EPF
(EUROPEAN PANELS FEDERATION) VENICE ITALY
SEPTEMBER 2016
ON STAGENUMBER3
PIETRO FERRARI
The virtuous circle of economy WE WERE HONORED TO ATTEND THE EPF ANNUAL ASSEMBLY IN VENICE AND WE WERE REALLY HAPPY FOR THIS OPPORTUNITY, FOR SEVERAL REASONS. IT WAS NOT THE FIRST TIME, BUT IT WAS THE FIRST TIME WITH AN ITALIAN PRESIDENT.
FURTHERMORE, WITHOUT UNDERESTIMATING THE HIGH LEVEL OF THESE MEETINGS IN DIFFERENT LOCATIONS IN EUROPE, THERE WAS A KEY CONCEPT THAT HAS TURNED THE EUROPEAN WOOD-BASED PANEL INDUSTRY INTO A PROTAGONIST OF THE VIRTUOUS GAME OF THE CIRCULAR ECONOMY. WE CAN CONSIDER THIS GAME AS A SENSIBLE AND FEASIBLE SOLUTION TO THE DILEMMA OF ECONOMIC GROWTH
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AND ENVIRONMENTAL SUSTAINABILITY, BY MEANS OF A "MAGICAL CIRCLE" THAT EXTENDS THE LIFETIME OF RECYCLABLE RAW MATERIALS, AMONG WHICH WOOD IS AN EXCELLENT EXAMPLE. THE WOOD INDUSTRY HAS OFTEN BEEN ATTACKED BY THE PUBLIC OPINION, WITHOUT DESERVING IT; UNJUSTIFIED ATTACKS, BASED ON POOR INFORMATION, ATTRIBUTING RESPONSIBILITIES ON THE BASIS OF UNMOTIVATED ASSUMPTIONS. NOW, OUR INDUSTRY IS DRIVING A POSITIVE AND RATIONAL EVOLUTION TO SAFEGUARD THE LIMITED RESOURCES OF OUR
PLANET AND TO OPTIMIZE THEIR USE. IT IS SIGNIFICANT THAT THE WONDERFUL CITY ON THE LAGOON HAS GIVEN ITS NAME TO AN AGREEMENT THAT COMMITS THE WOODWORKING INDUSTRY TO FACE ITS RESPONSIBILITIES AND TO ADOPT EXEMPLARY BEHAVIOR.
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A magical backdrop for a conference of great concreteness THE EPF MEETS IN VENICE AND LAYS THE OPERATIONAL BASES OF THE ITALIAN PRESIDENCY IN A HIGH-LEVEL MEETING AND CULTURAL DEPTH. THE ANNUAL MEETING OF THE EPF (EUROPEAN PANELS FEDERATION) TOOK PLACE ON A SUMMER'S VENICE AND FULL OF LIGHT, HAS WORTHILY GREETED THE FIRST TIME AN ITALIAN PRESIDENT, PAOLO FANTONI, FOR EUROPEAN MANUFACTURERS OF WOOD BASED PANELS. BUT THE DOMINANT NOTE OF THIS MEETING WAS THE SUBSTANCE AND THE SPIRIT OF INITIATIVE TO COLLECT THE MANY AND DIFFICULT CHALLENGES THAT THE SECTOR OF WOOD-BASED PANELS MEET IN AN IMPORTANT CONTEXT IN WHICH THE DIFFICULTIES THE PRESIDENT HAS IN NO WAY MINIMIZED, FOR KNOW THEM BETTER AND TO BETTER ADDRESS THEM, SAYS FANTONI:" Writing the annual report of EPF has always been one of the
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PAOLO FANTONI
SEPTEMBER 2016
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highlights that complement the daily activities of our Federation. Such a book, often eagerly awaited by colleagues of other Federations, is valuable for European Institutions and Authorities. It is also very useful for businesses as they define their corporate strategies. The huge amount of in-depth information, reports and contributions from third parties published in this document are highly appreciated; it has hence increased our Federation’s reputation and prestige compared to all other information sources within the wood and furniture sector. I now have the responsibility
to continue renewing this document’s fortunes as we face the end of a period of 11 editions edited under the wise chairmanship of Mr Ladislaus Döry, assisted by Mr Kris Wijnendaele. The 11 editions that carry the signature of Mr Döry illustrate the great success of our Federation’s activities. During this period EPF has grown in representativeness, competence and institutional visibility. For all of us this represents a strong incentive in planning our future. This new Annual Report aims to acknowledge the change of times and to understand the main features that define our companies’ strategies by anticipating stakeholders’ expectations in our sector. It is
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therefore of the utmost importance to enable EPF to develop its listening skills and information gathering from all parties concerned: national associations, large multinational groups, individual companies, associate members as well as reference institutions. Accordingly, it is appropriate to now share the objectives and the five new targets that characterise much of the Federation’s activities and on which we have developed a common vision both within the Managing Board and the General Assembly. Our vision includes: 1. The activa-
tion in all EU-28 countries of measures to make the E1 standard compulsory by law, not only at the production level but also for the sale of both panels and finished products, thus creating a level playing field for consumers and local producers and protecting against imports of unsuitable material and products. Until now only 8 countries are in line with our expectation, but we await promising developments in other countries as well. We have engaged all EU-28 Member States in our discussions and will continue to discuss with them at Government level during 2016 and beyond. EPF played a major role in 2007
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when its members agreed an internal commitment and selfregulation to produce only E1 panels; since then EPF has not needed to take any action towards members for non-compliance. It is now high timeto share this necessity with the Governments of all EU Member States. 2. During the latest General Assembly, in March 2016, we shared our proposal, submitted by the Technical Working Group, in favour of a new Formaldehyde Emission Standard. EPF’s objective is ambitious: it was not merely to write a new stan-
