Wood Industry Revitalization

Agenda 21

Wood Industry Revitalization

A top Agenda 21 priority for the City has been the revitalization of wood as a construction material and energy source. Of its 41 km² of land, Lausanne has 19 km² of forest, whose management unfortunately has led to budgetary losses for several years. With its ecological value and the potential promotion of wood, however, this industry can and should be profitable.

Wood, a renewable raw material

From the point of view of an energy policy that is consistent with the principles of sustainable development, wood represents an interesting source of renewable energy, especially considering the argument against the greenhouse effect. As long as forests are used in a sustainable way, the amount of CO2 emissions that result from wood combustion is counteracted because this gas – the main cause of the greenhouse effect that leads to global warming – is eliminated by the trees that eventually replace those that were burned. This raw material therefore provides a promising alternative to fossil fuels. Furthermore, possible federal taxation on CO2 could, in the medium term, make wood the most affordable heating method (as it would not be taxed) and give the forest a major economic function.

Wood also introduced major ecological advantages in the field of construction, where its use has greatly decreased in Europe over the past century, particularly because of competition from other strongly subsidized materials (steel, aluminium, concrete) or very affordable materials (oil-based plastics). Wood constructions may be seen as CO2 storage sites, built up over several decades. The CO2 cycle then closes when this wood is burned.

The dominant construction materials require noticeably more energy than wood for their production and transformation. Here again, there is great potential for reducing CO2 emissions.

An economic industry to promote

Beyond the economic interest that investments in forests could represent with regard to taxes on CO2, the wood industry in Switzerland presents considerable development potential, insofar as a political awareness of the problems that affect this emerging industry. Currently, the majority of the added value generated by this (8.5 billion, or 2% of the gross domestic product) comes from the transformation of semi-finished wood products into finished products. It would therefore be a matter of improving conditions so as to allow greater use of the wood found in our forests.