The new online forest certification system aims to provide a simple and cost-effective solution to assist the UK’s small and medium-sized private forest owners to become PEFC-certified. The new tool is designed to help increase the UK’s certified forest area and boost the supply of certified material to the UK primary processing sector and its customers. The online tool was launched at a special Press Lunch in central London during a rare UK gathering of major figures from PEFC, including PEFC International Chairman, William Street, and CEO Ben Gunneberg, to discuss key issues surrounding the global forestry, construction, paper and packaging industries. While PEFC forest certification has been established in the UK for five years, it has long been recognized that a cost-effective certification solution was required to enable smaller woodland owners to participate in certification.

This year, PEFC’s Collaboration Fund has gone truly global, with the winning projects coming from all four corners of the world. “It’s the first year in the Collaboration Fund’s five year history that we’ve had such well-developed proposals full of ambitious and innovative ideas come in from all around the world,” said Sarah Price, Head of Projects and Development at PEFC International, following the announcement of the winning projects at a PEFC members event in London. “It is with great pleasure that we announce our 2015 support to projects in Portugal, Guiana Shield & Amazon, Indonesia and Ghana. Collectively the projects will support smallholder accessibility to PEFC certification, expand our global representation and deepen scientific understanding of carbon stocks in managed tropical forests,” Ms. Price concluded.

J.D. Irving Limited’s (JDI) partnership with Natural Resources Canada's Canadian Forest Service has led to the commercial development of advanced tree breeding, field testing and seedling production techniques. Maritime Innovation, JDI's new lab in Sussex, New Brunswick was designed to use advanced seedling production technologies based on selection from our native tree population for a range of high value traits such as fast growth rate, high wood quality, resistance to insects and disease and broad adaptation to climate change. A propagation method called Somatic Embryogenesis is used to produce large numbers of seedling from a broad range of genetically diverse trees which have been field tested across the region.

“At a time when the world’s governments, businesses and civil society leaders are focusing on developing global commitments to combat climate change, to be agreed at the Climate Summit in Paris in December this year, consumers can already participate in making a difference,” said Mr. William Street Jr., Chairman of PEFC International, at a specially convened summit of the world’s leading experts in sustainable forest management certification in London this week. Calling on British consumers to do their bit by seeking and buying day-to-day products carrying the prestigious PEFC ‘two trees’ label, Mr. Street emphasized that “it is within everybody’s power to combat climate change, and often all that is required are simple actions. By opting for PEFC-labeled products for example, we can all make our own small yet important contribution to avoid deforestation and support responsible forest management”.

At Best Buy, we believe being sustainable is good for business, and we have proof. Contrary to the old adage that it costs more to be “green” – it really can save money. Our recent 20% carbon reduction attainment saved Best Buy more than $50 million. Our leaders get it – they made sustainability a priority even through the Company’s turnaround. It’s also easy to say you’re a “green” company. But we’re walking the talk – cutting down on carbon, recycling more and minimizing waste – and people are starting to notice. Best Buy placed 35th (up from 81st in 2014!) out of the largest 500 publicly-traded companies in the U.S. on the recently released Newsweek Green Rankings list. More significantly, the Company jumped to the second spot among retailers. We can attribute this higher score to increased transparency and continued improvement in areas like carbon reduction.

UPS (NYSE: UPS) has been recognized with a 2015 Eco-Friendly Award from the Alpine Group, LLC, an Idaho-based transportation asset management company. UPS was recognized for collecting and moving more than 4.3 million pounds of recycling in 2014. The Eco-Friendly Awards program evaluation criteria also awarded extra merit for transportation safety awareness and in keeping America’s roads a safer place to travel.

Pratt officially opened two new recycling facilities this week, including a 110,000 sq. ft. plant in Gary, Indiana. The other is a 38,000 sq. ft. site in Wichita, Kansas. Both will support the company’s state-of-the-art paper mill in Valparaiso, In., which comes on-line this September. Together, the two facilities, the company’s 16th and 17th recycling plants, will have the capacity to process more than 120,000 tons of recyclables annually, most of it recovered paper but also metal and plastics.