dard, but also for it to be shared with North American producers. We believe that such an objective canoffer two opportunities: • A common standard “from the Pacific Ocean to the Black Sea” that facilitates the exchange of panels and productsbetween the two continents. • A common standard of the highest possible reputation, with the support of consumers, that will eliminate the current confusion generated by the increasing number of different standards that, even if they are credible, nonetheless act as barriers to free trade due to their increasing proliferation. It will not be an easy path but we will strive for this new standard of-
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fering a different vision of the industrial future within our society. 3. The project ‘EPF for Africa’ represents a change of perspective for our industry. After a quarter of a century spent looking East we must now look South to a different Continent that only now, having solved its housing problem, starts to look at the purchase of furniture and construction products. We are the natural partner of the African Continent and we intend to start a journey to share the technical features of European Standards.
In October 2016, the Sicam trade show week in Pordenone will offer us the possibility to accommodate up to 35 technicians from different origins to provide a training course. Our objective is to bring our respective cultures and knowledge closer to one another. We sincerely hope that this course, entirely financed by private sponsors, will be the first stone of a greater path as we would like our Spanish, German and French colleagues to get involved in the future editions of EPF for Africa. 4. We have set ourselves the goal to take advantage of the great value binding sustainability to our sector in order to obtain a much more
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positive relationship with consumers. Too often in the past the Woodworking Industries have been (wrongly) considered as the cause of deforestation, whereas in reality we know our sector to be part of the solution to this and other problems! One of our key aims is to communicate this positive role of our sector to the wider public. For this reason and in order to show our important contribution to the Circular Economy, we have edited and presented a Position Paper regarding the “Cascade Use of Wood” on the occasion of this year’s EPF Gene-
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ral Assembly in Venice. With this contribution we aim to help the European Institutions that are drafting the Union’s regulations with regard to the Circular Economy. We wish the industrial use of wood as a material to be recognised. With our submission we intend to show how wood-based panels, especially via their multiple use, or “cascade”, are a great and positive contributor to the efficient use of resources in Europe, and are thus a core component in the Circular Economy. 5. Encouraged by the incredible success of the 87 countries’ pavilions made of wood at the
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Expo 2015 in Milan, we have set a brave goal to use panels in the green construction industry. Bio-building is no longer an option. It is a necessity! That the panel industry strives to be part of such transformation is first a cultural issue and then a technical one. We embrace both. The different cultures that characterise Europe can be an extra-ordinary force on which we can build our future cities to be more harmonious, more ecosustainable, less energy consuming, and above all more human-friendly. In all, the collaboration with the European wood industry
Federations will help us to develop a shared path where even the inevitable debates originating from different visions will enable us to better define the journey lying ahead for the wood industry in Europe. We will strive for our voice to be clear and strong in Europe and to have the European Commission and European Parliament acknowledge our reasons as well as the importance of the panel sector to maintain the worldwide competitiveness of the wood and wood-based panels furniture and construction products chains. With this shared vision our companies can count on a safe support to face the future. Certainly
we are overcoming years when the panel industry has experienced a strong consolidation and restructuring process, but this transition strengthened companies thereby preparing them to face a new cycle of consumption and investment. The European panel industry has inevitably lost market shares in international trade in favour of new emerging countries, but still maintained its leadership in technology, design, and service. These are the assets that we want and intend to promulgate with the contribution of all our partners and institutions. Finally, my thanks to EPF’s staff for their contributions to ourgo-
als and today in particular I would like to thank the staff of Assopannelli for the support in realising the Annual General Meeting here in Venice, the city where I studied, which taught me the importance of discovering new cultures and which bases its marvellous architecture and incredible charm on wood."
