Transformation needs of wood construction sectors in five European regions

Abstract

Building with wood is an emerging industry that can contribute to the reduction of greenhouse gas emissions and help to unlock the low-carbon, circular economy. By maximising the use of wood in new buildings and renovation through optimal hybrid solutions with other materials, the built environment can be transformed into a large-scale carbon sink. However, unlocking the potential of wood as both a sustainable building material and climate solution (the ‘forest-carbon-pump’) requires a stronger focus on the regional dimensions of wood construction chains and the whole innovation ecosystem. Region-al characteristics are not yet sufficiently accounted for in the European and national policy initiatives and programmes. National and regional initiatives are focussed on their context and are still rather disconnected from the European level. Hence, for example European funding programmes are not well geared towards the needs of wood construction industries. The H2020 project BASAJAUN aims to build the foundation of an open innovation platform for the wood construction ecosystem, which can foster dialogue and co-creation between European regions. The platform shall showcase innovations, demo buildings and other solutions, and support their exploi-tation in the regional forest-based sector. In this report, a competitive assessment of five pilot regions is described: i) North Ostrobothnia and ii) North Karelia in Finland, iii) New Aquitaine in France, iv) West Pomerania in Poland, and v) the Basque country in Spain. Each pilot region is described in a background profile that summarizes available information about the regional context, the forest resources and management, its wood construction chain and market trends, and policy programmes. Each region is presented in a value chain stakeholder map and a SWOT analysis, pointing to challenges and possibili-ties for regional transformation. A set of preliminary conclusions summarises the options for regional roadmaps to be explored with stakeholders in the open platform. The first accomplishment is the foundation of the Wood Sector Alliance for the New European Bauhaus (Wood4Bauhaus), a coalition of the main EU wood sector umbrella organisations, connecting research, industry and trade unions, which was launched in response to the European Commission’s New Euro-pean Bauhaus movement.