Hungary has taken an important step forwards in the development of its National Forest Certification System with the launch of the national public consultation for the Hungarian sustainable forest management standard. There has been a growing demand among local stakeholders for a PEFC-endorsed forest certification system in the country since as far back as 2002. However, due to Hungary’s short history of private forest ownership, the country has lacked a strong association to take on the role of National Governing Body – a vital role for both the development and running of a national system.

The CFCC and PEFC logos can now be seen together on a product for the first time in China, with the launch of Asia Symbol’s “Paper One” copy paper in early June. By displaying both logos together, the company can now immediately demonstrate its commitment to sustainable forest management to both Chinese and international markets. “The launching of Asia Symbol's certified products carrying the CFCC and PEFC combined logo has set a good example to companies in the paper manufacturing sector of China to pursue sustainable development,” said Mr. Wang Wei, Chairperson of China Forest Certification Council (CFCC) and Executive Deputy Director General of Science and Technology Development Center of State Forestry Administration (SFA). “We look forward to seeing many more China-made paper products going global with a green passport of forest certification.”

Richard Stover, PhD, and the Center for Biological Diversity counted nearly 8,000 significant incidents, between 1986 and 2014, in records of the pipeline safety administration. By “significant” they mean causing injury, death, damages exceeding $50,000 in value, a loss of 5 barrels of highly volatile substances, 50 barrels of other liquids or there was an explosion. There have been more than 500 human deaths and 2,300 injuries through-out that period. The number of plant and animal casualties is much higher. Though most pipeline failures occur where there is a long history of development, they occur through-out the Lower 48. Texas is the worst offender, with 1657 incidents. California had 621 and 48 deaths. The leading causes of incidents are excavation damages (24.3%), corrosion (18.2%) and equipment failure (17.1%).

The American Forest & Paper Association (AF&PA) won a 36th Annual Bronze Telly Award for its Improving Paper Recycling video. The video promotes increased quantity and quality of paper and paper-based packaging recovered for recycling. The annual Telly Awards program honors excellence in broadcast and online video content. The award-winning video, which was recognized specifically for its green and eco-friendly messaging, is available at http://www.paperrecycles.org/. “AF&PA is honored to receive a Bronze Telly for our Improving Paper Recycling video, which is part of our ongoing effort to increase paper recycling nationwide,” said AF&PA President and CEO Donna Harman. The video was developed by Leading Authorities, Inc. For their outstanding work and dedication to the finished product AF&PA thanks Creative Director James Favata, Project Manager Tori Furphy, Scriptwriter Justin Kelly, Designer/Animator Rob Kramer, and Voice Talent Icie Favata.

Visitation at U.S. National Parks may potentially increase with increasing temperature in temperate areas, but may decrease with temperatures rising over 80 degrees Fahrenheit, according to a study using future climate and visitation modeling scenarios published June 17 in the open-access journal PLOS ONE by Nicholas Fisichelli and colleagues from U.S. National Park Service. Climate change may affect not only natural and cultural resources within protected areas, but also park tourism. To assess the relationship between climate and park visitation, the authors of this study evaluated historical monthly mean air temperature and Park service visitation data (1979-2013) at 340 parks, ranging from Guam to Alaska, and projected potential future visitation (2041-2060) based on two warming-climate scenarios and two visitation-growth scenarios.

IVL Swedish Environmental Research Institute has concluded a comparative study on the environmental performance of different packaging solutions. The study compares the lifecycles of plastic products versus corresponding paper products from BillerudKorsnäs. The results show that paper has considerably more favorable environmental qualities than plastic, such as 50-70% lower greenhouse gas emissions. IVL’s study looks at the entire product lifecycle, from material production up until it is thrown away or recycled. Although the transportation and packaging production of plastic products emits less greenhouse gas, the results show that the overall product lifecycle of paper products give rise to far less emissions. Material production of both paper and plastic packaging is the most energy intense part of production. But according to the study, which has been verified by Bureau Veritas, plastic production emits far more greenhouse gas than paper production.