The woodworking industries in the European Union
The Annual Report of EPF offers a picture od the woodworking industries in the European Union. Since 1990, NACE (Nomenclature of Economic Activities in the European
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Community) provides a harmonised statistical classification of economic activities in the EU. Contrary to the Combined Nomenclature (CN) and the Harmonised System (HS), providing a classification according to trade, the NACE system classifies economic activity in terms of production corresponding to the nature of goods and services produced or by the nature of the production process used. Several small modifications to the classification system were carried out since 1990. However, in 2007, the system was submitted to radical changes. It is important
to note that the NACE category for wood and products of wood and cork (NACE 16) consists of two categories: one for sawmilling and planing of wood (NACE 16.1) and one for the remaining wood products. Within this last category, the sub-category “Manufacture of veneersheets and wood-based panels” (NACE 16.21) consists of: • veneer sheets thin enough to be used for veneering, making plywood or other purposes: smoothed, dyed, coated, impregnated, reinforced (with paper or fabric backing) or made in the form of motifs; • plywood, veneer panels and similar laminated wood boards and sheets;
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• OSB and other particleboard; • MDF and other fibreboard; • densified wood; • glue laminated wood, laminated veneer wood. Unfortunately, Eurostat fails to provide up-to-date information on the activities within the woodworking and the furniture industries in many countries on 3-digit level. When analysing the figures, one should keep in mind that most national statistical systems tend to underestimate the figures for small and medium-sized industrial sectors. This is clearly the case for the woodworking industry. The underestimation is particularly
important for the employment figures, since the official statistics often only cover enterprises with at least 20 persons employed whereas the woodworking industry is a typical SME sector. A last comment relates to the production data of the furniture industry as declared by Eurostat and the data published in chapter 4.2 as reported by CSIL. Since CSIL only takes into account the furniture industry stricto-sensu, several products like mattresses, seats for automobiles and aircrafts are not included in its overview, which results in a much lower figure. In addition, the CSIL production data is not only based on offi-
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cial statistics, but also on several other sources such as international trade associations and internaldatabases.
Production
The total production value of the woodworking industries in the European Union (EU) peaked in 2007 at 237 billion EUR. Subsequently, as a result of the global economic crisis, the production value dropped in 2008 and 2009, amounting to less than 190 billion EUR. Nevertheless, it upturned in 2010 and grew further in 2011, before falling again in 2012 and 2013 to below the 200
billion EUR threshold. In 2014, the production value upturned again by 4.3% and exceeded 208 billion EUR. In 2014, the production value of sawmill products (NACE 16.1)upturned significantly by 6.5%. The value of other woodworking products (NACE 16.2) followed the same trend but to a lesser extent growing by 3%. Consequently, the woodworking industries stricto-sensu (NACE 16) rose by 4.1%. The production value in the furniture sector (NACE 31) also increased by 4.7%. The relative importance of the woodworking sub-sectors in terms of production remained rather stable in 2014. Thanks to its increase
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of activity in 2014, the share of sawmilling and planing of wood (NACE 16.1) increased slightly to 16.8%, at the expense of other woodworking industries (NACE 16.2).
Production for country
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Within the overall woodworking industries, Germany consolidated its leading position thanks to a slightly increasingproduction value (+1.4%) which exceeded 43 billion EUR in 2014. Italy kept its second position while France relinquished its third position on the podium of the largest
contributors to the production value of the woodworking industries in Europe to the United Kingdom. Production value rose by 2.8% in Italy and by a significant 17.4% in the United Kingdom while it decreased by 2.9% in France. Poland, Sweden and Austria followed with a production value above 10 billion EUR each. Polish production increased significantly by 11.2% while Swedish and Austrianproduction value rose by 2.8% and 0.5% respectively. Compared to 2013, the strongest growth rates of production value have been recorded in Slovakia (+30.5%), the United Kingdom (+17.4%), Lithuania (+15.5%), and Estonia
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(+13.8%) but also in Belgium (+9.5%), Hungary (+8.3%) and Slovenia (+8%). On the other hand, Luxembourg (-8.1%), Cyprus (-7%), Greece (-4.3%), France (-2.9%), Finland (-1.7%) and the Netherlands (-0.4%) experienced the sole reductions of woodworking industries production value in the EU in 2014. The production value of the woodworking industry strictosensu rose by 4.1% in 2014. The production value for the28 countries of the EU exceeded 116 billion EUR in 2014 compared to a little more than 100 billion EUR in 2009, although it remains below the peak level of 2008 which exceeded
125 billion EUR. Slovakia, the United Kingdom, Estonia, Lithuania, Croatia, Hungary and Poland experienced the highest increases in production value while the Greek, Maltese and Cypriot production values showed the largest decreases in 2014. Germany, Italy and France make up the top three of the largest contributors to the woodworking industries stricto-sensu production value in Europe. The European furniture industry realised a total production value over 91 billion EUR in 2014 (+4.7%), though the level was still low compared to the 2007 and 2008 peaks, which exceeded 110 billion EUR. The Italian production value, which increased by 3.1%, was just above the
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German production value which also rose by 4.1%. Both still exceeded 20 billion EUR. Luxembourg, France and Finland experienced the largest drops of production value in the furniture industry in 2014 (-8.1%, -5.5%, and -4.8% respectively). These drops are significantly lower than the ones observed in 2013. Slovakia, the United Kingdom, Lithuania, Slovenia and Poland showed the most significant increases.
