Sweden’s experience in low-carbon construction can contribute to developing cooperation with Azerbaijan in sustainable construction, innovation and urban development. That is according to Tobias Lorentzson, Ambassador Extraordinary and Plenipotentiary of the Kingdom of Sweden to Azerbaijan, who made the remarks at the launch of the Woodlife Sweden exhibition in Baku, a showcase of modern Swedish architecture staged in partnership with ADA University.
Lorentzson said Sweden’s track record in low-carbon construction was directly relevant to the global urban agenda taking shape ahead of the 13th World Urban Forum (WUF13), which opens in Baku on Sunday and runs until 22 May. Wood Central understands the exhibition’s opening coincides with Azerbaijan’s broader push to establish itself as a regional hub for sustainable urban development as it prepares to host the United Nations’ flagship urban summit.
At the exhibition launch, the ambassador said Sweden’s renewable-materials expertise had direct application to the global urban agenda being shaped at WUF13. “Sweden’s experience in renewable materials and low-carbon construction is valuable,” Lorentzson said, naming sustainable construction, innovation and urban development as three areas where Stockholm wants to deepen cooperation with Baku.
At home in Stockholm, Lorentzson can point to Atrium Ljungberg’s Wood City — the 250,000-square-metre development in the Sickla district — accelerating through its construction programme, with timber-floor construction running ahead of equivalent concrete builds and 2,000 apartments slated for delivery by 2027. Billed by developer Atrium Ljungberg as the world’s first five-minute city, the project demonstrates the wood-first approach Lorentzson now wants to extend to Azerbaijan.
Beyond the Woodlife Sweden showcase, Sweden’s commercial presence in Azerbaijan is already substantial, with companies including Ericsson, Volvo, SystemAir, Assa Abloy, Oriflame and SKF operating across the market and modular-housing specialist Emtunga targeting long-term engagement in renewables. Construction and offshore engineering expertise sit alongside the timber agenda the Embassy of Sweden wants to advance at WUF13, with the Kingdom looking for a broader role in Azerbaijan’s reconstruction and decarbonisation programme.
It comes as President Ilham Aliyev’s order declaring 2026 the Year of Urban Planning and Architecture in Azerbaijan opens the door to foreign sustainability expertise, with the WUF13 theme of Housing the World: Safe and Resilient Cities and Communities closely aligning with Sweden’s offer. With more than 70 per cent of Sweden covered by forest and compulsory reforestation enshrined in national law since 1903, Lorentzson takes the embassy’s case into the WUF13 sessions in Baku from Sunday.
