FSC takes action against a producer of repeated false claims

Was timber a key material in one of your construction projects? Did you choose wood for its many aesthetic, natural and architectural properties, or simply because it is the only renewable building material? If yes, you can enter your project for a World Architecture Festival prize! For the second time, PEFC is sponsoring the WAF Best Use of Certified Timber Prize, rewarding architects and project teams for their use of certified timber as a main construction material for buildings outstanding in sustainability, innovation, quality or aesthetics. “We sponsored the prize for the first time last year and were very pleased with the quality and diversity of the entries,” said Fabienne Sinclair, Head of Marketing at PEFC International. “We are excited to see what projects will be submitted this year.” Click read more below for additional detail.

Paper Excellence participated in the “Wood you find it?” event hosted by FSC International in Brussels to discuss the EU Deforestation Regulation (EUDR), approved in April by the European Parliament. Representatives of the European Commission responsible for the approved text, public policy makers, companies, NGOs and FSC leaders discussed together what are the biggest challenges for the implementation of the EUDR. The main objective of the new regulation is to ensure that products produced or marketed in the European Union do not contribute to deforestation or forest degradation. The new regulation is applied for any product related to six commodities: cattle, cocoa, coffee, palm oil, soybeans and wood as well as a variety of their by-products. Wood products arriving in Europe from non-European producers represent considerable numbers. Brazil is among the top suppliers with 38 percent, behind China with 73 percent and ahead of Russia with 32 percent. Pulp and paper pipelines alone already account for more than EUR 15 billion in imports from Europe. Among the main European purchasing countries are: Finland, the Netherlands, Belgium, Italy, Germany and France.

A new study compares the environmental costs of plastics vs. alternative materials by using accounting methods that measure and value environmental impacts. A new study by Trucost finds the environmental cost of using plastics in consumer goods and packaging is nearly four times less than if plastics were replaced with alternative materials. The study is based on natural capital accounting methods, which measure and value environmental impacts—such as consumption of water and emissions to air, land, and water—which are not typically factored into traditional financial accounting. Previous reports, such as “Valuing Plastics” (2014) by Trucost and “The New Plastics Economy: Rethinking the Future of Plastics,” (2016) by the World Economic Forum, only examined the environmental costs of using plastics. Trucost’s latest study, “Plastics and Sustainability: A Valuation of Environmental Benefits, Costs, and Opportunities for Continuous Improvement,” builds on earlier research by comparing the environmental costs of using plastics to alternative materials and identifying opportunities to help lower the environmental costs of using plastics in consumer goods and packaging.