Extra-EU Imports
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In the monitoring of the trade flows of the 28 Member States of the EU.
Only extra-EU trade is taken into account due to a lack of reliable figures for trade between the 28 members of the EU, although these flows are higher in absolute terms. The total EU-28 imports of woodworking products amounted to almost 21 billion EUR in 2014, reflecting a significant increase of 11.3% compared to 2013. The other woodworking products stricto-sensu experienced the largest increase of imports (+11.9%), followed by the furniture industry (+11.6%), while the imports of the sawmill industry rose by 8.6%. Imports of all the sub-sectors of other woodworking industries strictosensu (NACE 16.2) rose in
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2014. Imports of packaging (NACE 16.24) continued to increase significantly (+29.5%), whereas imports of wood-based panels (NACE 16.2.1), other products (NACE 16.2.9) and parquet (NACE 16.2.2) increased by more than 10% each. Furniture (NACE 31) accounted for almost 60% of the extra-EU imports of woodworking products in 2014. Sawmillingproducts (NACE 16.1) accounted for 14% of imports and otherwood products (NACE 16.2) exceeded 26%. More specifically,woodbased panels (NACE 16.21) and other products (NACE 16.29) represented 10.6% and 9.5%
respectively. In 2014, China and Russia continued to be the largest extra-EU suppliers of wood products to the EU, with stable marketshares of 21% and 16% respectively. The United States was the third largest trading partner with a rising market share of 11%. As in 2013, imports from American countries such as Brazil and Canada amounted together to approximately 9% of the market. 9% of imports also came from Norway and Switzerlandtogether while 6% came from Ukraine and 4% from Belarus.Finally, Indonesia accounted for 4% of EU imports. The overall value of EU-28 exports of woodworking productsexceeded 25 billion EUR in 2014 which was 2.2% more thanin
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2013 and well above the 2010 level of 19.3 billion EUR (+32.5%). Nevertheless, exports of woodworking productsstricto-sensu decreased by 2.5% in 2014, reflecting fallsof exports by 4%, 3.2% and 1.1% of wood-based panels (NACE 16.2.1), construction elements (NACE 16.2.3) and packaging (NACE 16.24). Exports of other sub-sectors of otherwoodworking industries stricto-sensu (NACE 16.2) remainedrather stable. Furniture (NACE 31) exports increased by 3.6% while thevalue of sawmilling, planing and impregnation (NACE 16.1) ex-
ports exceeded 5 billion EUR (+5.6%). Furniture (NACE 31) accounted for 53.2% of the extra- EU exports of woodworking products in 2014. Sawmilling products (NACE 16.1) accounted for an increasing share of20% of exports and other wood products (NACE 16.2) for a decreasing share of 26.8%. More specifically, woodbasedpanels (NACE 16.2.1) and construction elements (NACE 16.2.3) represented 11% and 8% respectively. Transit trade not taken into consideration, the 28 Member States’ exports outside the EU amounted to 12.3% of their overall production, compared to 12.5% in 2013. The woodwor-
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king industries stricto-sensu exported about 10.3%while the furniture sector sold 14.8% of its production outsidethe EU.
Destination of Exports and trade balance
In 2014, the EU woodworking industries continued to export primarily to Switzerland, Norway and Japan which accountedfor decreasing shares of 12%, 10% and 8% of extra-EU exports respectively. China and Egypt followed with 8% and 7% of the extra-EU exports. USA and Russia also accounted for 6% and 5% of the extra-EU exports. Finally, Algeria,Turkey and Saudi Arabia completed the
top ten destinations of extra-EU exports. The trade balance for the woodworking industries is differentaccording to the products. In total, the EU trade balance decreased significantly from 6.1 billion EUR in 2013 to 4.5 billion EUR in 2014. The woodworking industries stricto-sensu (NACE 16) ended 2014 with a surplus of 3.5 billion EUR whilethe furniture industry (NACE 31) registered a lower surplusof 1 billion EUR. In 2014, all sub-sectors of the woodworkingindustries stricto-sensu have significantly positive trade balancesexcept other woodworking products (NACE 16.29) whose balance remained, as usual, negative.
