Consumables

UPM expands its forest services in Finland by offering FSC certification to forest owners

Wednesday 05. September 2012 - UPM offers FSC certification as a forest service to private forest owners in Finland. UPM has been granted an FSC group certificate, which enables UPM to group certify Finnish private forests and community forests in accordance with the Finnish FSC standard that came into effect last year.

Forest owners can obtain an FSC certificate for their forests by joining the UPM group certificate. For forest owners, this is an easy way of ensuring that their forests are managed and used in a responsible and economically viable way. The first forest certification service contracts between UPM and private forest owners have already been signed. The FSC group certificate also covers the jointly-owned forests established by UPM.
“The FSC certification of privately owned forests enables UPM to widen its range of certified products. The FSC certified raw material acquired from Finnish forests can also be used to partly replace imported wood at Finnish mills,” says Vice President Pekka Rajala, Wood Sourcing, North Europe.
UPM has experience of FSC certification from its own forests. Last year, UPM was granted a forest-owner-specific FSC certificate that covers the company’s forests in southern Finland. UPM also offers FSC forest certification as a forest service in Uruguay and the UK. All UPM forests worldwide are certified.
“The FSC group certificate received by UPM supports our goal of developing a new forest economy. The range of services offered to forest owners will increase, forest management will become more versatile and new environmental protection practices will develop,” says Timo Lehesvirta, Director, Environment, Energy and Pulp.
Forest certification is an important part of the UPM environmental strategy. The company constantly strives to increase the use of certified wood in its products. UPM uses reliable certification systems, such as FSC and PEFC. Globally, forest certification is an important tool in promoting the sustainable use of natural resources. For consumers, certification is a sign of sustainability.