IIASA Director General Hans Joachim (John) Schellnhuber will be a keynote speaker at the second International Holzbau Symposium with the Summit on Sustainable Building and Housing, taking place in Berlin, Germany, on 29 April 2026. The symposium will bring together leading voices from science, policy, and industry to explore how wood construction can contribute to climate mitigation, sustainable economic development, and the provision of affordable housing.
The 2026 symposium builds on the success of its inaugural edition in 2025 and focuses on the urgent transformation of the construction sector, which is responsible for around 40% of global CO₂ emissions, towards renewable, circular materials. Wood is highlighted as a key solution due to its ability to store carbon and enable faster, more resource-efficient building processes. The event is jointly organized by Holzbau Deutschland, the Holzbau Deutschland Institute, and Bauhaus Erde, and will feature high-level participants from government, academia, and industry discussing the economic and climate potential of timber-based construction.
As part of the scientific program, Schellnhuber will deliver a keynote highlighting the role of wood construction in addressing the climate crisis. In his keynote at the 2025 symposium, he emphasized that timber buildings can act as long-term carbon sinks, effectively “storing atmospheric carbon in the built environment” and contributing to climate repair. His address at this year's symposium will contribute to discussions on how bio-based materials, such as timber, can help reconcile the growing demand for housing with the need for rapid emissions reductions.
The symposium program is structured in two parts with the morning session focusing on scientific and technical exchange, including keynote presentations and expert discussions on climate protection, resource availability, and innovation in wood construction, while the afternoon summit will feature a high-level policy dialogue where government representatives will discuss regulatory frameworks and strategies to accelerate the transition toward sustainable building practices.
Key thematic areas include:
- The role of timber in addressing the housing crisis
- Climate mitigation potential across the forest–wood value chain
- Policy and regulatory frameworks to scale up sustainable construction
Visit the official symposium website for further information (in German)
Upcoming Events
Online and in Raiffa room at IIASA (Laxenburg, Austria)
AI for Climate Science seminar series: How much climate data do we need? Machine learning approaches for evaluating high-resolution climate models
Online (closed expert workshop)
Expert workshop on food waste emissions methodologies and MRV systems
Heiligenblut am Großglockner, Austria
Forum Anthropozän 2026: IIASA Director General to deliver keynote on the “Good Anthropocene”
Hybrid: online and at the Austrian Academy of Sciences
Public lecture: Digitalization and AI within planetary boundaries
Chulalongkorn University, Thailand