Forest - All raw material used in paper production is now sourced under certified Chain of Custody systems Climate Change - 21.6% reduction in carbon emissions per tonne of paper produced, on track for 2020 target of 25% reduction Water - 28% reduction in organic content of water (COD) returned to the environment from mills, on track for 2020 target of 33% reduction Waste - Twelve out of 38 paper mills effectively did not send waste to landfill in 2014

Print and paper is a highly sustainable form of communication in today’s digital society. Despite this, there are still misconceptions that it is wasteful, detrimental to the environment and responsible for deforestation. More worrying is the misunderstanding that digital communication is more environmentally friendly, which is not always the case. To address these misconceptions, and to better inform and educate consumers, businesses and the public at large, Two Sides, a global initiative to promote the sustainability and attractiveness of print and paper, has published a series of 11 fact sheets to address a wide array of environmental and social issues. The comprehensive fact sheets cover the most common areas of misunderstanding, ranging from the real environmental impact of electronic communication, to the sustainability of paper-based printed products, as well as tackling the important role that print and paper plays in literacy and learning.

There is urgent need for government, donors and industry to support the newly established Vietnamese Forestry Certification System in order to meet the government’s ambitious forest certification targets, especially given the vast amount of smallholders in the country. It is therefore essential to ensure that certification is an affordable, accessible and realistic option for uptake throughout Vietnam’s forest sector, including smallholders. This is one of the outcomes of the ‘Furthering PEFC: Challenges and Opportunities for Smallholders Using a Cooperative Model’ workshop in Hue, Vietnam at the end of May, which brought together more than sixty stakeholders from across the forestry sector.

UPM, WWF Finland, Finnish Environment Institute and Metsähallitus Parks & Wildlife Finland have carried through a joint project to promote the living conditions of the endangered white-backed woodpecker in commercial forests. During the last 20 years, the population of the white-backed woodpecker has multiplied thanks to the conservation and management activities of its natural habitat. Today there are more than 200 pairs of white-backed woodpeckers nesting in our forests.

Have you ever wondered if it is more sustainable to use paper products made from fresh or recycled fiber? It is a fair question to ask, but a question that cannot be answered with either-or. With their latest Facts & Trends report, the WBCSD Forest Solutions Group demonstrates the complementarity of fresh and recycled fiber for the sustainable supply of renewable raw material and products, outlining the environmental tradeoffs between choosing either fresh and recycled fiber and emphasizing how to maximize the value of each harvested tree. Fresh and recycled fiber are part of single-integrated wood fiber system – without fresh fiber, we would have no recycled fiber available.

UPM has received recognition from the Food and Agriculture Organization of the United Nations (FAO) for its exemplary forest management practices. The recognition was conferred by the Forestry General Direction of Uruguay as part of a National Workshop titled “Methodological Transfer of Exemplary Cases of Sustainable Forest Management”. The acknowledgement followed a thorough investigation of various aspects of the company’s production chain conducted by a panel of experts from the INIA (Agribusiness Research Institute), the Faculty of Agriculture of the University of the Republic of Uruguay and the Faculty of Agricultural Sciences.

Two major pulp and paper companies in Indonesia — Asia Pacific Resources International, or APRIL, and Asia Pulp & Paper, or APP — have become the first in the country to achieve IFCC sustainable forest management certification. IFCC, the Indonesian Forestry Certification Cooperation, is the national PEFC-endorsed forest certification system in Indonesia. Certification was awarded to more than 600,000 hectares of forests following third-party audits to ensure their management practices are in line with the PEFC-endorsed IFCC standard requirements. The certificates are now valid for three years.

SCA takes a 360-degree approach to its environmental impact – we have targets in place to reduce our carbon dioxide emissions, tripling the production of forest-based biofuels and increasing the availability of wind power. One example of how SCA are taking major strides in reducing the carbon dioxide emissions can be found in SCAs plant in Nokia, Finland. Together with a number of other companies, SCA is investing in a new biofuel plant in Finland. Through joint production of energy from biomass, which stems from the forest, SCA’s Finnish plant in Nokia will no longer be dependent on Russian natural gas for its steam generation. In addition, the plant will drastically reduce its carbon footprint – by about 20,000 tons per year, corresponding to 40%.

