The Glasgow City Region covers a third of Scotland and its City Council has committed to becoming carbon neutral by 2030. Now, it has launched the Climate Smart Forest Economy Programme (CSFEP), a joint initiative of EIT Climate-KIC, the World Economic Forum, and the World Resources Institute, with seed funding from the Good Energies Foundation, according to a statement from the European public-private partnership EIT Climate-KIC. Its goal is to unlock the full climate potential of forests and forest products in a sustainable and responsible manner.
The program aims to boost market demand in sectors that need rapid decarbonisation, such as construction, explains the statement. The findings of a visioning exercise at the start of the process found that a smart forest programme would “make use of the Scottish timber technologies sector by manufacturing products sourced from sustainably managed ‘home-grown’ forests and imported timber for domestic and export use”. It would also make a long-term contribution to the mission of the Glasgow Green Deal to create equitable, net zero carbon and climate-resilient living by 2030 by increasing carbon sequestration, storage and substitution through timber.
EIT Climate-KIC and the Glasgow City Region have identified a series of required interventions, including increasing forest diversity, addressing public and industry perceptions of wood quality and safety, and scaling innovation in construction. However, the partners highlighted in the statement that addressing the climate emergency in time requires further action.
