Environmental protection by the Finnish wood products industry in 2000

The most notable environment-related development in the wood products indus try last year concerned the raw material supply. The rapid progress made in forest certification led to chain of custody certificates for wood raw mat erial for several wood products manufacturers, opening the way for use of t he PEFC label on products. Increasing importance is being attached to environmental issues by buyers a nd end-users of wood products. As a user of renewable raw material, the woo d products industry is stepping up its efforts to minimize production impac ts and to provide accurate information for decision-makers. Environmental reports listing the environmental impacts of production have been produced for all the industry's main products. One beneficial effect o f wood products manufacture is the sequestration of carbon dioxide. Almost 10 million tonnes of this greenhouse gas were locked up in wood products ma nufactured in Finland in 2000. Last year, the Finnish sawmilling industry invested FIM 0.2 per cubic metre of production in environmental protection. Environment-related operating c osts were FIM 0.4 per cubic metre of production. Environment-related invest ment by the wood-based panels industry last year totalled EUR 4.2 million ( article on pages 358-361).