Heatwaves and Adhesives? How Wood Panels Support a Low-Carbon Future 

Source: Radhey Khandelwal on Unsplash

Across Europe, record-breaking heatwaves are becoming increasingly common and severe. According to the Copernicus Climate Change Service, June 2026 was the warmest June on record in Western Europe, bringing widespread drought conditions and increased wildfire risks across several regions. These events underline the growing urgency of both climate adaptation and mitigation.  

Much of the public discussion around heatwaves increasingly focuses on how societies can adapt: protecting vulnerable communities, improving urban resilience, and redesigning cities for a warmer climate. However, adapting our built environment to a warmer climate also raises a broader question:  

How can the materials used to create a resilient built environment contribute to

climate mitigation rather than increase environmental pressures?  

Wood-based materials are expected to play an important role in sustainable construction. Their renewable origin, ability to store carbon, and wide range of applications make them an attractive alternative to more carbon-intensive materials. Research on wood composite panels indicates that carbon stored during a typical service life of 25-30 years can substantially exceed the emissions generated during manufacturing. This highlights the importance of considering the entire life cycle when evaluating the environmental performance of these products.[1]  

This life-cycle perspective is essential. While adaptation measures are necessary to address the impacts of climate change, long-term climate action also requires reducing greenhouse gas emissions across all sectors of the economy, including industrial processes and material production.  

Every year, the European wood panels industry produces over 60 million m³ of particleboard (PB)

and medium-density fibreboard (MDF).   

These materials are typically manufactured using renewable wood resources and recycled wood, but they are still predominantly manufactured using fossil-based adhesives, most of which contain formaldehyde.   

Adhesives used within wood panels for furniture and construction applications contribute to

the environmental footprint of finished products throughout their life cycle. 

 Life-cycle assessments of wood-based panels show that overall environmental performance depends on every stage and input of the manufacturing process, including the chemicals used to bind wood fibres together.[2] Other studies of particleboard and MDF production have found that adhesive resin, despite typically making up only a small share of a panel’s total mass, can be one of the more significant contributors to a panel’s manufacturing-stage environmental impact, alongside energy use.[3][4] 

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This is the challenge addressed by the Horizon Europe project SUSBOARD.  

The project is developing a 100% bio-based, formaldehyde-free adhesive for particleboard and MDF by replacing fossil-derived components with renewable alternatives while maintaining performance, durability, and cost-effectiveness required for industrial production. In addition to reducing reliance on fossil-derived feedstocks, eliminating formaldehyde aligns with growing efforts to improve indoor environmental quality and develop safer materials for workers and consumers. Because adhesive production can contribute disproportionately to a panel’s footprint relative to its share of material mass, replacing its fossil-derived components with bio-based, renewable-carbon alternatives has the potential to reduce life-cycle emissions out of proportion to the small volume of material involved.  

By advancing next-generation adhesive technologies, SUSBOARD aims to support the manufacture of wood panels with a lower environmental footprint and enable more sustainable furniture and construction products.    

This approach reflects a broader shift towards decarbonising industrial materials and manufacturing processes. While renewable energy remains central to Europe’s climate ambitions, achieving climate neutrality will also depend on reducing emissions embedded in the products and materials used throughout the economy. Industrial chemistry, material innovation, and resource-efficient manufacturing all have an important role to play alongside developments in the energy sector.  

The environmental case for bio-based adhesives extends beyond production-stage emissions. Wood panels are increasingly recognised as part of a circular material flow, in which recovered wood fibres are reused across successive product generations before final energy recovery. Research modelling the end-of-life pathways of wood products shows that improved recycling and cascading use of panel materials can substantially increase their overall climate benefit[5], and that better management of these resource flows is central to realising the decarbonisation potential of wood-based materials at scale.[6] A fully bio-based, renewable-carbon adhesive could help remove one of the practical barriers to circularity, as fossil-based resins and their associated formaldehyde content can complicate the recovery and reuse of wood fibres at end of life. 

In addition to developing a novel adhesive formulation, SUSBOARD is generating the scientific knowledge needed to support the wider transition towards safer and more sustainable wood panel production. The project combines expertise in bio-based chemistry, materials science, manufacturing and sustainability assessment to demonstrate that renewable alternatives can meet industrial performance requirements while contributing to Europe’s environmental objectives. This positions SUSBOARD within a broader movement in the wood-panel sector towards circular bioeconomy models, in which recycled feedstocks, bio-based binders, and decarbonisation strategies are developed in parallel rather than in isolation.[7] 

Recent research has shown that fossil fuel emissions have substantially intensified European heatwaves over recent decades, reinforcing the need to reduce greenhouse gas emissions across all sectors of the economy. As Europe continues to accelerate its decarbonisation efforts, innovation in materials and manufacturing will become increasingly important alongside advances in renewable energy, energy efficiency and circular resource use.   

Within this broader context, SUSBOARD demonstrates how innovation in an often-overlooked component of wood products can contribute to climate objectives. By developing a 100% bio-based, formaldehyde-free adhesive for particleboard and MDF, the project aims to reduce the carbon footprint of wood panels by up to 30% while supporting the transition towards safer and more sustainable production methods.   

Extreme heatwaves are a clear reminder of the challenges posed and highlight the importance of addressing emissions throughout industrial value chains. By rethinking the materials used in everyday products, projects such as SUSBOARD illustrate how innovation in industrial chemistry can contribute to Europe’s transition towards a low-carbon, resource-efficient and climate resilient future.

[1] Puettmann, M. E. (2022). Carbon Analysis of Wood Composite Panels. Forest Products Journal, 72(2), 112–115. https://doi.org/10.13073/FPJ-D-22-00010 

[2] Costa, D., Serra, J., Quinteiro, P., & Dias, A. (2024). Life Cycle Assessment of Wood-Based Panels: A Review. Journal of Cleaner Production, 444, 140955. https://doi.org/10.1016/j.jclepro.2024.140955 

[3] Comparative life cycle assessment of medium density fiberboard and particleboard: A case study in China. Journal of Cleaner Production. sciencedirect.com/science/article/abs/pii/S0926669023012086 

[4] Life Cycle Assessment (LCA) of Particleboard: Investigation of the Environmental Parameters. pmc.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/articles/PMC8272049 

[5] Király, É., Kis-Kovács, G., Börcsök, Z., et al. (2023). Modelling Carbon Storage Dynamics of Wood Products with the HWP-RIAL Model. Sustainability, 15(7), 6322. https://doi.org/10.3390/su15076322 

[6] Himes, A., Busby, G., et al. (2023). Circular Wood Use Can Accelerate Global Decarbonisation but Requires Better Management of Resource Flows. Nature Communications, 14. https://doi.org/10.1038/s41467-023-42499-6 

[7] Antov, P., Lee, S. H., Lubis, M. A. R., et al. (2023). Advanced Eco-Friendly Wood-Based Composites II. Forests, 14(4), 826. https://doi.org/10.3390/f14040826