From Principles to Policy: Timber Construction Gains Ground Ahead of COP30

We are witnessing the emergence of a cohesive global timber construction industry — one that can transform our built environment from a source of harm into a force for good.

This week, Built by Nature announced the shortlist of 28 timber projects for the 2025 Built by Nature Prize — selected from nearly 400 entries across 39 countries and territories. These completed buildings are a powerful demonstration of how timber and biobased materials are already transforming the built environment. They show that responsible timber construction is not just possible — it’s happening, and it’s beautiful, scalable, and impactful.

View the shortlist

Earlier in September we hosted a webinar exploring the Principles for Responsible Timber Construction, the metric with which we have been scoring the Prize, which is now endorsed by hundreds of organisations across the sector. These Principles are helping to de-risk timber construction and ensure that increased demand is both responsible and sustainable. They’re rapidly becoming a trusted framework for investors, developers, designers, and – most recently – governments. More of which below.

During the webinar, Lily Teitelbaum of Bauhaus Earth spoke about the importance of translating these high-level principles into action — identifying key areas where governments can focus and scale up responsibly. Andrew Waugh of Waugh Thistleton Architects welcomed the Principles as a vital guide for efficient material use and design, saying his practice will be following them “to the letter and to the line.”

The urgency is clear. As Nasra Nanda of the Kenyan Green Building Council said:

“It’s very obvious that we cannot afford to carry on building that new built environment — the equivalent of what we’ve built so far — in the same way as we’ve done it before.”

We need to flip the narrative. Buildings must shift from being sources of emissions to stores of carbon, from symbols of depletion into legacies of resilience. Timber and other natural materials offer a compelling solution. They are often significantly lower carbon in their production, and — when used well — can safely store carbon removed from the atmosphere for long periods of time.

In other words, timber is a highly effective, widely available, natural carbon capture technology. If it didn’t exist, we’d have to invent it — and yet it’s been around for millennia and literally grows on trees.

Watch the webinar

So why isn’t timber the first, go-to choice?

Time and again, we’ve seen that environmentally friendly solutions also need to be easy, affordable, and attractive if they’re to appeal to the majority. Change takes time, and the construction industry is notoriously risk-averse. Different materials require different knowledge, skills, and ways of doing things — and until these become second nature, they can cost more. But that’s changing.

At COP28, the Forest & Climate Leaders Partnership (FCLP) launched the Greening Construction with Sustainable Wood initiative, backed by IPCC peer-reviewed science. A growing coalition of governments committed to introducing policies and incentives to support the responsible use of wood in construction.

Yesterday brought the first national endorsement of the Principles. At the International Woodrise Congress in Vancouver, Costa Rica announced a new timber policy that aligns directly with the Principles for Responsible Timber Construction. This is a significant step forward — and a powerful signal of Costa Rica’s commitment to sustainable development and climate action.

As outlined by Jaime Sotela, the Costa Rican government representative for the FCLP Greening Construction with Sustainable Wood Initiative, the policy balances conservation, sustainable use, and productive development within a circular and resilient forest-based economy. By launching both the National Code for Construction with Wood and the Climate Change Code for the Construction Sector, Costa Rica is pioneering the integration of climate impact metrics directly into construction regulation. The Principles have been a guiding framework in this action.

Read Costa Rica’s full statement here.

These are groundbreaking moments for sustainable construction, and important on the road to COP30, where the Principles will be formally launched. Whether it’s a commercial office in Europe, a conference hall in Vancouver, or a government ministry in Costa Rica, it’s clear that timber buildings are gaining ground because they are practical, cost-effective, and increasingly desirable. And the good news? They can be constructed responsibly too.