PEFC – Programme for the Endorsement of Forest Certification

Posted on April 30, 2014 Updated on May 9, 2014

 

The Programme for the Endorsement of Forest Certification (PEFC), like FSC, is an international non-profit, non-governmental organisation dedicated to promoting sustainable forest management through third party certification.

Founded in 1999, PEFC is the world’s largest forest certification organisation, with a forest certificated area of 258 million ha (two-thirds of the globally certified forest area) and 15,804 companies certified with its Chain of Custody.

Particularly aimed at small forest owners and producers, PEFC provides a guarantee that wood, timber and paper products come from forests sustainably managed. As FSC, PEFC also has a tracking system to control the integrity of certified products throughout the production chain.

In 2014, it is hard to find a publisher that does not use a certified type of paper, like PEFC endorsed paper. Even small publishers, like the Cambridge based Open Book Publishers, are committed to green policies. Open Book Publishers is an open access, non-profit academic book publisher, with no institutional backing. It was founded in 2008 and, nonetheless, is already using acid free paper, PEFC and SFI certified paper. In addition, all its paper used for jackets is manufactured using electricity generated by renewable wind power. In brief, not only a good example of the wide extent of the PEFC certification programme, but also of the environmental awareness across the publishing industry.

Image credit: Eniro Group