Member companies of the World Business Council for Sustainable Development’s (WBCSD) Forest Solutions Group (FSG) have launched the ‘Forest Sector Roadmap,’ which presents a joint vision for how the forest sector can contribute to the SDGs. The Roadmap presents the sector’s current alignment with the SDGs and identifies key opportunities and actions for achieving the Goals.

The FSG developed the Roadmap over an 18-month period, during which they convened member companies and key forest stakeholders. The Roadmap seeks to guide decision-making and actions throughout the forest products value chain and inspire action-oriented collaboration among the forest industry and other stakeholders. The Roadmap further aims to foster collaboration throughout the forest sector value chain and stimulate cross-sectoral cooperation to amplify SDG impact.

The Roadmap presents the forest sector’s current alignment with the SDGs. It identifies six core SDGs, where the sector and its value chain have the highest potential to influence, drive sector transformation and create long-term value: SDG 6 (clean water and sanitation), SDG 7 (affordable and clean energy), SDG 8 (decent work and economic growth), SDG 12 (responsible consumption and production), SDG 13 (climate action), and SDG 15 (life on land). In addition, the forest sector identified five supportive SDGs, where the sector can drive inclusive and sustainable growth. These are SDG 1 (no poverty), SDG 4 (quality education), SDG 5 (gender equality), SDG 9 (industry, innovation and infrastructure) and SDG 11 (sustainable cities and communities). The Roadmap recognizes that the forest sector often has negative and positive impacts on the same Goals, depending on the stages of the value chain or by region or geography.

For each SDG, the Roadmap provides an overview of the linkages and highlights opportunities for impact. For SDG 6, for example, the Roadmap observes that 75% of the world’s accessible freshwater comes from forests and the forest sector is “highly dependent on freshwater for forest production, primary processing and manufacturing.” It notes responsible forest management is critical to preserving ecosystem functions. The Roadmap further observes that producing wood fiber products is water intensive and managing water impacts and dependencies is a key sustainability priority for the forest sector.

The FSG members have committed to implementing “impact pathways,” solutions through which the sector can maximize its SDG impact and minimize negative effects. The Roadmap identifies eight impact actions the forest sector can take to catalyze lasting impact. It identifies working forests and bio-economy as two mutually reinforcing pillars that encompass opportunities related to climate, water, circularity, communities, people and procurement. For each impact pathway, the Roadmap presents actions, level of impact on SDGs and contributions to targets, sector contribution to the action, enablers, key partners, timeframe and illustrative business examples.

On circularity, for instance, the Roadmap outlines actions that can bring resource efficient, bio-based and circular business models to scale, contributing to SDG 7, SDG 8, SDG 11 and SDG 12. The Roadmap suggests innovations to enable effective and efficient upcycling of waste streams and processing residues within the value chain to generate energy and serve as a feedstock for the cement and chemical sectors – actions that could have a high level of impact on the SDGs.

The Forest Solutions Group is the WBCSD’s global platform for the forest sector value chain. It aims to “advance the bio-economy and a thriving forest sector that sustains healthy productive forests and people’s well-being.” FSG members follow membership principles and report on key performance indicators to demonstrate progress on sustainability. [Forest Sector SDG Roadmap Landing Page] [Publication: Forest Sector Roadmap] [Forest Solutions Group Webpage]