PEFC and Responsible Wood champion sustainable timber at WCTE 2025

26 May 2025 Sustainable construction

PEFC is pleased to announce our joint sponsorship of the World Conference on Timber Engineering (WCTE) 2025, hosted in Brisbane from 22–26 June 2025, in partnership with our member for Australasia, Responsible Wood.

WCTE is the world’s leading forum for timber engineering, a place where the innovation, research, design, and industry come together to shape the future of building with wood.

Our sponsorship demonstrates our commitment to championing certified timber as a climate-smart, design-forward, and socially responsible building material, one that plays an important role in the transition to a more sustainable built environment.

Why PEFC-certified timber matters more than ever

As the global spotlight on climate change intensifies, the demand for lower-carbon construction solutions continues to grow. In the race to reduce greenhouse gas emissions from buildings, there’s growing recognition that we need to address embodied carbon - the emissions tied to building materials, from extraction through to manufacturing and transport.

Timber is one of the few building materials that stores carbon rather than emitting it. Timber from certified, sustainable forest management is renewable, strong and adaptable. It is fast becoming the material of choice for everything from high-rise commercial towers to learning spaces, civic buildings, and residential homes.

However, although timber is a renewable, reusable and adaptable construction material, it is crucial that it is also sourced responsibly. Global sustainable forest management programmes such as PEFC’s provide assurances that the forest it came from is managed in line with globally recognised, demanding environmental, social, cultural and economic requirements.

Using certified timber helps built environment professionals meet a wide range of sustainability goals, including:

• Protecting biodiversity, soil and water
• Preventing illegal logging and land-use conversion
• Supporting local economies and forest communities
• Promoting worker safety and fair conditions
• Providing transparent, traceable supply chains for manufacturers and project owners
• Aligning with UN SGDs, ESG targets and green building requirements.

We believe forest certification is essential to the future of climate-conscious construction - bridging the gap between environmental commitments and credible practice.

About WCTE 2025

The conference attracts between 800 and 1,200 participants and is held every other year on a different continent – the last being held in Norway in 2023 – bringing together researchers, engineers, architects, consultants, contractors, project managers, suppliers and manufacturers from across the globe, to discuss the role of timber as an essential material in delivering more sustainably designed buildings and a healthier environment, alongside wider topics of decarbonisation, circular design and certification, regulation, and standards.

Join us

Participating in WCTE 2025 will provide opportunities to connect global expertise with local leadership, to ensure that timber continues to play a key role in shaping a sustainable, low carbon built environment.

WCTE 2025 will take place at the Brisbane Convention & Exhibition Centre, Brisbane, Australia 22-26 June 2025. For more information and to registers go to www.wcte2025.org