The evaluation against the UK Government Timber Procurement Policy (TPP): Criteria for Evaluating Certification Schemes (Category A Evidence) Fourth Edition, October 2014 concluded that both the Programme for the Endorsement of Forest Certification (PEFC) and the Forest Stewardship Council (FSC) have achieved scores of 100% for legality criteria and over 90% for sustainability criteria and as such are recognized as continuing to deliver requirements for both legality and sustainability. Overall, the evaluation demonstrated PEFC to have a 96% compliance with the UK criteria, with FSC achieving 94%. "These very high scores demonstrate the significant progress made in international forest certification since the first evaluation conducted in 2004. Both FSC and PEFC have made substantial improvements to their schemes since 2010, reflected in the scores awarded," Defra writes in the final report.

PEFC and the Handicraft & Wood Association of Ho Chi Minh City (HAWA) will work together to develop PEFC Chain of Custody certification in Viet Nam: this was one of the key results from a week of outreach in the country. PEFC-certified material from around the world is already used by many solid wood processing companies in Viet Nam - in particular by the furniture manufacturing members of HAWA. Focus is now switching to the development of a national forest certification system in the country, paving the way for the production of domestic PEFC-certified sources.

Governor Paul R. LePage presents Irving Woodlands, LLC with the prestigious 2015 Austin H. Wilkins Forest Stewardship Award. This prestigious award recognizes people or organizations that stand above their peers to further forestry, forests, or forestland conservation in the state of Maine. Started by the Maine TREE Foundation in 2004, it is the only award in Maine that recognizes stewardship of the working forest. “Maine’s working forests are a vital part of our past, present, and future economy. Named after one of Maine’s longest contributing professional foresters, the Austin H. Wilkins Forest Stewardship Award is an opportunity to publicly recognize exemplary management of working forests.” – Governor Paul R. LePage.

Robert Glowinski, President and CEO, AWC: “EPA has overreached with its Clean Power Plan in how it seeks to reduce greenhouse gas emissions from power plants. Despite claims of flexibility, EPA has actually limited the types of renewable energy states can use, which includes our industry’s production and use of biomass energy. AWC joins this litigation in order to ensure continued use of renewable energy and to support states’ ability, as some have already done, to fully recognize biomass energy as a critical component of clean power.” Donna Harman, President and CEO, AF&PA: “Energy is an essential element for paper and wood products manufacturing. We are concerned that this final rule will threaten availability of affordable electricity and reliability of the electricity grid system. AF&PA joins this litigation to protect the global competitiveness of our industry, which is among the top 10 manufacturing employers in 47 states. We hope the court will grant our requested stay while these serious legal challenges are heard.”

An economic and policy study commissioned by the American Forest & Paper Association (AF&PA) and developed by engineering firm Burns & McDonnell shows that high-performing single-stream recycling systems recover more paper and other recyclable materials than mixed-waste facilities that combine wet and organic waste with dry recyclables. Mixed-waste processing recovers much less mill-quality paper, but more metal and plastic, and requires 2.5 times the facility capital cost of single-stream recycling.

This is an historic moment for Best Buy. In our pledge, we committed to further advancing our efforts toward addressing this global challenge. Here’s what we said: •We will reduce our own carbon emissions by 45 percent by 2020 from operational reductions and renewable sourcing. This science-based goal builds on our 2014 achievement of a 26 percent reduction in carbon emissions within our operations. •We will provide energy-efficient products and solutions to help customers minimize their own carbon footprints. In 2014, we helped our customers prevent 900 million pounds of carbon emissions through the ENERGY STAR® certified products they purchased from Best Buy. •We will work with industry partners to promote sustainable electronics through manufacture, transport, use and end-of-life solutions.

The Sustainable Forestry Initiative Inc. (SFI), American Forest Foundation (AFF) and the Programme for the Endorsement of Forest Certification (PEFC) made announcements this week expressing mutual support for new approaches to forest management planning and certification, which will help streamline forest certification, and ensure access to the global marketplace. Among these efforts, the American Tree Farm System (ATFS) announced a joint effort by AFF, the Florida Forest Service and the University of Florida for a pilot landscape management plan to encourage sustainable forestry and bring more wood grown on family-owned forests into the sustainable global supply chain.

When you buy pulp, paper and lumber from us, you know you are buying from a sustainable supply chain. The attached SlideShare tells that story in 14 simple slides, from the importance of asking where wood comes from to what responsible sourcing is and how chain of custody works. The work we do today all starts with responsible sourcing. That means 100% of the woodlands Resolute manages meet internationally-recognized standards for responsible and sustainable forestry. That’s where it starts, but chain of custody is where it continues. Having an unbroken trail of records that track the harvested trees from forest to forest product provides assurance that 100% of the wood purchased meets a minimum due diligence.

Kimberly-Clark Corporation (NYSE: KMB) was honored for the sixth time with a SmartWay® Excellence Award from the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency for working with transportation providers to move goods in the cleanest, most energy-efficient way possible, while reducing the impacts of carbon pollution. Since joining the SmartWay program in 2006, Kimberly-Clark has more than doubled its use of intermodal transport, saving an estimated 72 million gallons of diesel and reducing greenhouse gas emissions by an estimated 734,000 metric tons - the equivalent of taking 138,000 cars off the road for one year. The adoption of more efficient transport has also saved the company an estimated $415 million.

Foresters in JDI’s Northern Maine woodlands say growing conditions this season were ideal for young mixed softwood plantations. Josh Philbrook, a Forester with JDI Woodlands, explains that in general, trees grow very well in Northern Maine. “The trees are about 12 feet tall already, just after seven years. These trees have grown 36-40” in one year.” Philbrook attributes exceptional tree growth to improvements in JDI nurseries. “The trees we’ve grown in our nurseries are selected best from trees in forests across the region and grow several times faster than the natural forest, allowing us to excel the cycle of sustainability, and produce more wood that sustains jobs at our mills,” said Philbrook.

GreenBlue and the American Forest Foundation (AFF) today announced a new partnership to bring together America’s family forest owners and several of the most well-known marketplace brands, including Mars, Incorporated; McDonald’s; Avery Dennison; and Evergreen Packaging. For the first time ever, both ends of the forest products supply chain will connect and take part in a dialogue to explore their respective needs and challenges relative to sustainable forest management. The dialogue, which kicks off this November and lead to a meeting in January, builds on GreenBlue’s Forest Products Working Group efforts to examine the role of forest certification to explore, in partnership with AFF, frameworks for providing assurance that wood from family woodlands is produced sustainably.

The 10th of September 2015 marks a significant turn towards more responsibly sourced paper and pulp products in China. The World Wide Fund for Nature (WWF), The Chinese Forestry Industry Association and the leading producers and buyers of paper and pulp products have established The China Sustainable Paper Alliance (CSPA) to promote the development of responsible sourcing and sustainable forest operations within the forest industry in China. UPM is one of the 10 founding members of this Alliance. The members represent both domestic and international companies covering the whole supply chain of China’s pulp and paper industry. UPM is among international players such as Kimberly-Clark, Fuji Xerox, HP and IKEA as well as some locally significant players.