“Forest Certification Joint Promotion Ceremony” with SGEC/PEFC Japan

Unicharm Corporation (CEO and President, Mr. Takahisa Takahara) and Sustainable Green Ecosystem Council (SGEC/PEFC Japan, Chairman, Dr. Satohiko Sasaki) announced the conclusion of exchanging the Memorandum of Understanding (MoU) to jointly promote sustainable forest use and protection.

PEFC, the Programme for the Endorsement of Forest Certification is a leading global alliance of national forest certification systems.

PEFC respects the independence and autonomy of credible national forest certification schemes and ensures consistency and compatibility among them, establishing and operating a unified, high-level forest certification system for sustainable forest management at the global level. Launched in 1999, today the organization operates certification programs in more than 50 countries and regions, and has granted FM (Forest Management) certification to more than 300 million hectares of forests. In addition, more than 10,000 processing and distribution sites have been granted Chain of Custody (CoC) certification.

Sustainable Green Ecosystem Council (SGEC) is the first organization in Japan to operate a standard for the utilization of forest resources, aiming to "expand 'sustainable forests' and link them to 'sustainable products'". Established in 2003 and endorsed by PEFC in 2016, it is responsible for promoting PEFC certification and for issuing PEFC logo licenses based on the contract with PEFC International.

The content covers the following 6 fields.

（１）Increasing exposure of the PEFC label usage

（２）Promote the use of sustainable forests to the supply chain

（３）Conduct activities that lead to the protection of forest resources

（４）Raise awareness of the benefits using PEFC-certified lumber

（５）Maximize the usage of PEFC-certified paper for paper other than products

（６）Introduce PEFC-certified products through the website, newsletters, SNS, and other media as well as on the intranet platform in which             PEFC member countries participate.

In the med- to long-term environmental target “Environmental Targets 2030,” Unicharm group declares “Zero" natural forest destruction” in our “Vision 2050”. We have set “100% acquisition of PEFC/CoC certification at our factories” and “100% procurement of PEFC certified timber” as our 2030 target to “expand usage of certified pulp”.

As of the end of October 2022, 14 of the 25 own factories aquired “PEFC/CoC certification”. Furthermore, the "100% procurement of PEFC-certified timber" target has reached 56% in 2021.

Amongst the products produced in factories acquiring PEFC CoC certification, PEFC certification labels are on baby care diapers “Moony Natural” and “Moonyman Natural” in Japan and “MamyPoko Pants” and “PETPET Pants” in Malaysia.

PEFC Japan　　　　　　　　　　　　  https://sgec-pefcj.jp/pefc%E3%81%A8%E3%81%AF/

Unicharm Sustainability site     　       https://www.unicharm.co.jp/ja/csr-eco.html

Unicharm　Kyo-sei Life Vision 2030　https://www.unicharm.co.jp/ja/csr-eco/kyoseilifevision.html

Unicharm believes that this activity will contribute to the following goals of the 17 Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs) adopted by the United Nations in 2015.

12．Responsible Consumption and Production　　     15．Life on Land　

We will continue to contribute to the achievement of the SDGs by solving environmental and social issues through our business activities, including the provision of products and services.