Embodied Carbon & Timber: The Case for Plantation Forestry

About this episode

Dean Ipaviz interviews Daniel Gudsell to discuss the impact of timber and forestry on embodied carbon and sustainability in construction.

Dean sits down with Daniel Gudsell from Abodo to unpack timber, forestry and embodied carbon, and how material choices shape the long term impact of what we build. Daniel shares the origin story of Abodo, from exporting timber into the Pacific Islands to developing thermally modified radiata pine as an alternative to old growth hardwoods. Daniel also breaks down how fast growing plantation timber can store carbon more rapidly than slow growing species, and why the discussion needs to move beyond single issue sustainability This episode is all about understanding forestry, carbon accounting, material performance and the trade offs involved in building at scale. The conversation explores: Why native hardwoods became the benchmark for durability and aesthetics The limits of old growth supply in a housing constrained world Thermal modification and how it changes timber performance Plantation forestry vs native forest harvesting FSC certification and set aside biodiversity land Carbon storage in timber and how it’s measured Why embodied carbon is an immediate impact The limits of “carbon negative” claims Passive House, materials selection and lifecycle thinking Why composite decking…

People in this episode

Host: Dean Ipaviz

Guest: Daniel Gudsell

Topics covered

• embodied carbon
• timber
• plantation forestry
• sustainability
• material performance

Keywords

• forestry
• carbon accounting
• thermal modification
• plantation timber
• old growth hardwoods

Mentioned in this episode

Products: thermally modified radiata pine

Places: the Pacific Islands, Australia

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