The building industry is in for a shake-up as the Government adopts a timber-first policy to help combat climate change. New research shows the building industry needs to halve its emissions in a decade if New Zealand wants to hit its 2050 carbon target.

The minister in charge, Economic Development Minister Stuart Nash, is now keen to step in. “There is nothing you can do with steel and concrete that can’t be done with timber,” Nash said.

With 2.1 million hectares of forest plantation, a plan is now being rolled out to state agencies.

“What that will look like is if you are building a building for the state sector or the state sector is building a building itself, then it has to be built out of wood,” Nash said.

The Government hopes to have a carbon-neutral state sector by 2025. You can view the Government report, ‘Procurement guide to reducing carbon emissions in building and construction‘.

Video and image source: TVNZ 1 News