How do I calculate the carbon footprint of a wooden chair, table or bed?
Weigh the solid wood, plywood or MDF, adhesives, polish, hardware and packaging in one piece and apply supplier or database factors. Add kiln drying fuel, workshop electricity and finishing. Report the carbon stored in the wood separately, not as a deduction from the total.
Materials
- Solid wood such as sheesham, mango or acacia: count the log or sawn timber bought, including offcuts.
- Plywood, MDF or particle board: resin content makes these higher per kg than solid wood.
- Adhesives, polish, lacquer, PU coating and stain.
- Hardware, glass, upholstery foam and fabric where used, and export cartons and foam.
Workshop energy
- Kiln or seasoning chamber fuel: often firewood or offcuts, whose CO2 is biogenic and reported separately.
- Electricity for saws, planers, CNC routers, sanders and spray booths.
- Compressor electricity for spray guns and nailers.
Stored carbon and land use
Wood holds carbon taken from the air. Product footprint standards ask you to report this biogenic carbon separately, not to net it off. If the timber comes from land cleared of forest, land use change emissions apply, and EU buyers may also ask for EUDR traceability.
Worked example: furniture workshop per piece (one month)
- Electricity: 12,000 kWh x 0.710 = 8,520 kg CO2
- Generator diesel: 600 litres x 2.68 = 1,608 kg CO2
- Pieces dispatched: 800
- Plant total: 10,128 / 800 = 12.66 kg CO2 per piece
- Add timber, boards, finishes, hardware and packaging for the full figure
Inputs are illustrative; use your own bills and production records.
What Senseible does here
Senseible reads the plant's electricity bills (CEA grid factor 0.710 kg CO2 per kWh, CO2 Baseline Database version 21.0) and fuel invoices (IPCC 2006 defaults) into a fingerprinted Scope 1 and 2 record, the plant-level input to a per-unit figure. Bought-in materials go to the supplier evidence trail; product reports are self-declared drafts.
- Product carbon footprint calculator
- Biogenic carbon in timber products
- EUDR for wooden handicrafts and furniture
Sources: GHG Protocol Product Standard, ISO 14067:2018, Carbon footprint of products (iso.org), IPCC 2006 Guidelines, Volume 2 Energy (fuel defaults), CEA CO2 Baseline Database, version 21.0
Last reviewed 2026-10-20.