Abstract
Japan grants the largest number of forest Chain of Custody (CoC) certification compared to Europe and North America. At present, major wood and paper industries constitute most of the certificate holders. The pattern of wood utilization by construction industry will strongly affects the future market of certified forest products (CFPs) in Japan. The study examines the current status and prospect of CFPs market in the Japanese construction industry. A questionnaire survey was distributed to 203 non-certified construction companies in Tokyo, Osaka, Aichi prefectures and to 39 CoC certified firms of Japan Forest Stewardship Council (FSC), Programme for the Endorsement of Forest Certification Schemes (PEFC) and Sustainable Green Ecosystem Council (SGEC) certification bodies. Companies which have been certified had earlier established wood supply chain before obtained the certificates. Study revealed that certified companies emphasized more on environmental aspects when purchasing wood materials compared to non-certified ones. A total of 67% of non-certified companies purchased or intended to purchase environment-friendly wood products (EWP). Others were only interested in recycled wood products which are not fall under the CFPs categories. Most companies do not obtain CFPs because of insufficient knowledge about forest certification schemes. According to the decision tree analysis, companies which established earlier supply chain checking system have stronger decision over wood procurement, and therefore, have higher tendency to obtain certificates.
Highlights
There are three schemes currently operating in Japan, namely; the Forest Stewardship Council (FSC), the Sustainable Green Ecosystem Council (SGEC) and the Programme for the Endorsement of Forest Certification Schemes (PEFC)
By the end of 2008, United States and United Kingdom accounted for 31% of all FSC and PEFC
The certified forest products (CFPs) market in the construction industry is still considered small in Japan
Summary
As the demand for certified products increased in Japan, certification is expected to raise in the export countries (WWF, 2000). The notable market characteristic of Japan was that paper product companies outnumbered wood product companies in CoC certificates. The green building systems, which operates globally in the construction sector growing as worldwide movement (Irland, 2007). In the United States and Europe green building systems and green procurement policies, which require the utilization of certified wood are helping to promote certification in the construction market. The future CFPs market driven in Japan constructions sector highly depends on the builders decisions. A few construction companies were certified, even though the industry has significant impact on the CFPs products market. The study was conducted to examine customer perceptions towards non-certified companies about CFPs and to identify factors that motivate them to obtain the certificate
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