In California, trees in the Sierra Nevada are dying due to climate change-induced droughts. Worldwide, humans are in dire need of sequestering more carbon from the atmosphere — a process that trees embody.

So could using more wood products from dead and small trees in tall buildings be a solution? Specifically, cross-laminated timber (CLT), with precisely cut layers of wood layered on top of each other, provides a lumber building block that is efficient, sturdy — and can be comprised of lumber from those same small and dead trees.

Europe has been using cross-laminated timber for a while, and now the United States is catching on. The benefits for the climate are potentially multifold. Since one of the challenges to thinning forests to prevent devastating fires and removing dead trees from drought-stricken areas is that it’s expensive, cross-laminated timber presents a potential economic revenue stream to help fund the projects. Otherwise, timber harvesters have to cut big trees to make the thinning work pencil out, while cash-strapped governments lack the public dollars to tackle such a large-scale problem.

Meanwhile, wood in tall buildings means that sequestered carbon from the trees is captured in the building, instead of released to the air from inevitable wildfires. Not to mention that more tall buildings means denser urban environments that can reduce vehicle miles traveled and energy and water usage.

Policy action will be needed to deploy environmentally beneficial cross-laminated timber, from permitting changes on the harvesting, building codes that allow cross-laminated timber, and demonstration projects that prove the feasibility and desired environmental outcomes. But given the scale of the challenge, we’ll need to explore innovative solutions like cross-laminated timber as a solution for both healthy forests and the climate.