On Tuesday, 2 March 2021, the Republic of Slovenia’s Ministry of Economic Development and Technology, Wood Industry Directorate, organized the event “How to reduce greenhouse gas emissions with wood”. It was organized as part of promotional activities for raising awareness about the benefits of using wood and wooden products.

The event started with welcoming words from Zdravko Počivalšek, Minister of Economic Development and Technology. He pointed out the need to transfer to a sustainable, green and local economy based on energy efficient technologies and materials such as wood. For this reason, the ministry is preparing a new regulation on green public procurement and upgrading the Climate and Eco Fund for timber construction.

Dr Andreja Kutnar, InnoRenew CoE director, presented a study recently prepared by the institute, “How to use the potential of wood and wood industry to achieve sustainable development breakthrough”, that sets the groundwork for preparation of Slovenia’s 2021–2027 wood industry strategy currently being developed by the Wood Industry Directorate. The study showed that there is much potential for development in the Slovenian wood processing industry by producing wood products with added value and achieving European Green Deal goals in terms of reducing carbon dioxide emissions.

The event ended with a roundtable discussion led by Dr Črtomir Tavzes from InnoRenew CoE. Participants discussed the role of Slovenia’s wood industry for reaching “Fit for 55” program goals, wood industry impacts and the role of timber construction in climate mitigation.