Building our future with certified timber

Wood is the construction material for a sustainable, low carbon, built environment. It stores carbon, can be reused, recycled and comes from a renewable source.

Building with responsibly sourced wood plays a key role in mitigating climate change, improving occupant health and well-being, while supporting rural development through the creation of forestry and supply chain jobs.

But as more built environment professionals recognise wood the benefits of wood as a low carbon, 21^st century construction material, some are concerned that rising demand could accelerate deforestation.

In 2023, PEFC commissioned a paper for the World Congress on Timber Engineering in Oslo. A review of the evidence showed that on the contrary, rising demand for mass engineered timber (MET) could help strengthen the growth of forests if sustainable forest management practices are implemented and monitored through certification and labelling.

So, PEFC has an important role to play in helping to ensure that, MET can continue to deliver global benefits in a sustainable way. By improving and developing access to forestry certification, PEFC can give forest owners, and wood product suppliers, the benefits of certified products, while ensuring that sustainable forestry practices are applied.  Recognising that the world’s forests must be maintained for future generations, it’s crucial that built environment professionals choose responsibly sourced wood.

PEFC’s global forest certification progamme: your assurance of responsible sourcing

PEFC certified timber originates in a sustainably managed forest which has been independently audited against demanding sustainability requirements. 

Our global certification programme ensure that forests are managed in ways that:

• respect ecological, social and cultural context and aims to improve a forest’s economic value
• support healthy forest ecosystems and wildlife habitats
• aim to secure livelihoods of forest workers and support local communities
• facilitates carbon the capture to help protect the environment for future generations.

Why choose PEFC certified products?

As the largest buyer of wood products, the construction industry has a key role to play in securing a healthy future for the world’s forests. Specifying certified timber products from your suppliers demonstrates to customers, shareholders, as well as to wider society, that your company only accepts responsibly sourced wood and wood products. 

Green building recognition for certified timber 

Increasingly, public and private sector organisations are developing procurement policies that require wood and wood products to be sourced from legal and sustainable sources.  

Additionally, internationally-recognised green building standards such as LEED, BREEAM, Nordic Swan and DGNB are helping to drive demand for certified timber.  By awarding materials credits or points, these environmental assessment schemes are signalling to forest owners that their investment in sustainable forest management certification is both recognised and valued.

How the built environment sector can support a healthy future for the world’s forests

Built environment professionals can demonstrate their support for sustainable forest management around the globe by specifying PEFC certified products for their construction projects. This provides assurances that the wood products can be traced from forest to building site.

PEFC offers the world’s largest supply of certified wood and wood products. PEFC wood and engineered wood products are readily available for construction projects from thousands of Chain of Custody certified suppliers around the globe.

You can find PEFC companies who can supply certified sustainable wood for your projects on our international database Link to guidance on how to use the database?

Contractors

• Develop a corporate timber procurement policy and share with your procurement colleagues and suppliers. You can find a template procurement policy here.
• Train your procurement and sustainability staff on responsible timber procurement by joining or hosting a Responsible Timber Procurement CPD.
• Download our timber delivery checklist to help those overseeing deliveries ensure that they are getting certified materials.

Architects

• Specify PEFC-certified timber for your projects.
• Join a Responsible Timber Procurement CPD or even better, host one for your studio/practice.
• Partner with us on a case study to showcase your project’s green credentials. Contact us at construction@pefc.org

If the main material in your project is mass timber e.g. CLT, Glulam, LVL, discuss PEFC Project Certification with your client.

PEFC Project Certification

To demonstrate excellence in responsible sourcing,  projects can also obtain PEFC Project Chain of Custody certification. This is a type of Chain of Custody certification that allows you to benefit from PEFC certification for your projects.

PEFC Project Chain of Custody certification recognises that not all parties involved in specific projects might be certified, even though the forest-based material used for the project is covered by Chain of Custody certification. Usually, non-certified parties handling certified material would break the chain, but this is where PEFC Project Chain of Custody can help.

Here, the specific project is the ‘product’ to which the Chain of Custody process is applied. This means that when a ‘Project Manager’ obtains a Chain of Custody certificate for project certification, contractors working on this project are covered as Project Members and aren’t required to obtain Chain of Custody certification themselves. The Project Manager will have to comply with the relevant requirements and establish a suitable management system which would cover 

• record keeping
• staff training
• internal audits
• a complaints resolution procedure

This system will also cover the activities performed by Project Members, to control and record timber arriving and being used on site. As with regular Chain of Custody certification, meticulous records must be maintained on all aspects of the forest-based products received on site, and employees involved in the project must be competent and receive sufficient training.