Paper manufacturing is based largely on the use of renewable natural fibers. Until the mid to late 1800s, non-wood plant fibers, in the form of linen and cotton rags and hemp ropes, were the main raw materials for the pulp and paper industry. Increasing demand and developments in low cost wood pulping resulted in a large expansion of the wood-based pulp and paper industry during the early to mid-1900s. Today, wood is the dominant fiber resource for the pulp and paper industry accounting for 90% of the world’s fiber utilization.1 Is tree-free paper really better for the environment? Are current environmental claims about tree-free paper accurate and substantiated? To answer these questions, we reviewed literature on the topic from experts in the field.

I read with disappointment a recent Globe and Mail article published April 1st, 2015 titled “Direct deposit payments: A government pitch that makes sense” encouraging people to switch from cheques to direct deposit for government payments. In this article it is stated that “Ottawa argues in its pitch that about 32,600 trees will ultimately be saved by direct deposits.” The source of this information is a Government of Canada infographic which also mentions “100% reduction in CO2 emissions.” Two Sides and its membership of over 140 North American companies disagree with such misleading environmental messages related to print and paper products as they are damaging to the print and paper industries who are such an important part of Canada’s history.

The guide provides practical advice to help ensure buying decisions go beyond the traditional concerns of price, quality, and availability to also consider environmental and social impacts such as climate change, legality and certification – highlighting PEFC and its North American members SFI and CSA among credible certification programs. It will help inform the growing number of companies who wish to adopt green procurement policies as part of their efforts to achieve their own sustainability goals.

American Wood Council (AWC) President and CEO Robert Glowinski and American Forest & Paper Association (AF&PA) President and CEO Donna Harman issued the following statements for the organizations’ joint testimony submitted for today’s Senate Environment and Public Works hearing on impact and achievability of the Environmental Protection Agency’s (EPA) proposed national ambient air quality standards (NAAQS) ozone standard.

The Canadian Institute of Forestry/Institut Forestier du Canada is another group speaking out against recent claims about forest loss and deforestation, sparked by a report that claims Canada was second in the world in terms of tree cover loss in 2013. Check out the interesting infographic prepared by the CIF/IFC in response to the report. A report released by the World Resource Institute claims that Canada was second in the world in terms of tree cover loss in 2013. The CIF/IFC found issue with the way tree cover loss was defined in the document, as well as the general message of the report, which leaves readers with the impression that sustainable harvesting practices, insect damage, and forest fires are causing permanent damage to our forests.

In an unprecedented move, elected municipal officials and forest industry representatives from Quebec and Ontario met in Ottawa today to ask the various levels of government to step up their efforts to promote the sustainable forestry practices of Quebec, Ontario, and Canada on the international scene. At a press conference, Jean-Pierre Boivin, representative of Fédération québécoise des municipalités (FQM), prefect of the Maria-Chapedelaine RCM, and president of Alliance forêt boréale; David Canfield, mayor of Kenora and president of the Federation of Northern Ontario Municipalities; Jamie Lim, CEO of the Ontario Forest Industry Association (OFIA); and André Tremblay, CEO of the Quebec Forest Industry Council (QFIC) reiterated the important role of government in educating the world about the sustainable practices followed by Canada's innovative, wealth-creating forest industry.

"This is a major step forward in our environmental efforts to reduce CO?emissions and make us less dependent on fossil fuels," says Johan Jonsson, Head of Södra Skogsplantor. The process to changeover Södra's nursery in Flåboda to fossil-free operation commenced three years ago. The goal has now been achieved, with boilers fuelled with vegetable oils, greenhouses heated by four pellet boilers, green electricity generated by Södra's pulp mills and vehicles that run on hydrotreated vegetable oil (HVO).

Hungarian Forest Certification Non-profit Ltd. is pleased to announce the start of the national public consultation for the Hungarian sustainable forest management standard. Stakeholders from around the country are invited to provide their feedback on the standard by 20 August 2015. “This public consultation is an extremely important opportunity for all national stakeholders to provide their final input into our upcoming standard,” said Endre Schiberna, Head of the Standard Setting Committee.