The Business of Sustainable Forestry Case Study - Marketing Products

Most forest products analysts exploring the market for sustainable forest products have been searching for the green consumer. They have assumed that the well-documented consumer concerns about the impact of the industry on the forest would make consumer demand the dominant force propelling the industry toward sustainability.

While consumers' concerns about the industry's environmental impact remain important, many other, more powerful, forces are at work that will lead to an overall market shift towards sustainable forest management (SFM). These factors are converging to shift environmental attention on the industry from process controls and recycling to the management of forest resources. Today, a greater emphasis on the entire life cycle of forest products is pushing environmental concerns through the value chain from retail stores and pulp mills back down to the forest floor.

This paper assesses the major drivers and pressures on the forest products industry that are combining to bring about more SFM; thereby, significantly increasing the volume of sustainably produced forest products entering the markets.

The paper first looks at "push" drivers – those drivers putting pressure on the industry, pushing it towards greater sustainability. Second, external "pull" drivers are examined. These are incentives that encourage the forest products industry to change its practices and operate more sustainably. The third section describes how these push and pull drivers are converging to gradually create a market for sustainably produced forest products. Finally, geographic and industry structure factors are examined to identify how and where the transition to sustainable forestry is most likely to emerge."