Canada Needs to Handle Timber similarly to Vehicles, not Holiday Homes
In a bid to address housing affordability and combat climate change, Canada is spearheading a shift towards mass timber construction. This transition, spearheaded by the Build Canada Homes (BCH) plan, was proposed by the special operating agency under Housing, Infrastructure and Communities Canada (HICC), initiated by Prime Minister Mark Carney in 2025.
The story of carbon accounting plays a significant role in the appeal of mass timber. Environmental product declarations for Canadian Cross-Laminated Timber (CLT) already demonstrate that more carbon is stored than emitted, making the product net negative before it even reaches a site.
The Transition Accelerator has set ambitious production goals, aiming to produce one million cubic meters of mass timber by 2030 and doubling that by 2035. To achieve these goals, finance needs to flow into 10 to 12 regional factories, each capable of producing at the scale required.
The opportunity for Canada is twofold. Domestically, meeting the housing target is only possible if industrialized timber methods are scaled. Internationally, Canada has the forest resources and expertise to capture a large share of the growing mass timber market.
The report suggests that Canada needs to produce 500,000 housing units per year to stabilize affordability, but traditional site-built construction is not delivering that scale. Decarbonizing the forestry chain can drive the mass timber process close to zero emissions, and with Canada's electricity grid moving to net zero by 2035, these shifts would make the mass timber process almost emission-free.
The report also proposes treating housing like advanced manufacturing, using mass timber and modular methods to increase efficiency and reduce construction time. Pattern books of pre-approved designs should be created to streamline the construction process.
However, challenges remain. Insurance premiums for mass timber projects can be four to ten times higher than for concrete. Stronger construction phase fire standards and insurer education are needed to address public concerns about fire safety in timber buildings. National data trusts, pooled risk pilots for insurance, reciprocity agreements on certifications, and prescriptive code adoption can help normalize risk premiums for mass timber.
Building codes are inconsistent across provinces in Canada, and procurement rules should reward low carbon materials, ensuring that embodied carbon targets tilt the field toward timber over concrete and steel.
Canada is not alone in this shift. Countries like Austria, Germany, Finland, Sweden, Japan, the United States, China, and Brazil have already integrated mass timber production into their strategies.
Michael Barnard's article summarizes this comprehensive report on housing issues in Canada, highlighting the potential of mass timber to revolutionize the construction industry and address pressing environmental and housing challenges. Workforce training in specialized areas like 3D modeling, CNC operation, and timber framing is crucial for mass timber production. The government's role as an anchor customer, issuing multi-year offtake contracts for modular mass timber housing, is also crucial in driving this transition.
The report predicts that demand for cement and steel will peak much earlier than mainstream models anticipate and then decline steadily for the rest of the century due to a shift in construction materials. End-of-life strategies like designing for disassembly, reuse, cascading into smaller uses, converting to biochar, or integrating carbon capture can extend the carbon storage of timber buildings for centuries.
Replacing concrete and steel with mass timber in mid-rise apartments can cut embodied carbon by 15 to 30% depending on the design. Electric harvesters, battery trucks, biomass or heat pump kilns, and lignin-based adhesives are available or near commercial, further enhancing the sustainability of mass timber construction.
In conclusion, the shift towards mass timber construction in Canada presents a significant opportunity to address housing affordability and combat climate change, while also supporting domestic industries and contributing to the global market. However, challenges remain, and addressing concerns about insurance, fire safety, and building codes will be crucial in driving this transition forward.
