Page 46 - FDMAsia MarApr 2025

44 MATERIALS MAR/APR 2025 FDM ASIA | www.fdmasia.com

TIMBER BIOGENIC CARBON STOCK IN THE

URBAN ENVIRONMENT

Urban environments significantly contribute to carbon emissions, both through operational
processes and the embodied emissions of construction materials, thus exacerbating climate change.
Nevertheless, urban timber structures offer a viable alternative by acting as carbon sinks, capable of
sequestering carbon for decades or even centuries. This study develops and applies a methodology
to quantify the biogenic carbon stored in Santiago City’s timber-based buildings, conceptualised
as a ‘Second Forest’ that transfers and preserves the carbon capture capacity of trees in the built
environment. By Felipe Victorero and Waldo Bustamante, Pontifical Catholic University of Chile

arvest wood products, sourced from sustainably In simplified terms, for every two kilograms of anhydrous
managed forests, have proven to be a renewable wood, approximately one kilogram of biogenic carbon can be

Halternative with a lower environmental impact compared estimated, around 50 percent of its mass, which is equivalent
to materials that are intensive in fossil fuels and contribute to to storing approximately 3.67 kg of carbon dioxide from
climate change with higher greenhouse gas (GHG) emissions. the atmosphere when considering the mass of carbon and
Additionally, their potential to capture carbon dioxide from oxygen involved.
the atmosphere during photosynthesis and tree growth presents This condition remains in time, unless the carbon is released
a unique opportunity as a material in which wood product through combustion and oxidation or degraded by biological
manufacturing can store biogenic carbon over its lifespan. agents, mainly being released as carbon dioxide and methane.

Elena Rouame