenges include reducing our dependency on non-renewable resources and mitigating the increasingly severe impacts of climate change. The construction and building sector, a significant contributor to global environmental strain, holds immense potential for cost-effective solutions. By embracing environmentally conscious practices, this sector can drastically reduce its ecological footprint.

Green building is an increasingly popular approach. It refers to construction methods that prioritize environmental, economic, and social sustainability. Government policies worldwide are beginning to reflect this emphasis, encouraging the adoption of bioeconomy and green building strategies. Many are recognizing the potential of forest-based industries and wood construction to lead the way toward a circular bioeconomy, especially in Nordic countries.

This article will delve into the viability of long-term targets for green building, specifically focusing on wood-frame multi-story construction in Finland. By examining the measures needed to meet these targets, we can gain valuable insights into the future of sustainable construction practices and the role of wood in building a greener future.

What are the Hurdles to Widespread Adoption of Wood Construction?

A green forest blending into a modern city skyline with wooden skyscrapers, symbolizing sustainable wood construction.

While the advantages of wood construction are well-documented, the industry faces several challenges in breaking established patterns and achieving ambitious sustainability targets. A study was conducted using Delphi backcasting techniques to identify viable public and private sector measures for pursuing selected green building targets. The study focused on three interlinked targets for 2030:

Despite the quantified targets, the study adopted a qualitative approach due to the ambiguous reference levels and regional variations in construction practices. The scope was limited to wood-frame multi-story construction (WMC) in Finland, where previous targets for market share increase proved overly ambitious.

Tripling the market share of wood construction.
Doubling the value added of woodworking industries.
Reducing embodied energy and carbon in construction products by 30%.

The research utilized backcasting, a normative scenario approach that involves looking back from a preferred future to identify the steps needed to achieve it. The study combined consensus and dissensus-based Delphi techniques to explore a range of possible futures and address the limitations of traditional backcasting methods.

Looking Ahead: The Future of Sustainable Wood Construction

The study's findings highlight the need for significant changes in the construction and wood product sectors to meet ambitious environmental targets. This requires addressing fragmented industry characteristics, risk aversion, and the need for innovative measures to promote business opportunities in green building. Whether through revised industry targets or reconsidered strategies, the path forward demands a commitment to sustainable practices and a willingness to embrace change.

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This article is based on research published under:

DOI-LINK: 10.1016/j.jclepro.2017.08.031, Alternate LINK

Title: Long-Term Targets For Green Building: Explorative Delphi Backcasting Study On Wood-Frame Multi-Story Construction In Finland

Subject: Industrial and Manufacturing Engineering

Journal: Journal of Cleaner Production

Publisher: Elsevier BV

Authors: Elias Hurmekoski, Jouni Pykäläinen, Lauri Hetemäki

Published: 2018-01-01

Everything You Need To Know

What is the European Commission's view on the bioeconomy, and how does it relate to the challenges of climate change and resource dependency?

The European Commission views the bioeconomy as a key solution for reducing dependency on non-renewable resources and mitigating the impacts of climate change. The construction and building sector, a significant contributor to environmental strain, can benefit from bioeconomy strategies, particularly forest-based industries and wood construction. Embracing environmentally conscious practices in this sector can drastically reduce its ecological footprint, aligning with the goals of a circular bioeconomy. However, the Commission's broader strategy involves not only wood but also other biological resources to create a sustainable economy.

How can wood-frame multi-story construction contribute to achieving green building targets, particularly in the context of Finland?

Wood-frame multi-story construction (WMC) has the potential to significantly contribute to achieving green building targets by increasing the market share of wood construction, doubling the value added of woodworking industries, and reducing embodied energy and carbon in construction products. A study focusing on Finland explored measures for meeting specific targets by 2030. WMC provides a sustainable alternative to more carbon-intensive materials like concrete and steel. While the concept seems viable, the practical implementation requires overcoming hurdles related to industry fragmentation and risk aversion.

What are the primary obstacles preventing the widespread adoption of wood construction in the building sector?

Several challenges hinder the widespread adoption of wood construction, including breaking established patterns, fragmented industry characteristics, and risk aversion. The industry needs to adopt innovative measures to promote business opportunities in green building. Overcoming these obstacles requires significant changes in both the construction and wood product sectors and a commitment to sustainable practices. Addressing these challenges could unlock wood construction's potential in achieving ambitious environmental targets.

What is 'backcasting,' and how was it used in the study focusing on wood construction targets in Finland?

Backcasting is a normative scenario approach that starts by envisioning a preferred future and then working backward to identify the steps needed to achieve it. In the study on wood construction targets in Finland, backcasting was used to identify viable public and private sector measures for pursuing green building targets related to increasing the market share of wood construction, doubling the value added of woodworking industries, and reducing embodied energy and carbon in construction products. The study utilized both consensus and dissensus-based Delphi techniques to explore a range of possible futures and address limitations of traditional forecasting methods.

What specific targets were set for the wood construction industry in the study, and why were they approached qualitatively?

The study focused on three interlinked targets for 2030: tripling the market share of wood construction, doubling the value added of woodworking industries, and reducing embodied energy and carbon in construction products by 30%. Despite these quantified targets, the study adopted a qualitative approach due to ambiguous reference levels and regional variations in construction practices. The scope was limited to wood-frame multi-story construction in Finland. Understanding the nuances required a deeper exploration beyond simple numbers.