Publications

The manifesto sets out clearly the numerous benefits of responsibly sourced wood products and the actions that policy makers need to prioritise to achieve a green, cost-efficient, competitive and resilient EU economy. It ends by highlighting the ways in which wood can decarbonise the built environment.

Wood has been at the heart of the bioeconomy for centuries!

This publication tells you all you need to know about biomanufacturing and the circular bioeconomy within the European woodworking and sawmill industries.

The RESILIENTWOOD is a EU co-funded project let by CEI-Bois  together with EFBWW, Woodwize and FCBA. It aims to offer recommendations to tackle specific challenges in the Woodworking Industries through strengthened social dialogue. The project focuses on the adaptation of the industry and its outlook after the Covid-19 crisis, including the adaptation needs linked to expected technological changes and the need to increase the attractiveness of the sector for skills attraction and retention, with special attention given to gender balance in the WI. Possible solutions to these challenges will be investigated through a cooperation involving social partners and VET providers.

This year marked CEI-Bois’ 70th anniversary. Understandably this could have prompted a looking back over our long history but the Russian invasion of Ukraine and the ensuing energy crisis and disruption to trade, including loss of wood
supply, has kept our focus very much on the present. Even before war broke out in Ukraine the case for an increased use of wood and wood fibre in decarbonising the built environment was strong. The framework of the European Green
Deal, with one of its priorities being
‘building and renovating in an energy and resource efficient way’, was helping to promoting the increased use of timber in new build and renovation.

Throughout the year CEI-Bois’ advocacy activity has been guided by a recognition that long life harvested wood products can play a significant role in helping to decarbonise the built environment which is responsible for some 40% of global carbon emissions. This recognition led us to take a lead at both a European and global level in drawing up a timber manifesto for use at COP26 in Glasgow, Scotland in November 2021.  The manifesto was endorsed by many of our European colleagues as well as sister bodies in the USA, Canada, Australia, and New Zealand.

This year, our lives, business and markets have been dramatically disrupted due to the global coronavirus outbreak. According to World Bank forecasts, the global economy will shrink by 5.2% by the end of 2020. This will represent the deepest recession since the Second World War, with the majority of economies experiencing the biggest declines in per capita output since 1870 (World Bank - Global Economic Prospects). Indeed, in general Covid-19 has upended economic and social life at unprecedented speed and several trends that became apparent during the spring lockdown might well persist in the future.

This document is intended to highlight the differences between EPD and PEF and the risk and benefits these pose to the timber industry. The document contains:

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A glossary to remind the reader of the main terms used

A brief summary of the differences and risks

A more detailed discussion of the details of the scheme to provide a more technical background for the reader

Presentation of Standards that cover the preparation stages of PEF and EPD.

The EU’s sustainably managed forests produce today an overall climate mitigation impact amounting to 13% of European greenhouse gas emissions:

Sequestration: of CO2 by forest growth thanks to sustainable forest management

Storage: the carbon storage effect of harvested circular Forest-Based products

Substitution: the substitution effects of replacing carbon-intensive and fossil-based materials and energy with Forest-Based materials.

The EU Woodworking sector sits at the heart of the European circular bioeconomy and is a key driver for jobs and growth. In 2017 the sector contributed €133 billions to the European economy, generating around 1 million jobs, many of which in rural areas. The Woodworking industry actively contributes to the attainment of the EU key political priorities, such as the reduction of GHG emissions in line with the Paris Agreement and the deployment of an EU circular bioeconomy, while ensuring jobs creation and employment stability. 

An impetus for high quality training, up to date curricula, an improved attractiveness of the woodworking and furniture sectors and a more ambitious Erasmus+ for apprentices

This year it has been difficult to tell if the glass is half empty or half full. On the down side, the war in Ukraine has entered a second year with no resolution in sight, the wider economic situation remains bleak and we have also seen the regulatory burden imposed by Brussels increasing.

Conversely wood is increasingly acknowledged as climate friendly replacement for concrete and steel, brick and block. When the economic pendulum swings back we will be well placed to benefit from timber’s sustainable green credentials.

To offer the world the most sustainable, innovative, 
and competitive wood, paper, board, and fibre-based
solutions.
To provide environmental, social, economic, and 
hygienic solutions to society while making sure that 
forests are managed in a sustainable manner and are 
thereby healthy and resilient, biodiversity-friendly 
and well adapted to climate change.
To support and work with the EU institutions towards 
creating an enabling policy environment for our 
sectors to collectively reach EU fossil fuel emissions 
mitigation equivalent to 30%.

The W4B Alliance raises awareness for the transformative power of the Circular Economy, puts a spotlight on the versatility of wood products as part of innovative building systems, and facilitates co-creation partnerships with the wood industry sector for the New European Bauhaus.
Our goal is to contribute to shaping a better and sustainable future with beautiful, healthy and inclusive living spaces as part of a sustainable, low carbon
built environment.

The construction and built environment sector is responsible for approximately 40% of global energy related CO 2 emissions. i A significant percentage of this comes from the extraction, processing and energyintensive manufacturing of building products. To achieve net zero CO 2 emissions by 2050, construction must rapidly decarbonise whilst still meeting the needs of a growing urban population, the increasing demand for new buildings and the urgent requirement to renovate existing buildings. Wood is the only sustainable structural material that grows worldwide which can enable a substantial decarbonisation of the built environment based on existing business models and proven technology; providing vast carbon sinks in our rural areas and carbon stores in our cities.

The Good Wood project, which Confapi and all partners have carried out with commitment and passion, by involving also European, national and local stakeholders, had the aim of enhancing and strengthening the social dialogue as a tool to facilitate the transition towards green and circular economy objectives, of companies in the wood and furniture sector. The current historical moment requires extraordinary and urgent measures from the European Union, that should consider the full involvement of all the actors, including employers and trade unions organizations. We are all aware that the renovation in a green key represents an opportunity that companies can and must catch; it can be a lever for growth also in terms of new production models and jobs.

In 2019, the European Forest-based Industries (FBI), including the pulp, paper and other fibre-based product industries, the woodworking industries, the producers of furniture, the bio-energy sector and the printing industry, came together to present their vision of the European society in 2050 and the essential role that they can play, delivering on the carbon neutrality goal. In light of the climate crisis and following the European Green Deal set of proposals by the European Commission, Cepi released the study “Climate effects of the forest-based sector in the European Union”.

Throughout human history, wood has provided us with a diverse, versatile, durable and renewable manufacturing and construction material. Today it is potentially more valuable still. Its use in a bioeconomic development strategy can help reduce, even reverse adverse climate and wider environmental impacts of modern human activity. The majority of scientific opinion is now clear; man-made emissions from use of fossil fuels and other finite resources and over dependence on energy intensive materials are implicated in global warming and we must reduce and mitigate them urgently. It is increasingly apparent that the global economy must work in harmony with the environment. What is needed is a circular bioeconomy, reliant on renewable, low carbon-impact materials and products such as wood.

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Also available in DANISH and DUTCH

Forests cover around 40% of Europe’s territory (190 million ha), making Europe one of the most forest-rich regions in the world. Europe is in fact one of the few regions of the world where forest cover has increased over the last century. Forest owners and managers contribute to growth and jobs in rural area while ensuring wood and ecological services provision. Forest activities have a turnover of almost € 500 billion, employing approximately 3.5 million people. Industry has invested in technology to turn sidestreams and by-products into innovative biobased products that are essential for the development of the bioeconomy. As more investments are made in innovative technologies, more products from this industry will reach new market segments, providing additional benefits to society as a whole.