PEFC-certified Christmas trees illuminate European city centres

23 December 2022 News

Christmas is just around the corner. That means it is once again time for magnificent Christmas trees to light up city centres and spread seasonal splendour. Also this year, several European cities celebrate Christmas in sustainable style.

A traditional gift for London

London’s festive season began with the lighting of the iconic Trafalgar Square Christmas Tree. The traditional annual gift from Norway to the UK is the 75^th in the series of trees donated by Oslo to London and is symbolic of the good relations between both nations.

This year’s Christmas tree is 21m high and approximately 90 years old. The Norwegian Spruce has been harvested from a PEFC-certified forest from the Ostmarka area just outside Oslo.

Each November, a suitable tree is picked out and felled, as part of a ceremony attended by the British Ambassador to Norway, Mayor of Oslo, and the Lord Mayor of Westminster. 

A wooden nativity scene in the Vatican

The famous St. Peter's Square in the heart of Rome is decorated by a wooden crib showing the nativity scene.

Arranged over an area of 116 m², it houses 18 statues, and its dome reaches a height of seven metres.

Wood sculptors and artists from Sutrio in the Friuli Venezia Giulia region in Northern Italy carved the crib from larch and cedar wood from PEFC-certified forests. In 2018 these forests suffered the fury of the storm Vaia.

The wood saved from uprooted stems has sought ways of redevelopment and revaluation in recent years, with the aim of avoiding waste, depreciation, and deterioration in the woods.

The crib will remain on St. Peter's Square until Epiphany and will then be set up permanently in Sutrio.

A sustainable Christmas tree for Germany’s Chancellor

A red spruce from a PEFC-certified company brings Christmas splendour to Germany’s Federal Chancellery.

Representatives from AGDW and the Brandenburg Forest Owners' Association handed over the spruce from Neuzelle Abbey in Brandenburg to Federal Chancellor Olaf Scholz.

For the two million private forest owners, who account for two thirds of the German forest, the fir in the courtyard of the Federal Chancellery is a fundamental sign of appreciation.

"This year it is particularly important that this Christmas tree sets a sign of hope and confidence," said AGDW President and Deputy Chairman of PEFC Germany, Prof. Dr. Andreas W. Bitter.

Photo credits: PEFC UK, Legnolandia, PEFC Germany/Ina Maslok