Wood instead of steel and concrete: Schellnhuber calls for a green Bauhaus movement

"Without a radical shift in building, the Paris climate agreement will fail," Schellnhuber said. "However, if we replace steel and concrete with organic materials such as wood or bamboo, we can avoid significant amounts of climate-damaging emissions. [...] With regenerative architecture, we could virtually build our way out of the climate crisis." According to his calculations, a single-family house made of solid wood alone offsets the CO2 emissions of 100 round-trip flights between Berlin and New York. This would transform building from a source of CO2 to a powerful sink.

Like the Bauhaus movement of the early 20th century, the “Bauhaus der Erde” aspires to create a holistic approach to the built environment. It will initiate a broad social discourse to shape a new vision of the built environment: a vision, based on the principles of sustainability, participation and aesthetics, that must be implemented in the coming decade. The “Bauhaus der Erde” has received start-up funding of 2.5 million euro from Laudes Foundation for the corresponding activities.