“Looking back to 1999, it was a time when we had no office, no staff and no money. All we had was enthusiasm and boundless optimism for the future. Now, we are the world’s largest forest certification system, with more than 300 million hectares of PEFC-certified forest area.” “We have some fundamental values that we shared back then and we still share today: our focus on smallholders and indigenous people, the importance of property rights and working together, of raising the profile of the whole forestry sector.” Working together has always been core to the PEFC family. We have grown from the 12 founding members, and with the addition of Guyana and Ukraine today, we now have over 80 members around the world.

owbell Brewing Co. won the Sustainable Forestry Initiative (SFI) Certified Wood Award today for using responsibly sourced wood products in the design of North America’s first carbon neutral brewery. The award is part of the Wood Design & Building Awards program. Allan Avis Architects received the award at the Toronto Wood Solutions Fair in Toronto on November 22. Cowbell chose SFI-certified products for this beautiful brewery, restaurant and event space south of Blyth, a village in southwestern Ontario. It features a closed-loop brewery and an on-site carbon sequestration initiative.

Forest Stewardship Council, the world’s most trusted forest certification system, announced its 2019 FSC Leadership Awards in a celebration held in conjunction with Greenbuild 2019. Recognizing enduring commitment to forest conservation, the Awards highlight uncommon excellence that advances responsible forest management. “From biodiversity and carbon storage to a sustainable supply of wood and fiber, people are waking up to the importance of responsibly managed forests to tackle some of the world’s biggest challenges,” said Corey Brinkema, president of the Forest Stewardship Council U.S. “This year’s FSC Leadership Award winners demonstrate that we can conserve forests, fight climate change and protect wildlife habitat, even as we use forest products every day,” he added. FSC Leadership Awards celebrate forest owners, builders, architects, retailers, paper mills, manufacturers, environmental organizations and many others who contribute to the movement toward responsible sourcing and forest management.

Huhtamaki is a Tier One member in the newly formed industry alliance called 4evergreen. The members of the alliance come from across the fiber-based packaging value chain, from paper and board producers to packaging converters, brand-owners and retailers, technology and material suppliers and waste collectors, sharing the aim to develop sustainable, circular and functional packaging. The majority of fiber-based packaging is already recyclable but a lot can be done to improve recycling rates. 4evergeen aims to boost recycling rates for example by introducing further standardization for both product design and materials. An important bottleneck today is the collection and recycling infrastructure, and one of the aims of the alliance is to ensure that there is 100% access to collection schemes for wood fiber-based packaging in Europe. The alliance also aims to introduce EU-level standards for testing methods related to product recyclability.

Stora Enso, along with other members of CEPI, the European association representing the forest fiber and paper industry, are joining forces with companies across the value chain to drive the recycling of fiber-based packaging and collaboration in circular design and materials to enable positive change in circular economy. 4evergreen aims to boost the contribution of fiber-based packaging in a circular and sustainable economy that minimizes climate and environmental impact. In addition, the goals are to increase awareness about innovation in fiber-based packaging materials and recycling, set guidelines for product design enabling circularity and secondary use of fibers, and support the development of optimized collection systems as well as critical recycling infrastructures and technologies adapted to fiber-based packaging.

Sappi Limited is pleased to announce that its three dissolving wood pulp (DWP) production facilities namely Cloquet, Ngodwana and Saiccor Mills have completed the Higg Facility Environmental Module (Higg FEM) self-assessment via the Sustainable Apparel Coalition’s (SAC) online portal. The Higg FEM is a sustainability assessment tool that standardises how facilities measure and evaluate their environmental performance, year over year. Sustainability performance is influenced by the effectiveness of a company’s Environmental Management System. In addition, the tool evaluates whether baseline measurements and continuous improvement plans are in place for water, energy and chemical use, as well as for wastewater, air emissions, and waste generation.

