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Climate change places great pressure on the construction sector to decrease its greenhouse gas emissions and to create solutions that perform well in changing weather conditions. Our study explores citizen perceptions on wood usage as a building material under expected mitigation and adaptation measures aimed at a changing climate and extreme weather events. The data are founded on an internet-based survey material collected from a consumer panel from Finland and Sweden during May-June 2021, with a total of 2015 responses. By employing exploratory factor analysis, we identified similar belief structures for the two countries, consisting of both positive and negative views on wood construction. In linear regression models for predicting these beliefs, the perceived seriousness of climate change was found to increase positive views on wood construction but was insignificant for negative views. Both in Finland and Sweden, higher familiarity with wooden multistory construction was found to connect with more positive views on the potential of wood in building, e.g., due to carbon storage and material properties. Our findings underline the potential of wood material use as one avenue of climate change adaptation in the built environment. Future research should study how citizens' concerns for extreme weather events affect their future material preferences in their everyday living environments, also beyond the Nordic region. Key words: climate change adaptation, wood, residential building, extreme weather, citizen data Les changements climatiques exercent une forte pression sur le secteur de la construction pour l'inciter a reduire ses emissions de gaz a effet de serre et creer des solutions performantes dans des conditions meteorologiques changeantes. Notre etude se penche sur les perceptions des citoyens en ce qui a trait a l'utilisation du bois comme materiau de construction dans le cadre des mesures d'attenuation et d'adaptation prevues pour faire face aux changements climatiques et aux evenements meteorologiques extre mes. Les donnees sont fondees sur une enquete en ligne menee aupres d'un panel de consommateurs finlandais et suedois en mai et juin 2021. Nous avons recu un total de 2015 reponses. En utilisant une analyse factorielle exploratoire, nous avons identifie des structures de perceptions similaires pour les deux pays, consistant en des opinions positives et negatives sur la construction en bois. Dans les modeles de regression lineaire permettant de predire ces perceptions, on a constate que la gravite percue des changements climatiques augmentait les opinions positives sur la construction en bois, mais n'etait pas significative pour les opinions negatives. En Finlande et en Suede, on a constate qu'une plus grande familiarite avec la construction en bois a plusieurs etages etait liee a des opinions plus positives sur le potentiel du bois dans la construction, par exemple, en raison du stockage du carbone et des proprietes du materiau. Nos resultats soulignent le potentiel de l'utilisation du bois en tant que moyen d'adaptation aux changements climatiques dans l'environnement bati. Les recherches a venir devraient etudier comment les preoccupations des citoyens concernant les evenements climatiques extremes influencent leurs preferences futures en matiere de materiaux dans leur environnement de vie quotidien, et aussi au-dela de la region nordique. [Traduit par la Redaction] Mots-cles : adaptation aux changements climatiques, bois, batiment residentiel, conditions meteorologiques extremes, donnees citoyennes, 1. Introduction Increasing awareness of climate change since the launch of the IPCC (2018) Global Warming of 1.5 [degrees]C special report has set great pressure to the aim of rapidly [...]

This study examined public attitudes towards multi-storey wood buildings (MSWBs) in seven European countries. A questionnaire was distributed to online panellists in Austria, Denmark, Finland, Germany, Norway, Sweden and the United Kingdom. Results from 7007 complete questionnaires indicate that respondents knew less about MSWBs in countries where brick, stone and concrete are the most commonly used house frame elements in construction (United Kingdom, Germany and Denmark) compared to countries with a stronger wood building tradition (Austria, Finland, Norway and Sweden). Respondents in Finland and Sweden had the most positive attitudes towards MSWB. The number of respondents, who considered a prospective apartment in an MSWB appealing, was approximately equal to the number that considered it an unappealing alternative. The factors most influencing the respondents' perception of MSWBs as a nice place to live were (i) vulnerability to fire, (ii) material solidity and durability, (iii) healthy indoor environment and (iv) vulnerability to moisture. The results from this study add new knowledge to the understanding of cross-country differences of preferences among the public for living in MSWBs. The results can be used to support the MSWB planning and marketing efforts in the countries involved. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

