Paul Emmanuel Huet
Executive director at PEFC France and exhibitor at the Carrefour du Bois 2022, answers a few questions.
PrEsentation
Can you present your company in a few words?
PEFC is an international organisation created in 1999 and present in 55 countries. A sustainable forest management and timber traceability certification scheme, PEFC promotes sustainable forest management practices that ensure a balance between all dimensions of the forest:
Economic, as it produces renewable resources such as wood.
Environmental, because the forest is a reservoir of biodiversity and a carbon sink.
Societal, because it is a place where people work, live, and spend their leisure time.
In France, PEFC currently brings together more than 8.1 million hectares of forest area (which represents about 2/3 of the annual wood production in mainland France), more than 76,000 forest owners, and more than 3,100 companies.
PEFC France has 6 people who work with all the stakeholders in the sector, from upstream to downstream, and who, among other things, advise and support companies in their commitment to sustainable forest management by setting up the certification of their chain of custody.
What is the Carrefour International du Bois for you?
The Carrefour International du Bois is THE show for the timber and industrial wood sector, which welcomes all the players in the sector, all sectors of activity included. After 2 years of pandemic, we are very happy to be present at this highly anticipated edition!
What are your expectations for this new edition?
PEFC is today well identified by the actors of the forest-wood-paper sector and more and more requested by public and private prescribers who rely on our certification of sustainable forest management. It was therefore obvious for us to be present to present our action, our usefulness in all sectors of activity, and the PEFC certification process. With our stand, we hope to facilitate meetings with the actors of the sector and physical reunions with PEFC certified companies.
What are your expectations for this new edition?
80% of French exhibitors at the Carrefour International du Bois are PEFC certified. This reflects the commitment of these players to source more and more certified material from sustainably managed forests. For PEFC, the Carrefour International du Bois will be a privileged moment to exchange with all the certified companies already committed to sustainable forest management and to meet those who wish to become certified. It will be an opportunity for us to learn more about their challenges and their latest news, to share with them the actions carried out by PEFC in France and in the world, and to present them the tools we can put at their disposal.
PEFC will also participate in a round table dedicated to the construction industry, organised on the morning of Thursday 2 June. With the entry into force of the new RE2020 construction regulation at the beginning of the year, we hope to be able to support even more players in the building sector and provide them with one of the solutions to meet the challenges of the sector’s ecological transition in a sustainable manner.