Benchmarking wood material value chains against non-renewable value chains by using and expanding assessment tool ”ToSIA”
NEWS
Updated: Final project conference and case study visit in Vienna, Austria (October 2019)
BenchValue partners met in Limoges
Results of Ketso Workshop, 6th September 2018
About the project
Europe aspires to create a thriving bioeconomy. For this, new innovative product value chains need to be developed, but an increased uptake of bio-based products is only possible if they are economic and more sustainable than competitive products.
The aim of the project is to develop a versatile benchmarking method to compare between renewable wood-based and non-renewable value chains and to quantify the sustainability impacts and climate change mitigation potential of substituting non-renewable with wood-based materials to support decision makers in policy and market environment.
The construction sector was chosen as the demonstration case to test the BenchValue method, as timber can be a viable and long-term alternative for storing green Carbon in buildings and substituting GHG emissions from more energy intensive materials. Furthermore, the construction sector is one of the leading sectors of the Eurasian economy and vital to the bio-economy.
In order to increase acceptance of the developed method and transparency of results, we build on the established ToSIA methodology for the forest-based sector (Lindner et al. 2010) and aim to expand it into comparison between wood-based and non-renewable value chains.
Stakeholders need a common method for comparing impact values for different materials for informed decision making, and ToSIA is suitable for that (Tuomasjukka et al. 2013). Currently no such label, standard or method exists (e.g. EN 15978 LCA of buildings partially covers environmental aspects), but are in demand with the upcoming EU “Energy Performance of Buildings Directive” (European Parliament & Council of the European Union 2010) which will be legally binding from 2020 onwards.
Flyer in English (PDF)
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