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Apparent Consumption and employment
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Apparent consumption of wood products upturned by5.3% in 2014 compared to 2013 and exceeded 203 billion EUR. The consumption of products from the woodworking industry strictosensu increased by 4.9%, while the apparent consumption of furniture rose by 5.8%. The sawmill, planing and impregnation products (NACE 16.1) sector experienced an increase of 6.8% in 2014. In this analysis, the consumption of sawmill products (NACE 16.1) amounted to 32.8 billion EUR and accounted for 16.1% of the total consum-
ption of wood products in 2014. The consumption of other woodworking products (NACE 16.2) exceeded 80 billion EUR and represented 39.4% ofthe total consumption of wood products while the consumption of furniture (NACE 31) exceeded 90.6 billion EUR, meaning a relative consumption of 44.5%. The figures on employment in the woodworking sector provide an indication of the overall employment, although it should be borne in mind that some countries do not take into account firms with less than 20 employees. Thus, the global figures tend to substantially underestimate the employment in small and medium-sized industrial sectors. Given the SME structure
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of the woodworking industries, the actual total number of employees in the EU-28 wood industry should be estimated at substantially more than 2 million in 2014. According to the Eurostat data, employment in the woodworking industries rose slightly by 0.9% in 2014, yet remained below the 2 million threshold. The increase in employment took place in the woodworking industries stricto-sensu (+2.5%) while employment dropped further in the furniture sector by 0.6%. Within the woodworking industries stricto-sensu, increases of employment
were observed both in the other woodworking industries (+2.6%) and in the sawmill sector (+2.1%). Among the 28 countries of the EU and thanks to an increaseof 6.6%, Poland took the lead in the employment ranking of the woodworking industries (NACE 16 + 31) at the expenseof Germany (0.8%) and Italy (-0.3%). Poland has now more than 280,000 jobs in the woodworking industries. Cyprus, Spain, Luxembourg, Finland and the Netherlands showed the most significant decreases while Malta (+18.5%), the Slovakia (+17.4%) and Lithuania (+10%) experienced the largest ncreases in employment
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in 2014. In terms of employment, the furniture industry represented49.3% of the jobs, the sawmill industry accounted for 12.8% of the employment while the other sub-sectors accounted for37.9%. In the sawmill industry (NACE 16.1) and the furniture sector (NACE 31), most people were employed in Poland. Italy has thus not regained its leading position in the furniture sector nor its leading position in the other sub-sectors (NACE16.2)which is still dominated by Germany.
Number of Enterprises
According to Eurostat, the woodworking industries counted more than 292,000 companies in 2014, of which about 121,000 companies were active in the furniture business (NACE 31). Within the woodworking industries stricto-sensu, the sawmill industry (NACE 16.1) accounted for roughly 35,000 companies, while the other sub-sectors of woodworking products (NACE 16.2) counted some 136,000 companies. These figures remain underestimations since small companies are not necessarily taken into account given the
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Member States’ reporting. In the furniture and the construction elements sectors, the number of small companies is considerable and therefore, the real number of firms could be estimated at more than 350,000 companies. In 2015, though some producers still had to cover distances of up to 250km for their raw material supplies. Pine and spruce continued to be the main species used in particleboard production. They accounted for 62% of the total roundwood supply. The raw wood consumption by the European MDF industry increa-
sed slightly in 2015 amounting to 9.2 million dry tonnes under bark. Roundwood increased a little its role of major source of raw material with a share of 54% compared to 52% in 2014. Industrial byproducts, mainly composed of chips, accounted for 45% of the wood procurement. Recovered wood is still not really processed in the European MDF industry.Roundwood consumption consisted mainly of pine and sprucewhich represented 83% of the roundwood used. In 2015, MDF producers purchased their wood at an average distanceof 127 km, increasing in comparison with 2014 (110
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km). Some deliveries came from distances up to 180 km. In 2015, the wood consumption by the European OSB industry amounted to 4.3 million dry tonnes under bark. This consumption was exclusively composed of roundwood, especially
pine (66%) and spruce (21%). The average purchasing distance in 2015 was 170 km, relatively stable compared to 178 km in 2014, and reached up to 300 km for some OSB producers.
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A "VENITIAN FEAST" FOR THE PRTICIPANTS TO THE EPF CONVENTION: FEDERLEGNO-ARREDO. FLA EVENTI, GRUPPO MAURO SAVIOLA, RILEGNO, FANTONI, GRUPPO FRATI, PANGUANETA, SAIB, SIEMPELKAMP AND TRICOYA WERE THE SPONSORS.
