Story | 02/10/2023 08:11:36 | 4 min Read time

UPM Timber's carbon footprint calculator demonstrates the climate impact of our timber

UPM Timber has launched a carbon footprint calculator on its website. The calculator is open to everyone and allows the visitor to view the climate impact of our sawn timber. The new tool simply and easily shows not only the emissions of our products, but also the amount of carbon stored in the sawn timber. The calculator also provides an opportunity to include the emissions of logistics to customers. The calculator also depicts the results with comparative examples.

UPM Timber aims to be a forerunner in its industry, especially from a sustainability perspective. Thanks to its fossil-free production, UPM Timber's emissions are already among the lowest in the industry. To make our sustainability work even more transparent, at the end of 2022 we launched on our website a co-marketing platform. The website provides plenty of facts, tools and material for our customers, and now our latest addition is the carbon footprint calculator.

- The carbon footprint calculator is an easy way to visualise the climate impact of wood raw materials and bring it close to everyone's daily life. With our calculator, customers and consumers can estimate the carbon footprint of the wood raw material they use, and the amount of carbon timber stores, says Mikko Hyvärinen, Sales Director at UPM Timber.

There has been a clear demand for a calculator on the climate impact of timber.

The calculator is based on reliable and verified data

UPM Timber's carbon footprint calculator bases its data on our Environmental Product Declaration (EPD), published in late 2022, which provides reliable and verified information on the environmental impact of a product during its life cycle. The EPD is a standardised way to publish the information and results of a product life cycle assessment. UPM Timber's EPD has been prepared in accordance with ISO 14040, 14044 and EN 15804.

The results of the EPD will help the company to further develop its own operations. The emission reductions from UPM Timber's operations also benefit customers by reducing their carbon footprint.

- There has been a clear demand for a calculator on the climate impact of timber, and the feedback we have received from our customers has been very encouraging, Hyvärinen says.

The clarity on our carbon footprint will help us all make more climate-responsible decisions and purchases. It will help us better identify the sources of greenhouse gas emissions and find ways to reduce them. They allow us to take crucial steps towards a more carbon-neutral society.

How our calculator works

UPM Timber's carbon footprint calculator can be used by timber professionals, UPM Timber's customers and consumers alike. The easy-to-use calculator assists the user in filling in the initial data and then calculates the carbon footprint per cubic metre of timber. If you do not know the exact amount of timber, you can also choose one of our examples from the calculator. Professionals can directly select the dimensions and number of metres of sawn timber.

"Examples include various construction and woodworking-related items, such as a log cabin, a deck, a euro pallet and wooden furniture", says Mikko Hyvärinen.

"The example calculations are indicative and based on estimates made by our experts of the amount of sawn timber used for different end-uses. However, they give a good idea of how much the wood raw material in your own log cabin, for example, has produced emissions and how much it has stored carbon", Hyvärinen continues.

As a final option, the user can decide whether to include emissions from the transport of sawn timber in the results. The final result of the calculation is expressed in a simple graph, including the carbon footprint, which indicates the climate impact, and the biogenic contribution, for example, the amount of carbon stored in the timber. The result is also illustrated with comparative examples.

Test our carbon footprint calculator!

What is the carbon footprint?

  • The carbon footprint is the sum of direct and indirect greenhouse gas emissions from an activity and a tool to describe the climate impact.
  • For each product or service, a carbon footprint can be calculated based on the amount of greenhouse gas emissions generated by its production, consumption and disposal.
  • For example, the carbon footprint for the average Finn is 10,300 kg CO2 This figure describes how much emissions are produced in terms of mass.
  • UPM Timber's carbon footprint calculator bases its data on Environmental Product Declaration (EPD), which provides reliable and verified information on the environmental impact of the product.

Read more about the carbon footprint.

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