This study identifies new wood-based products with considerable potential and attractive markets, including textiles, liquid biofuels, platform chemicals, plastics, and packaging. We apply a mixed-methods review to examine how the position of the forest industry in a given value chain determines the respective production value. An assessment is provided as to the degree to which these emerging wood-based products could compensate for the foreseen decline of graphic paper markets in four major forest industry countries: USA, Canada, Sweden, and Finland. A 1%-2% market share in selected global markets implies a potential increase in revenues of 18-75 billion euros per annum in the four selected countries by 2030. This corresponds to 10%-43% of the production value of forest industries in 2016 and compares with a projected decline of graphic paper industry revenue of 5.5 billion euros by 2030. The respective impacts on wood use are manifold, as many of the new products utilize by-products as feedstock. The increase in primary wood use, which is almost entirely attributed to construction and to some extent textiles markets, would be in the range of 15-133 million [m.sup.3], corresponding to 2%-21% of the current industrial round-wood use in the selected countries.Key words: bioeconomy, competitiveness, forest industry, new wood-based products, value chain.Cette etude identifie de nouveaux produits a base de bois ayant un grand potentiel de developpement ainsi que des marches attrayants, tels que les textiles, les biocarburants liquides, les produits chimiques porteurs, les plastiques et les emballages. Nous avons utilise une revue des methodes mixtes pour analyser comment la position de l'industrie forestiere dans une chaine de valeur donnee determine la production de valeur pour les produits selectionnes. On presente une evaluation des chances que ces nouveaux produits puissent compenser le declin envisage dans le marche du papier graphique dans quatre principaux pays producteurs de bois: les Etats-Unis, le Canada, la Suede et la Finlande. Une augmentation de 1 a 2 % des parts de marche dans des secteurs precis represente un gain potentiel de revenus de 18 a 75 milliards d'euros par annee d'ici 2030, et ce pour les quatre pays. Cela represente 10 a 43 % de la valeur de la production des industries forestieres en 2016 comparativement a une diminution projetee des revenus de 5,5 milliards d'euros pour l'industrie du papier graphique d'ici 2030. Les impacts respectifs sur l'utilisation du bois sont nombreux, puisque plusieurs de ces nouveaux produits utilisent des sous- produits du bois comme matiere premiere. L'augmentation de l'utilisation primaire du bois, qui est presque entierement attribuable a la construction et jusqu'a un certain point aux marches du textile, representerait 15 a 133 milliards [m.sup.3], ce qui represente 2 a 21 % de l'utilisation actuelle du bois pour la transformation industrielle dans les pays selectionnes. [Traduit par la Redaction]Mots-cles: bioeconomie, competitivite, industrie forestiere, nouveaux produits du bois, chaine de valeur., 1. IntroductionThe 17 global sustainable development goals (United Nations (UN) 2015a) and the Paris climate agreement (UN 2015b) set internationally recognized goals that require transforming towards more sustainable business practices. [...]

This study investigated people's requirements for multi-story housing attributes and preferences for apartments in wooden-structure versus steel/concrete-structure multi-story buildings. Data came from an online survey conducted in Finland and Sweden that screened for respondents who expressed a preference for living in an apartment, as compared with a low-rise dwelling. Responses were analyzed using exploratory factor and regression analyses. Swedish respondents assigned significantly higher requirements to factors related to environmental and social sustainability performance than Finnish respondents. Requirements in both countries were described across three factors: environmental and social sustainability, quality, and design. Factor scores differed between socioeconomic sub-groups, particularly regarding quality, between urban and non-urban respondents. Preferences to live in an apartment in a wooden building were positively associated with respondents' requirements for environmental and social sustainability, and negatively with requirements for quality-related attributes. Opposite relationships were found in the Swedish sample for apartments in non-wooden structure houses. Design requirements had no significant association with preferences for a specific material in load-bearing structures for multi-story buildings, in either country. The findings can contribute toward enhanced marketing efforts and customized value propositions to increase the social acceptability of multi-story wooden buildings and advance climate-related goals within the housing sector. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]