Wood modification (chemical, thermal, impregnation) represents an assortment of innovative processes continually being adopted in the wood protection sector. COST Action FP1407 (Understanding wood modification through an integrated scientific and environmental impact approach - ModWoodLife) was initiated in 2015, with its 4-year programme aiming to investigate modification processing and products design with emphasis on their environmental impacts. As was reported at Timber 2018, a recent task within COST FP1407 was to re-evaluate the current status of wood modification across the member countries, which resulted in a meeting in Florence, Italy, where the national status of wood modifications in 18 different European countries was presented.

However, it became clear that activities in other European countries needed to be addressed, and as a result, a more extensive evaluation of wood modification processes across Europe was undertaken. As a result, it became clear that the original figures quoted at Timber 2018 were considerably lower than actual production levels, which are reported herein. These figures suggest that wood modification is undergoing a significant increase in production due to demand, with levels of recent growth seemingly suggesting this will continue for the coming years.