In short, bamboo offers an available, scaleable circular solution to current, linear models of production and consumption. This report should provide policy makers, donors and business investors with a greater understanding of bamboo’s huge potential in the circular economy.@en

Life Cycle Assessment (LCA) is the commonly accepted methodology to systematically assess the environmental impact of a material over the full life cycle, from the extraction of resources until the end phase of demolition or recycling (from cradle till grave). The first objective of this study is to gain a better understanding of the environmental impact of industrial bamboo products and its production process in terms of their CO2 equivalent (carbon footprint), toxic emissions, and materials depletion (LCA). The LCA in this paper is based on latest (2015) production and bamboo land-use change figures. The second objective of this paper is to clarify how carbon sequestration on a global scale can be defined and calculated for industrial bamboo products, and how they can be incorporated in the standard LCA calculations. The study concludes that industrial bamboo products, if based on best-practice technology (production chain of MOSO International BV), even when used in Europe, are CO2 negative over their full life cycle. @en

This report presents the results of a Life-Cycle Assessment (LCA) and carbon footprint analysis of a selection of industrial bamboo products that are manufactured by the company MOSO International. The analysis was done to determine the impact that their production and disposal have on the environment. Bamboo !ooring, decking, panels and beams have been evaluated. A comprehensive explanation is o"ered of how carbon sequestration can be calculated, following LCA methodology. This LCA is speci#c to the product evaluations described in this report and is not applicable to other manufacturers’ products. The assessment described here is done for the production (cradle-to-gate) plus the waste (end-of-life) stages of the bamboo products, but does not include the user stage, when the product is in use by consumers after purchase. Bamboo products are increasingly found in western markets, with recorded international trade of some $2 bn in 2012, the majority of which is imported to European and North American consumer countries. As bamboo products are increasingly perceived as “green” and environmentally friendly, it is important to have an e"ective way to evaluate and verify these claims – to reassure producers and consumers, and help producers #nd ways to make their production system even “greener”. The LCA is a widely used and recognized method for achieving this. This study shows that if production parameters are optimised, these industrial bamboo products can have a negative carbon footprint over their full life-cycle, from cradle to grave. This means that the credits gained through carbon sequestration, and from burning to produce electricity in a power plant at the end of each product’s life, outweigh the emissions caused by the production and transport processes. At end-of-life, it is assumed that 90% of the bamboo products are incinerated in an electrical power plant and 10% will end-up in land#ll, a realistic scenario for Western Europe. The LCA was done following International standards ISO 14040 and 14044. In addition, the capture and storage (sequestration) of CO2 has been taken into account. It is hoped that the analysis described here will inform and encourage other bamboo producers to do similar life-cycle analyses of their production systems, to better understand where they can focus investments to reduce the environmental impacts of their products. It also aims to inform policy-makers about the sustainability of bamboo products, to encourage them to specify the use of this resource in national and international policies and investment plans.@en

Gezien de nijpende klimaatverandering en de grote milieu-impact van de bouw is het urgenter dan ooit om onze bouwpraktijk grondig te herzien. Een deel van de oplossing komt wellicht uit onverwachte hoek, namelijk grootschalige toepassing van hout....@en

The building industry has a huge impact on the environment, both in terms of greenhouse gas (GHG) emissions and resource consumption. It therefore requires a major transition towards more circular and climate-proof building practices. A key piece of the puzzle may come from an unexpected corner: mass timber systems.@en

In Tomorrow’s Timber, new timber innovations are explored, including the materials, products, elements and complete building systems, providing context for this emerging shift in design and construction. Inspiring case studies worldwide show that the mass timber revolution is happening as we speak. Tomorrow’s Timber contextualizes the challenges and how forests and mass timber can help solve our global problems by mitigating climate change while supporting the move to a less resource dependent, circular bio-based economy. Finally, the book tackles real mass timber design opportunities and challenges on building and site level, before providing a promising outlook towards the future.@en

De toepassingsmogelijkheden van hout in de bouw lijken oneindig en nog altijd volgen technologische ontwikkelingen elkaar in rap tempo op. Als ‘De Houtbouw Revolutie’ íets leert, dan is het dat bouwen met hout de toekomst heeft. Het boek behandelt op aantrekkelijke wijze de vele toepassingsmogelijkheden van dit duurzame bouwmateriaal, met name op het gebied van nieuwe bouwsystemen op basis van massiefhout- producten als Cross Laminated Timber (CLT), Laminated Veneer Lumber (LVL) en Glued Laminated Timber (Glulam). Dankzij deze ontwikkelingen is hout inmiddels een serieuze vervanger van beton en staal in de bouw.@en

Given the increasing scarcity of resources, a transition from the traditional linear “make-take-waste” production scenario to a circular model is essential to be able to meet the needs of future generations. In the circular economy concept1 products are designed in such a way that their components fit as nutrients in either the biological cycle – biodegradable after use, recycled, and regrown by nature itself – or the technical cycle of industrial non-renewable materials whose finite stocks need to be secured by high-level recycling.@en

The latest generation of timber products enable complete multi storey neighbourhoods to be built from sustainably sourced softwood. This chapter explores how a large-scale transition to timber building in urban environments could contribute to solving the three major global crises we are currently facing with climate, natural resources, and health. If key external determinants are used to set the right preconditions, by 2030, the combined forestry and construction sectors in Europe could mitigate23 per cent of greenhouse gas emissions and provide sufficient timber to sustainably meet housing demand in Europe while contributing significantly to the well-being of urban citizens.@en

In the global climate agreements made during COP 21 in Paris, the role of forests and wood products have gained more attention considering their important impact – both negative and positive – through deforestation, forest conservation, afforestation and increasing application of wood in durable (construction) products acting as carbon sink. A promising route enabling legally and sustainably sourced non-durable temperate wood species to be used in high performance applications is through large scale non-toxic wood modification, of which acetylation is one of the leading methods. Acetylation has proven to enhance the resistance against fungal decay and dimensional stability of wood such that on commercially base two heavy load-bearing traffic bridges have been constructed. In this paper a cradle-to-grave assessment is executed to compare the environmental impact of acetylated Scots pine, tropical hardwood (Azobe) and non-renewable materials (steel, concrete) with the bearing structure of a typical pedestrian bridge as unit of comparison (‘functional unit’) The results show that acetylated wood has a considerably lower carbon footprint than steel, concrete and unsustainably sourced Azobe, and like sustainably sourced Azobe can have CO2 negative LCA results over the full life cycle.@en

This study assesses the carbon sequestration potential through the increased use of industrial bamboo materials in the Western building industry, to better understand how engineered bamboo compares with commonly used building materials such as tropical hardwood. The first objective of this study is to measure the environmental impact of industrial bamboo products and its production process in terms of their CO2 equivalent (carbon footprint). The second objective of this paper is to clarify how carbon sequestration on a global scale, including in bamboo forests and plantations, can be defined and calculated for industrial bamboo products, and how they can be incorporated in the standard carbon footprint calculations. The study concludes that industrial bamboo products, if based on best-practice technology (production chain of MOSO International BV), even when used in Europe, can be CO2 negative over their full life cycle.@en

INBAR (International Bamboo and Rattan Organisation) Working Paper. This policy brief provides an introduction to how bamboo forestry projects can be integrated into carbon markets.@en