Call for proposals: Consultancy on PEFC position in the carbon arena

Vancouver-based environmental group, Canopy, has launched a global campaign against paper packaging, claiming that three billion trees “disappear into packaging’’ every year leaving “a trail of deforestation, degraded forest systems, threatened species, and an increasingly volatile climate.” Strong words. But are they true? Not as far as Canada is concerned (and probably the US too). For a Vancouver-based group, Canopy is alarmingly ignorant of the packaging facts in Canada. Here’s one. Most of the paper packaging material made by Canadian mills is 100% recycled content! It’s not made (as Canopy claims) with the “habitat of endangered species such as orangutans or caribou.” There’s a lesson here for brand owners everywhere. We commend you for committing to environmental causes. But please, please do not allow yourselves to be publicly embarrassed by lending your names and credibility to the false and misleading claims such as Canopy makes above. Facts do matter.

In the development of a truly sustainable product, fragrance producer ÖPSO takes an extra step forward. The company’s home fragrances are entirely PEFC-certified, from the ingredients to the packaging. ÖPSO Marketing Manager Jens Neumann explains what makes the product unique. What will be the next big innovation in ambience? This has been the big question since the beginning of this project in 2017. To help us solve it, we involved consumers and fragrance experts in the development process. The main outcome was that all air fresheners are artificial because they are based on petrol. For more than 18 months we worked together with perfumers, consumers and creatives in the development of this innovation, which we believe will be a breakthrough in the world of air freshening. To this end we have created ÖPSO, the first home fragrances made from natural tree resin.

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.