“Vastern Timber’s first full carbon audit is complete.”
Vastern Timber is England’s largest hardwood sawmill, manufacturing timber cladding, flooring and beams, and specialising in British grown wood. Managing Director Tom Barnes said:
“In order to reduce the negative impact of our business activities, and as part of ‘Business Declares,’ we’ve completed our first in-depth carbon audit and we’re laying out the results in full.
“The value of the actual number is less important than knowing we now have an accurate baseline. What matters now is how far and how fast we can start reducing our emissions.
“Before the audit, we already knew that wood, as a product, had lower embodied carbon than alternative materials like steel and concrete. The difficult part was finding data to compare against emissions of other wood and building material companies. It seems we’re breaking trail amongst small and medium sized manufacturing companies.
“We commissioned JCH Industrial Ecology, a respected environmental consultancy, to carry out an analysis of Vastern Timber’s greenhouse gas emissions data for 2021. The process of collecting the data was slow and painstaking, but it did reveal some interesting insights.
The results are published on our website.”
www.vastern.co.uk/our-first-full-carbon-audit-is-complete/
Vastern Timber’s 2021 Carbon audit results
The audit includes Scope 1, 2, and 3 greenhouse gas emissions (as defined in ISO 14064-1). Emissions of biogenic carbon from the biomass boiler are also reported in our ‘out-of-scope’ emissions. And our report also includes a calculation of the atmospheric sequestered carbon stored in the timber Vastern sold in 2021.
The total scope 1, 2 and 3 emissions for Vastern Timber was 710 tonnes of CO2e (CO2e means Carbon dioxide equivalent – it’s a measure of all greenhouse gases).
That works out at 118kg of greenhouse gas emissions for each cubic metre of timber we sold in 2021.
Emission types
This figure includes three emission types. ‘Scope 1’ are the sources we directly own or control – such as our trucks and kilns. ‘Scope 2’ emissions are related to the electricity we buy. And ‘Scope 3’ comes from the goods and services that we purchase from others.
Although out of scope, we did calculate the biogenic carbon captured in the timber we sold over the period. In 2021, this was almost 7000 tonnes. This ‘biogenic carbon’ is considered out of scope, because this recently captured carbon will eventually be released back into the environment. We expect a service life of many decades for most of our timber products but their longevity is out of our control.
It makes sense that the benefit of long-term carbon capture in our timber products is not confused with the emissions data from their production.
That said, it’s not unusual to see data presented in this way.
118 kg of carbon per cubic metre – is that good or bad?
So, is 118 kg of C02e per cubic metre a lot? Is this a ‘good’ or a ‘bad’ number? In truth, we don’t really know because it’s hard to find comparable data.
Before the audit, we already knew that wood, as a product, had lower embodied carbon than alternative materials like steel and concrete. The difficult part was finding data to compare against emissions of other wood and building material companies.
Yes, many of the very large companies have assessed their carbon impact, but it seems that we’re breaking trail amongst small and medium sized manufacturing companies.
In reality, the value of the actual number is less important than knowing we now have an accurate baseline. It’s not a competition to see who can start with the lowest emission numbers – the numbers are what they are. All that matters is how far and how fast we can start reducing our emissions over the coming months.
For us, this audit is a ‘starter for ten’. We’re content that we’ve measured our emissions properly and honestly. Now we’re moving on to a strategy for reduction.
Lessons learned and next steps
We will repeat the process in 2023, and we have already taken some steps to reduce that headline figure of 118kg of CO2e/m³.
We’re electrifying our fleet of cars and developing strategies to reduce energy use in our production processes. We’ve increased the proportion of locally-grown timber that we buy and no longer ship wood from further afield than France. We’re also modifying our Brimstone product on site rather than shipping it to France and back. Plus, very soon you’ll start seeing solar panels appearing on our sheds.
Of course, no one’s perfect, and we’ve hit glitches that prevent us from reducing our negative environmental impact. For example, so far it’s proved impossible to get the necessary infrastructure in place to install solar panels. And we haven’t seen any electric powered timber trucks yet, so we’re having to stay with diesel for now.
It’s worth remembering that Co2e emissions are only one measure of our social and environmental impact. Our impact on local woodlands is of vital importance. This is where we can have a really positive impact through engagement, donating and lobbying. We’re also aware that we have a social responsibility to our employees, suppliers and customers that can’t be measured in numbers.
Beware of greenwash
Vastern Timber doesn’t claim to be ‘sustainable’ or ‘Net Zero’ but we are committed to being honest about our impact. That way our customers can make informed decisions.
We could perform some mathematical gymnastics and combine our emissions figures with those for sequestered carbon, to come up with a very marketable negative number. But that would be pure Greenwash. The fact is, our business does harm and we, along with all other businesses, have to find ways to reduce that harm to the lowest possible level.
We look forward to sharing updates on our progress and hopefully seeing similar carbon audits from more manufacturers in the timber and construction sectors.
Tom Barnes
Vastern Timber