Public consultation: Croatian forest certification system

Ahlstrom-Munksjö has been awarded with EcoVadis Gold rating for the company’s sustainability management and performance for a fifth consecutive year. This places Ahlstrom-Munksjö in the top 2% of suppliers assessed in the pulp, paper and paperboard manufacturing industry. Compared with the results from the previous year, progress was made in ethics. EcoVadis is a globally recognized business sustainability rating provider. The Corporate Social Responsibility assessment criteria include four themes; environment, labor and human rights, ethics and sustainable procurement. The EcoVadis method is based on internationally adopted principles for sustainability reporting, such as the Global Reporting Initiative, United Nations Global Compact and ISO 26000, and is audited by independent sustainability experts. “We use EcoVadis to identify our key strengths and development areas to further improve our corporate social responsibility and sustainability. The renewed Gold rating is a result of excellent work between different internal and external stakeholders who all contribute to our overall scoring, paving the way for even more sustainable business,” summarized Robin Guillaud, Executive Vice President of Sustainability, Innovation and Commercial Excellence.

The meaning behind seven of the most recognized sustainability labels, including the PEFC label, was the focus of ALDI SOUTH’s “in the footsteps of the 7 seals” campaign. ALDI SOUTH is a leading German retailer with almost 5,300 stores globally. With its ‘Seven seals’ campaign, ALDI SOUTH presented its customers in Germany with seven important sustainability seals from the ALDI SOUTH product range in an extensive information campaign for the first time. “Many of the everyday products in the food trade are marked with a sustainability label,” said Ralf-Thomas Reichrath, Deputy General Manager in the Central Purchasing (field quality control) at ALDI SOUTH in Germany. “However, while organic or fair trade labels are recognized quickly, there are still uncertainties surrounding the meaning of many other labels. We want to change this with our 7 seals campaign,” Reichrath explained.

Australia and Portugal have become the latest countries to successfully achieve the re-endorsement of their national forest certification systems by PEFC. This not only confirms that they continue to meet PEFC’s globally recognized Sustainability Benchmarks, but also ensures that certified forest owners and companies in these countries continue to benefit from the global acceptance of PEFC. This marks the second re-endorsement for Australia and Portugal, with both countries achieving endorsement for the first time back in 2004. The endorsement of the Australian system was particularly significant as, alongside Chile, it became the first non-European country to be recognized by PEFC. Since then, over 10 million hectares of forest have been certified in the country.