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The Paris Agreement
Silvia Melegari from the European Organisation of the Sawmill Industry provided s Special Topic: on Friday 22 April 2016 ( during the International Mother Earth Day), more than 155 countries expressed interest in signing the Paris Agreement on Climate Change at the headquarters of the United Nations (UN) in New York. Following the Friday event at the UN headquarters, the period for signatures will remain open for one year, so that all parties can sign to validate the Paris Agreement and to ratify it. In addition, representatives of countries will make their national
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statements and deliver the instruments of ratification, or specific action plans to combat climate change. The Paris agreement was approved by the 196 Parties to the United Nations Framework Convention of the Climate Change (UNFCCC) in COP 21 in Paris on 12 December 2015 aimed at limiting the temperature rise overall below 2 degrees Celsius, and at driving efforts to limit the temperature increase even further to 1.5 degrees Celsius above pre-industrial levels. Additionally, the agreement aims to strengthen the ability to deal with the impacts of climate change. The agreement will enter into force after 55 coun-
NUMBER3 EPF tries that account for at least 55% of global emissions have deposited their instruments of ratification. These numbers have been chosen to ensure the participation of the largest emitters – in particular China, the US, and the EU – but at the same time not setting the bar so high as to delay entry into force. Paris Agreement on Climate Change: Strictly speaking, according to the Paris agreement, Parties are not legally bound at the international level to achieve their targets. Rather, each Party is legally bound to pursue domestic mitigation measures, with the aim of achieving the objectives of their contri-
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butions. However, all Parties have a legally binding obligation to prepare, communicate and maintain a nationally determined mitigation contribution. Indeed, before and during the Paris conference, countries submitted comprehensive national climate action plans. These are not yet enough to keep global warming below , but the agreement traces the way to achieving this target. The Agreement includes an explicit call to the so called “developed and developing countries” to conserve and enhance forests and other biological carbon reservoirs. The Agreement also emphasizes the need to protect vulnerable ecosystems, and the need to en-
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sure food security, but fails to formulate an explicit vision for landbased mitigation and adaptation. The explicit referencing of forests in the new agreement was intensely debated. Article 5 of the agreement states “(1) Parties should take action to conserve and enhance, as appropriate, sinks and reservoirs of greenhouse gases as referred to in Article 4, paragraph 1(d), of the Convention, including forests. (2) Parties are encouraged to take action to implement and support, including through results based payments, the existing framework as set out in related guidance and decisions already agreed under
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the Convention for: policy approaches and positive incentives for activities relating to reducing emissions from deforestation and forest degradation, and the role of conservation, sustainable management of forests. The European sawmill industry message during the COP21: In the framework of the COP 21, Think Forest, the European Forest Institute’s high-level discussion forum, chaired by the former Swedish Prime Minister G.ran Persson, organised on 1 December 2015, in Paris, an event entitled “Climate policy targets: How can European forests contribute?”. EOS was invited to take part in this event and to contribute its vi-
NUMBER3 EPF sion on this issue. The Think Forest seminar “Climate policy targets: how can European forests contribute” brought together policymakers, scientists and stakeholders at the COP 21 Climate Generations area in Paris on 1 December. Discussions focused on threemajor issues: • expanding the mitigation potential of forests; • the bioeconomy and the possibilities it offers for substitution of fossil-fuel based products; • economic incentives. This is the message that EOS put forward during the Think Forest event. Co-
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pies of the EOS position paper were distributed during the meeting. The governments of more than 190 nations are gathering in Paris to discuss a possible new global agreement on climate change, aimed at reducing global greenhouse gas emissions and thus avoiding the threat of dangerous climate change: the COP 21, the United Nations Climate Change Conference (UNFCCC) in Paris, represents a crucial event in committing our Countries to decoupling the economic growth from GHG emissions. The transformation of economic growth towards a lower dependency on fossil fuels and related greenhouse gas
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(GHG) emissions is essential for a successful global climate strategy. The outcome of COP 21 is likely to significantly impact business and economy. Nevertheless, this challenge posed to the Society and our Governments should be seen as an opportunity rather than a threat. Forests and the related products are the main drivers for a biobased economy, creating growth and sustainability at the same time. The European Organisation of the Sawmill Industry fully believes that by boosting the consumption and use of harvested wood products, Member States can achieve a low-carbon and bio-based
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society. Combining environmental sustainability and economic growth is possible if policies will be set in orderto make an efficient and increased use of natural and renewable resources, such as wood. Indeed wood products can play an important role in fighting climate change and contributing to a drastic reduction of CO2 in the atmosphere. It is scientifically proven that wood products can mitigate climate change. Scientific data show that wood from sustainable managed forests when used as building product provides a negative carbon footprint and a long term carbon storage. The use of wood products can re-
NUMBER3 EPF present a greener alternative to fossilfuel intensive materials. Substituting a cubic metre of wood for other construction materials results in the average of 0.75 to 1 tonne of CO2 savings. Indeed, compared to other materials, wood requires less energy to extract, transport, construct and maintain over time. Moreover, wood represents an excellent insulation material. Wood ‘s cellular structure contains air pockets that limits its ability to conduct heat, which make it a better insulation material. This helps to minimize the energy for heating and cooling. Increased use of wood boosts the economic value of forests; this ensures the
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maintenance and expansion of woodlands. Moreover, sustainably managed forests sequester carbon more efficiently than forests left to grow unmanaged. The carbon in the harvested trees continues to be stored throughout the life of the resulting wood product. In Europe, only 60 % of annual forest growth is actually harvested. Europe is the only region of the world with a positive net change in forest area during the last 20 years. The growing stock in Europe has increased faster than the area, which means that the average standing volume of wood per hectare has grown. In this period forest area in Europe has increased
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by 17 million hectares (almost half of the area of Italy). Over the last 20 years, total growing stock of forests in Europe has increased by 8.6 billion cubic meters. Between 2005 and 2010 the average annual absorption of carbon in forest biomass reached 870 million tons in the European region. The main opportunities to capitalise on these CO2 savings include using a greater proportion of wood products (e.g. increasing the use of wood in the construction, in furniture and in packaging industries, exchanging coal for biomass bioenergy), using wood products with a longer useful life, and increasing recycling.
