Environmental Policy in the Nordic Wood Product Industry: Insights Into Firms’ Strategies and Communication

Abstract

The purpose of our study is to explore how companies operating in the Nordic wood products value chains currently use environmental performance measures in their environmental policy and communication with stakeholders. Apart from the regularly‐used environmental management certificates, the ability of wood material to store carbon and the use of sustainable forest management certificates open up interesting strategic options for firms in the implementation of their environmental policy. The primary was collected through thematic managerial interviews in 2011 from 37 companies in Finland, Sweden and Norway, of varying size, roles in the value chain, conditions for green business practices and exports. Forest certification and environmental management systems were frequently used, but managers did not always perceive them to be useful, particularly for raising environmental awareness at the final consumer level. Nevertheless, the general attitude towards using environmental performance measures was seen as positive. Companies with a business‐to‐business orientation were the most proactive in terms of environmental communication, whereas companies in consumer markets were more reactive. The key stakeholders targeted for environmental communication were value chain partners and the authorities, and only to a lesser degree employees and environmental non‐governmental organisations. The key strategic role of environmental management and communication appeared to be securing the firms against negative environmental claims. The Nordic wood industry could improve their communication if the strategic orientation is shifted from the forest certification to the use of generic eco‐labels, and most of all, to the adoption of quantitative measures like carbon footprints and environmental product declarations. Copyright © 2014 John Wiley & Sons, Ltd and ERP Environment.

Forest Certification and Country of Origin: Choice Experiment Analysis of Outdoor Decking Material Selection in E-Commerce Market in Finland

“…Most importantly, our study sheds light on how origin and certification can contribute to the forest sector's competitiveness against other material sectors, an area that lacks research. This is also an area concerning the forest industry and which has affected their attitudes in terms of forest certification's capability to improve competitive advantage and gain price premiums [15,25].…”

“…Several studies and observations also suggest that many certifications and eco-labels, particularly in the case of forest sector, do not significantly increase the demand and price premiums (see e.g., Chen et al [24] Räty et al [15], Korhonen et al [48]). However, the simulations of our study imply (for one specific case product and country) that these results may not be valid if broader material markets are considered.…”

“…The material bundle and prices of outdoor decking materials used in our study are from January 2015 and gathered from a single home and building material department store chain based in Finland (e-commerce market place). In our case we include two competing forest certification schemes in Finland [15]: The Programme for the Endorsement of Forest Certification (PEFC) and the Forest Stewardship Council (FSC). Both certification schemes also incorporate elements of environmental, labor, and legal forest product origin-certifications [15].…”

“…In our case we include two competing forest certification schemes in Finland [15]: The Programme for the Endorsement of Forest Certification (PEFC) and the Forest Stewardship Council (FSC). Both certification schemes also incorporate elements of environmental, labor, and legal forest product origin-certifications [15]. The relative importance and consumer preferences of each of these certification attributes are tested in the survey.…”

Forest Sector Sustainability Communication in Europe: a Systematic Literature Review on the Contents and Gaps

“…In addition, governments may also cooperate with non-governmental organizations (NGOs) [24] in voluntary systems intended to enhance sustainability such as creation of certification labels like Nordic Swan or EU ecolabel (e.g., [25,26]), which provide information on the sustainability impacts of companies and products [19••]. In the changing business environment and increasing demand for environmentally and socially acceptable business practices, financiers have emerged as a stakeholder group requesting certification systems and stakeholder communication for managing their own business risks [27].…”