With the eyes of the world on COP26 in the first two weeks of November, the global timber industry is collectively hosting a ‘World of Wood Festival’.
This six-week celebration of global timber and global forests takes place from 25 October to 3 December 2021 at the Building Centre in Store Street, London, and virtually around the world.
During this festival attendees will learn how global forests and the wood products cycle is helping to avert climate change, decarbonise construction, and support social, environmental and economic growth through governance in developing countries.
This will be supported by a series of online, physical and hybrid events which will include keynote speeches, debates, webinars, and report launches calling for policy change, broadcast from the Building Centre around the world.
The festival will also exhibit the Wood Awards shortlist as a celebration of the ultimate expression of design in wood and responsibly sourced timber from around the globe, and will host the winner’s ceremony later on 25 November.
Exciting digital features of the WOW Festival include a mobile augmented reality app, which will be launched for the start of the festival.
The London opening of the WOW Festival in the Building Centre will also be your first chance to get a physical copy of the two manifestos being launched at COP26 the following week. These include:
- Growing Our Low-Carbon Future: Time for Timber, which focuses on European and North American forestry and timber industries, and how we can use wood to transform our built environment into a form of carbon capture and storage.
- Global Forests Need Global Governance, which sets out a new vision for tropical forests, outlaying how we can embed the principles of sustainable forest management, protect biodiversity, and uplift indigenous and forest-based communities.
Speaking on the event, Timber Trade Federation chief executive David Hopkins said:
“The construction and built environment sector is responsible for approximately 40% of global energy related CO2 emissions. A significant percentage of this comes from the extraction, processing and energy-intensive manufacturing of building products.
“To achieve net zero CO2 emissions by 2050, construction must rapidly decarbonise whilst still meeting the needs of a growing urban population, the increasing demand for new buildings and the urgent requirement to renovate existing buildings.
“Wood is the only sustainable structural material that grows worldwide which can enable a substantial decarbonisation of the built environment based on existing business models and proven technology; providing vast carbon sinks in our rural areas and carbon stores in our cities.
“The World of Wood Festival will provide a bridge for the world to find out more about the role of timber in reducing carbon emissions, and preserving and growing global forests, as well as the two manifestos being launched by the global industry within COP26.”
You can view the full World of Wood Festival events programme online here, and register for any of the events via Eventbrite. The programme also includes an IMM event featuring findings from its work tracking timber market legality assurance development and impacts on trade flows. The IMM event takes place in the London Building Centre from 2-3:30 pm on 9 November. The event is hybrid, with participants welcome to join in-person at The Building Centre in London or online. Click here to register.