Sustainability and material choice — FSC PEFC EPD and LCA

The training regulations for machine woodworkers require that at the independent level you can acquire knowledge about the basis for materials' environmental product declaration (EPD) and the traceability of materials' origin, lifespan and life cycle assessment — LCA (goal 34 in the training regulations). This is closely linked to the requirement to be able to select and justify the choice of materials based on technical properties (goals 9 and 32).

FSC (Forest Stewardship Council) and PEFC (Programme for the Endorsement of Forest Certification) are the two major certification schemes that document that wood comes from responsibly managed forests. FSC was founded by global companies and environmental organizations with a detailed set of global requirements for, among other things, untouched forest and protected trees, while PEFC originally took its starting point in temperate, northern European forests and to a greater extent is based on national or regional certification of larger forest areas.

• 01FSC — global standard, annual inspection of individual forest operation
• 02PEFC — often regional/national certification, frequently used to make certification manageable for small forest owners
• 03Both documents traceability from forest to finished product (Chain of Custody)

According to, among others, the Nature Agency and several Danish building material suppliers, FSC certification is today a requirement in many public buildings in Denmark, and the demand for certified timber is increasing in the private sector as well. For a woodworking machinist, this means that the choice of supplier and material is not just a matter of price and quality, but also whether the timber's origin can be documented throughout the production chain.

An EPD (Environmental Product Declaration) is a standardized account of a product's environmental impact through its life cycle — from raw material extraction through production and transport to disposal. For building materials including windows doors and furniture EPDs are increasingly demanded by clients and architects because they make it possible to compare different products' environmental footprints on a common documented basis.

Behind an EPD Lies an LCA (Life Cycle Assessment), Which is the Calculation Method Itself: It Maps Everything From Energy Consumption and CO2 Emissions to Water Consumption and Waste in Every Stage of the Product's Life. For a Machinery Joiner, It is Relevant to Understand that Choices Like Material Waste, Adhesive Type, Surface Treatment and Transport Distance All Factor Into the Overall Picture — and That an Apparently Small Choice in Production Can Affect the Finished Product's Documented Environmental Footprint.

“The most sustainable piece of wood is often the one that never becomes shavings.”