PEFC Austria awards Sustainability Prize on the country's highest mountain

21 June 2022 News

Which Austrian companies and personalities are particularly good for the forest?

PEFC Austria gave the answer on the country's highest mountain, the Großglockner, where it presented the PEFC Award for Sustainability 2021 in five categories.

PEFC International Chair Eduardo Rojas Briales and EU Representative Maja Drča joined the celebrations at airy heights.

"It was a real pleasure to join our Austrian colleagues at this very special location at the foot of the Großglockner, and meet the personalities that through a variety of actions make a real difference for forests and people in Austria and beyond,” said Eduardo Rojas Briales.

The winners

"We can celebrate sustainability at the Großglockner mountain at 2,369 metres thanks to one of the award winners," explained PEFC Austria Chair Dr Kurt Ramskogler, as he announced Großglockner-Hochalpenstraßen-AG (GROHAG) as the winner in the category "Promotion".

Since 2021, the company has used PEFC-certified paper to produce 1.5 million advertising materials a year.

"Sustainability is a top priority for the GROHAG Group, which manages five holiday destinations with 2.5 million guests per year. Using PEFC-certified advertising materials and buildings helps us to act sustainably amid protected areas," said GROHAG CEO Dr Johannes Hörl.

The award winner in the category "CoC - Chain of Custody" is the furniture manufacturer BENE GmbH, which is committed to a transparent value chain from forest to product.

Thanks to BENE, the PEFC label can even be found in the Austrian parliament, which the company will equip with PEFC-certified furniture.

The winner in the category "Forest" is Viktoria Hutter. As a forest owner, she is at the beginning of the timber chain. Viktoria is the state champion of forestry, and is running her own PEFC-certified forestry operation.

Wherever she works, she puts in her heart and soul, whether at active and sustainable forest management, as the first Lower Austrian Forest Queen or as the initiator of the forest planting project waldsetzen.jetzt.

The personality award went to Simone Schmiedtbauer. As a member of the European Parliament, she advocates the interests of Austrian forestry at EU level, and manages over twelve hectares of forest.

"PEFC is a matter of course for us because it is a seal of quality. Where PEFC is on, sustainable family forestry is in," she explained.

In the category "ZÖFU" (certified Austrian forestry enterprises), PEFC Austria chose Holz KLADE as the winner.

The Carinthian family business combines excellent training and technical equipment with work-life balance of its employees – valuing the social aspect of sustainability.

Watch the video portraits and learn more about the award winners here.

Photo credits: PEFC Austria / Franz Neumayr / GROHAG