Responding to consumers' sustainability requirements and the role of the PEFC label

Minna Liuksiala, Managing Director, Finnish Hardware Association Rasi ry & Jenni Piela, Marketing Manager, PEFC Finland

All companies in the construction trade are thinking about what sustainability means and how it manifests itself in action. This development has been driven by companies' own concern for people and their environment, increasing regulation, and customers' concern about sustainable choices. According to the RASI ry 2023 study, 64% of customers in our industry pay attention to the sustainability of products in their purchasing decisions, and for only 15% of customers, sustainability is not a significant factor. A third of the respondents said they were also ready to pay more for a sustainably produced product. 40% of the respondents said that they seek information about product sustainability from the store, and product certifications such as PEFC were important or very important to one in four respondents.

Products made of wood are a large part of construction trade sales. Most of the products come from Finnish sawmills, but the companies also import a significant amount wooden products from outside the EU. It is important for the store to be able to demonstrate sustainable operations by an external and independent source, and PEFC certification can be used to inform customers about sustainability. The store also highlights the PEFC label and its meaning in its marketing and store information.

The EU's deforestation regulation brings increased obligations to both timber importers and trade operators. Wood construction is also of great importance in reducing the carbon footprint of the entire construction, because by increasing the use of wood, the carbon footprint of construction is reduced and the wooden construction parts act as long-term carbon stores. The Deforestation Regulation challenges the environmental reporting of companies and obliges especially large companies in the trade sector to report extensively and more precisely than before on the origin of the timber they sell.

Forest certification supports the fulfillment of these obligations. In Finland, most commercial forests are PEFC certified. Forest certification verifies that forests are managed in accordance with the requirements set by the standard, and the standards set requirements for both the management and use of forests and the monitoring of the origin of wood raw material. The PEFC certificate and the PEFC label help companies meet consumers' growing sustainability expectations and show that the wood used in the products has not caused, for example, deforestation. The certificate is not a free pass from the obligations, but it supports demonstrating the fulfillment of EU obligations. With the help of the PEFC-label, the consumer knows that the origin of the product is clear, and it offers the consumer the opportunity to make sustainable choices.