“Successful outcomes result from partnership and collaboration. That’s why the EPA deserves a round of applause for bringing together recycling stakeholders, decision makers and government officials to celebrate recycling successes, learn from each other and address the challenges before us. For our part, as an industry we are working to remove confusion about what is recyclable – pizza boxes, for example, which are recyclable. “Paper and paper-based product manufacturers have a long history of applying sustainable business practices to innovate and adapt to market demands to drive future successes. Take the U.S. paper recovery for recycling rate. In 2018, industry and consumer commitment to increasing the quality and quantity of paper recovered for recycling contributed to a record high 68.1 percent rate. The paper recovery rate has met or exceeded 63 percent for the past decade.

Recycling has come a long way. It was not long ago that you had to sort materials into separate bins yourself and then drive them across town to find a drop-off. Nowadays, single sort and curbside pick-up are more common and make recycling easier. As a result, the number of households that recycle continues to rise. Labels have also become easier to read as the industry transitions from numbers-based (e.g. 1, 2, 3) to easy-to-read labels from How2Recycle®. Recycling is an important step you can take in your own life to reduce your environmental footprint. Every material and component is different in its recyclability: •Metal Cans (Aluminum & Steel): These are accepted by most recycling programs. •Plastic: Since there are different types of plastic, recyclability varies based on material and other factors. •Glass: This is accepted by most recycling programs. •Paper/Cardboard: Paper is one of the most commonly recycled items.

At our 24th General Assembly at the heart of this year’s PEFC Forest Certification Week, we welcomed our 52nd and 53rd national members. The General Assembly, our highest decision making body, voted Ukraine and Guyana into the alliance. “Ukraine is one of the largest countries in Europe, and 15.6% of land is covered by forests. That is 10.4 million hectares,” said Mariya Maha from the Association National Voluntary Forest Certification System, our new national member for Ukraine. Our second new member, the Guyana Forestry Commission (GFC), is leading the implementation of the Voluntary Partnership Agreement (VPA), a trade agreement between Guyana and the European Union. The collaboration between PEFC and local stakeholders in Guyana began in 2015, supported by the PEFC Collaboration Fund.

Three new members elected to the PEFC International Board at the 24th PEFC General Assembly in Würzburg, Germany. David Ford elected as the new Vice Chair, and two members re-elected for another term. Josien Tokoe, from the Kari’na people of Suriname, is a member of the Organization of the Indigenous Peoples of Suriname (IOS) and the lead for Human, Women and Family Political and Social Rights in COICA (the Coordination of in the Indigenous Organisations of the Amazon Basin). Kurt Ramskogler is Chairman of PEFC Austria, and Managing Director of the LIECO nursery of the Prince of Liechtenstein Foundation. Kurt is also an Advisory Board Member of the BFW (Austrian Research Center for Forests). Dradjad Wibowo is the Chairman and Founder of PEFC member Indonesian Forestry Certification Cooperation (IFCC). He is also the Founder and Chief Economist of Sustainable Development Indonesia (SDI) and an Associate Professor on the Perbanas Institute.

For this year’s PEFC Week, the PEFC family is gathering in Würzburg, where we first presented our logo in 1999, a few months before PEFC was founded. The meeting in Würzburg marked a turning point in the establishment of our organization. In 2019, we have been driving innovation via novel technological approaches and engagement in emerging issues through our projects and partnerships. We are striving to further increase our communications effectiveness through new online campaigns, including a video campaign and our annual photo contest. We focus our engagement in emerging sectors such as construction, packaging and fashion and forge new partnerships that will benefit millions of smallholders.

20 years ago, European small-forest owners met in Würzburg, Germany, to create an international forest certification system that had their needs at heart. On 30 June 1999, PEFC was born. 20 years later, the PEFC alliance is back, for the 2019 PEFC Forest Certification Week. The Würzburg meeting in April 1999 proved to be a turning point in our history. It was the moment when everyone involved committed to the creation of PEFC: there was no turning back – and we are delighted to return to this defining location! Today, the stunning Marienberg Fortress, rising above the city of Würzburg, welcomes 150 representatives from PEFC members from around the world. The biggest PEFC Week ever, we have come together not only to celebrate our 20th anniversary, but also to look forward, to discuss where the future will take us.

