The UK government has launched a new roadmap to boost the sustainable use of timber within the construction sector of the country and increase domestic supply.

The announcement follows the ministerial meeting on urbanisation during the ongoing Conference of Parties 28 summit.

Timber Development UK CEO David Hopkins said: “Timber construction has been recognised as essential to tackling built environment emissions by key advisory bodies such as the Environmental Audit Committee and Climate Change Committee.”

The Timber in Construction Roadmap is designed to boost the country’s efforts to reduce its emissions and reach net zero by 2050.

Some key actions outlined in the strategy include improving data on timber and whole-life carbon; boosting skills, capacity, and competency across the supply chain; and promoting timber as a construction material.

It also includes increasing the supply of sustainable timber products; building collaboration with insurers, lenders, and warranty providers; and addressing fire safety concerns to safely expand the use of engineered mass timber.

Currently, the country imports 80% of its timber needs and is now looking to increase the domestic supply of the material.

This would result in the creation of new green jobs in the forestry and wood processing sectors, which contribute more than £2bn to the UK's economy.

UK Forestry Minister Rebecca Pow said: “Investing in timber is investing in growth and levelling up. The built environment is responsible for a huge proportion of UK carbon emissions, and using home-grown timber in construction is key to reducing emissions.

“Promoting the use of timber as a building material is a key part of the government’s Net Zero Strategy. It will innovate the economy, play a role in creating green jobs and also help meet our tree-planting targets.”