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Despite the enormous environment benefits that can be obtained from an increased use of wood, EU level actions have been negligible in this field. Outside Europe, several important countries such as USA, Canada and China, have made “building with wood” part of their climate change policy. Now, it is high time that the European Union, who is one of the leaders in promoting a sustainable and environment friendly society, takes the same pathway. The European Decision 529/2013 on “accounting rules on greenhouse gas emissions and removals resulting from activities relating to land use, landuse change and forestry and on
NUMBER3 EPF information concerning actions relating to those activities” invites Member States to increase the use of wood products and set measures to substitute greenhouse gas intensive materials and energy feedstocks with biomass (respectively whereas 13 and 10 of the European Decision 529/2013). Moreover at the beginning of 2014, the European Economic and Social Committee stressed in the own-initiative opinion on the “Contribution of the woodworking sector to the carbon balance” that “ Europe can drastically reduce CO2 emissions by increasing the carbon sink created by its forests (by optimising their management) and by
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enhancing the use of sustainably produced wood products”. In addition, the European Economic and Social Committee demanded that the EU Institutions to create a favorable legislative environment for boosting the use and consumption of harvested wood products. For these reasons, the Organisation of the Sawmill Industry invites Members States, the European Institutions and all policy makers to share the following considerations: As very first step, it is necessary to raise awareness of the role of wood products for mitigating climate change. In Europe, forests act as a carbon sink.
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Measures to improve emission reductions tend to focus on sequestration in the forest without taking into account the positive contribution of active forest management and the use of wood products to substitute more carbon intensive products. The carbon stored in wood products needs to be given equal footing with the CO2 captured by forests. Despite of the Decision that the European Commission will take on how to address GHG emissions from agriculture and LULUCF in the context of Increased use of wood boosts the economic value of forests; this ensures the maintenance and expansion of woodlands.
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Moreover, sustainably managed forests sequester carbon more efficiently than forests left to grow unmanaged. The carbon in the harvested trees continues to be stored throughout the life of the resulting wood product. In Europe, only 60 % of annual forest growth is actually harvested. Europe is the only region of the world with a positive net change in forest area during the last 20 years. The growing stock in Europe has increased faster than the area, which means that the average standing volume of wood per hectare has grown. In this period forest area in Europe has increased by 17 million hectares (almost half of the area of Italy). Over the last 20 years,
NUMBER3 EPF total growing stock of forests in Europe has increased by 8.6 billion cubic meters. Between 2005 and 2010 the average annual absorption of carbon in forest biomass reached 870 million tons in the European region. The main opportunities to capitalise on these CO2 savings include using a greater proportion of wood products (e.g.increasing the use of wood in the construction, in furniture and in packaging industries, exchanging coal for biomass bioenergy), using wood products with a longer useful life, and increasing recycling. Despite the enormous environment benefits that can be obtained from an increased use of wood, EU level
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actions have been negligible in this field. Outside Europe, several important countries such as USA, Canada and China, have made “building with wood” part of their climate change policy. Now, it is high time that the European Union, who is one of the leaders in promoting a sustainable and environment friendly society, takes the same pathway. The European Decision 529/2013 on “accounting rules on greenhouse gas emissions and removals resulting from activities relating to land use, land-use change and forestry and on information concerning actions relating to those activities” invites Member States to increase the use of wood
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products and set measures to substitute greenhouse gas intensive materials and energy feedstocks with biomass (respectively whereas 13 and 10 of the European Decision 529/2013). Moreover at the beginning of 2014, the European Economic and Social Committee stressed in the own-initiative opinion on the “Contribution of the woodworking sector to the carbon balance” that “Europe can drastically reduce CO2 emissions by increasing the carbon sink created by its forests (by optimising their management) and by enhancing the use of sustainably produced wood products”.