Bulgaria has become the latest member to achieve PEFC endorsement of its national forest certification system. The PEFC General Assembly voted for the endorsement of the Bulgarian system in a postal ballot. “We are very grateful to our friends from the other members of PEFC who, through their vote, have endorsed the Bulgarian standard,” said Antony Stefanov, Chairman of the Council for Sustainable Forest Management and Certification in Bulgaria, our national member for Bulgaria. To achieve PEFC endorsement, a national system goes through a rigorous assessment to confirm it was developed in line with our requirements. Through this process, we can ensure that national standards meet our globally accepted PEFC Sustainability Benchmarks.

The draft FSC US Controlled Wood National Risk Assessment for Alaska and Hawaii (US NRA-Part 2) is now available for public consultation. All stakeholders are invited to provide input on the draft NRA. Comments are due on December 23, 2019. Please find additional information on the consultation web page. The previously approved FSC US National Risk Assessment (NRA) for the conterminous United States (Part 1) did not address the states of Alaska or Hawaii, or US territories. This ‘Part 2’ NRA mostly closes that gap by assessing the risk of ineligible materials entering the FSC system from forests in Alaska and Hawaii. FSC certificate holders that wish to control non-certified forest materials from Alaska and Hawaii (so that those materials may be mixed with FSC certified materials for use in certified products that carry the FSC Mix label) will be required to incorporate the approved version of the Part 2 risk assessment into their due diligence system.

Forest certification is in this context a success story. As of 2019, about one-third of the wood used in products, packaging or construction is certified as originating from sustainable forest management and supply chains. PEFC, the Programme for the Endorsement of Forest Certification, has been instrumental to this success. With innovations such as group certification, a mechanism that makes certification accessible to small- and family forest owners, PEFC has expanded the accessibility of certification. Today about one million forest owners have obtained PEFC certification. With its latest sustainable forest management standard, PEFC expanded the scope of certification to include Trees outside Forests, extending the impact of PEFC certification beyond the boundaries of the forest. This innovation can make PEFC certification practical and affordable to farmers or other land managers, who are often growing trees as just one of their many crops.

The majority of consumers include sustainability among the most important factors when determining their spending habits, according to new data released by Asia Pulp & Paper (APP) Sinar Mas from the 2019 Paper & Packaging Consumer Trends Report. The report finds that environmental sustainability is a driving factor for 53% of Americans when making any type of product purchase decision. Three in five adults (61%) would be willing to pay more for food products packaged in sustainable materials, with 35% saying they would be open to paying up to 10% more. Consumers also note the importance of sustainability when making purchasing decisions for retail goods (48%), office goods (47%) and luxury goods (44%).

You want to order online but hate the non-recyclable packaging material used in e-commerce in addition to cardboard? You are a restaurant owner and want to cut down on the dozens of Styrofoam boxes that your fish is delivered in every day? You are thinking of building a house but worry about the carbon emissions linked to using concrete and steel? It can seem difficult to find adequate alternatives for these seemingly ubiquitous, carbon-intensive materials, but alternatives do exist. Recyclable packaging and wood-based construction materials are already here and ready to be used on a much bigger scale. The exhibition Forests and the Circular Economy. A future without plastics, opened yesterday at the Palais des Nations in Geneva. It showcased some of the many renewable and sustainably sourced products that the forest sector can offer, providing solutions to global challenges as part of a circular economy.

Logistics plays a significant role in the forest industry’s production chain. First the wood raw material is transported from the forest to the mill. Then, after processing, it is shipped to the customer as pulp, paper, plywood, or sawn timber. UPM Forest reduces its carbon footprint and emissions by choosing the most appropriate vehicles, routes and warehouses for its transport needs. As a further positive offshoot, this also improves transport efficiency.

Using the new system for forwarding optimization, SCA’s site planners can develop smart proposals that help to transport the timber out of the forest in the most efficient manner possible. It is good for the environment, as it helps to avoid damage to the terrain, and also saves money. “The decision support system offers suggestions for the main haulage route in the harvesting area that will be used to transport most of the timber. It shows how the forwarder can reach the wood pile location by using the most efficient route and with the least impact on the terrain,” explains Tomas Johansson at the Technology and Operational Development staff function.