The Italian Green Building Council has signed an agreement with PEFC Italy to promote best practices in the building industry and to foster the use of certified timber in construction.
“With buildings estimated to account for 40% of primary energy consumption in Europe, organisations such as GBC Italia can, through their standards and codes, help to reduce the environmental footprint of buildings,” said PEFC Italy secretary-general Antonio Brunori.
“Timber can play an important role in this context as it has the lowest embodied CO2 of any building maerial and can be sustainably sourced from PEFC-certified forests.”
He added that as construction was the largest buyer of timber, the agreement signalled to forest owners that sustainable forest management and certification were in high demand and valued by society.