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In addition, the European Economic and Social Committee demanded that the EU Institutions to create a favorable legislative environment for boosting the use and consumption of harvested wood products. For these reasons, the Organisation of the Sawmill Industry invites Members States, the European Institutions and all policy makers to share the following considerations: As very first step, it is necessary to raise awareness of the role of wood products for mitigating climate change. In Europe, forests act as a carbon sink. Measures to improve emission reductions tend to focus on sequestration in the forest wi-
NUMBER3 EPF thout taking into account the positive contribution of active forest management and the use of wood products to substitute more carbon intensive products. The carbon stored in wood products needs to be given equal footing with the CO2 captured by forests. Despite of the Decision that the European Commission will take on how to address GHG emissions from agriculture and LULUCF in the context of the 2030 framework, it is essential that Member States set up measures for enhancing use of wood both in residential and non-residential constructions thus contributing in creating green societies. Urban areas are currently estimated to
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be responsible for 71–76 % of energyrelated CO2 emissions. In 2014, 54% of the world’s population was living in cities, and this figure is expected to rise to 66 by 2050. (Source “The 2014 revision of the World Urbanization Prospects by UN DESA’s Population Division”). Clearly solutions for a more sustainable construction have an important role in reducing CO2 emissions. For this reason and considering that the Energy Performance of Buildings Directive requires all new buildings to be nearly zero-energy by the end of 2020 and all new public buildings to be nearly zero-energy by 2018, elements such as “material substitution for reducing
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GHG emissions, particularly CO2” and “embodied energy in buildings materials” should be an integrated part of the national “zero emission buildings” plans. When technically feasible, natural and renewable materials should always be preferred in construction and be an essential part of the GPP. Indeed, the use of natural, renewable and recyclable materials will represent an important tool for developing a competitive and circular economy. Finally, Governments are invited to consider the introduction of comprehensive measures for favoring the use of highlyrecyclable, non pollutant, and CO2 emission free
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materials in order to create an effective bio-based and environmental friendly economy. The Think Forest seminar also saw the launch of the EFI science-policy study on the “European forest sector and climate policy targets”. According to the study, forests and their related products reduce emissions, enhance sinks, store carbon and provide a continuous stream of ecosystem services, including wood products, energy and biodiversity conservation. EU forests andthe forest sector currently produce an overall climate mitigation impact that amounts to about 13% of the total EU emissions.
NUMBER3 EPF The Venice Declaration
On the occasion of EPF’s Annual General Meeting in Venice on 7th & 8th July, and in the presence of MEP SIMONA BONAFÈ, MEP DAVID BORRELLI, Mr CARLO MARI MEDAGLIA of the Italian Ministry of the Environment, captains of the European panel industry and their suppliers, the Chairman and President of the Composite Panel Association of North America and members of the trade press, Dottore PAOLO FANTONI, Chairman EPF, and Mr MARKUS WIESNER, Chairman EFIC, co-signed the ‘VENICE DECLA-
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RATION ON CASCADING USE OF WOOD’. This landmark document presents the views of the European wood-based panels industry, supported by the European furniture industry towards the Circular Economy, and in particular the concept of the cascading use of wood.
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CARLO MARIA MEDAGLIA
SIMONA BONAFÈ
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MARKUS WIESNER
NUMBER3 EPF
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ROBERTO SNAIDERO CLIVE PINNINGTON
MARCO GASPERONI GIOVANNI LA VIA
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The declaration is a two page appeal to European Institutions and governments to embrace and promote the multiple or “cascade� use of wood, especially for material products such as panels and furniture. This is considered to be the best way to make optimum use of this valuable resource for Europe. The text of the declaration is reproduced below. The Venice Declaration “The bioeconomy is increasingly viewed by policymakers as a golden time to develop opportunities that will facilitate economic and employment growth whilst delivering solutions that address the global challenges
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presented by climate change and energy security. The wood-based panel and furniture industries are proud to be part of the bio-economy. Parallel to the bio-economy, a central platform of European climate policy is to develop a role for bio-energy as a means of mitigating climate change through the substitution of non-renewable fossil-based fuels with sustainable alternatives. Whilst supportive of the overall policy objectives, the wood-based panel and the wood-based panel furniture industries are concerned by the potentially negative consequences that such policies, intended to develop one industry, can have on another.
NUMBER3 EPF About the European Panel Federation
EPF has members in 25 countries. The EU wood panel industry has a turnover of about 22 billion euro every year, creates over 100,000 jobs directly and counts more than 5,000 enterprises in Europe. Furthermore, every job in the wood-panel industry generates a multiple of jobs in the downstream user sectors such as the further processing companies and the users in the building, furniture and packaging industries, which have a strong SME character. Additionally, wood panel factories are oftenlocated in rural, less in-
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dustrialized or developed areas, making an important contribution to the local economy. Since 1 January 1999, the European Panel Federation (EPF), represents the European manufacturers of particleboard, MDF and OSB, with a total production in 2011 of more than 30 million m3 of particleboard, more than 11.5 million m3 of MDF and more than 3.5 million m3 of OSB. EPF thus took over the tasks of FESYP, the European federation of associations of the particleboard manufacturers (founded in 1958) and Euro MDF Board, the European federation of MDF manufacturers (founded in 1986). In March 2012
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also the leading European manufacturers of wet process fibreboards decided to join EPF, who were previously represented by FEROPA. Since then, EPF also
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operates the ‘Natural Fibre Boards’ (NFB) trademark. In March 2015, EPF also welcomed the Association of Plywod Producers, formerly FEIC.
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ON STAGE NUMBER THREE 2016
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ONSTAGE NUMBER3 EPF (EUROPEAN PANELS FEDERATION)VENICE ITALY