On Thursday, November 14, 2024, the 12th Development Day of the Slovenian Forest-based Sector was held as part of the Ambient and Dom plus fair, organized by SPIRIT Slovenia in cooperation with the Ministry of Economy, Tourism and Sport together with the Chamber of Commerce and Industry of Slovenia, the Wood Industry Cluster, UL Faculty of Biotechnology, the Forestry Institute of Slovenia and the Association of woodworkers of Slovenia. This year’s Development Day of the forest and timber sector was focused on the very current topic of EU environmental policies and their impact on the operations and development of wood and furniture companies.

The event was attended by more than 120 participants from various fields, including management and development personnel from companies, researchers, architects, designers, students, representatives of ministries and the media. The participants had the opportunity to listen to interesting lectures and discussions by experts from the academic, economic and public sectors, who presented their views, experiences and examples of good practices regarding the implementation of the green transition, which the EU promotes with the regulations from the Green Deal. Next year, this area will certainly appear high on the agenda of companies as well as politicians, researchers, architects and designers, as many directives will come into full force, which will be very demanding to implement both in terms of time, content and finances, and will have a great impact on competitiveness.

The event was opened by the State Secretary at the Ministry of Economy, Tourism and Sport Dejan Židan, who emphasized the importance of the forestry sector in Slovenia and expressed his support for its green transition. He was followed by a welcome address from the Director General of the Directorate for Forestry and Hunting at the Ministry of Agriculture, Forestry and Food Gregor Meterc.

The first part of the event was dedicated to presentations of the EU regulations from the Green Deal, which are extremely important for the forest sector. Simona Vrevc from the Ministry of Agriculture, Forestry and Food presented the EU regulation on products that do not cause deforestation, or the EUDR regulation for short. This was followed by Gabriella Kemendi, Secretary General of the European Furniture Industries Confederation, who presented the EU Ecodesign Regulation for Sustainable Products (ESPR), which is very important for furniture companies. The first part of the event was concluded by Darja Virjent from the consulting company Ernst & Young Slovenia, who presented the EU regulation on corporate sustainability reporting (CSRD).

The second part of the event was dedicated to the presentation of good practices and projects regarding wooden construction and the green transition. Dr. Boštjan Lesar from UL Biotechnical Faculty presented guidelines for quality wooden construction, Mojca Pintar from M Sora d.d. spoke about the experience with sustainable reporting and carbon footprint, Matic Navotnik from TAB d.d. and about the introduction of the product’s digital passport. Zlatka Poličar from A1 Slovenia focused on their example of good circularity practices, and Janja Ribič from the Directorate of Wood Industry at the Ministry of Economic, Tourism and Sport on the effectiveness of green public procurement of wood products.

The third part of the event was dedicated to the discussion on the topic of the big wave of EU environmental policies and the impact on the forest sector. The discussion was led by dr. Aleš Ugovšek, and M.Sc. Mitja Piškur from SiDG d.o.o., Janez Rihter from Rihter d.o.o., dr. Luka Juvančič, Faculty of Biotechnology and Ana Struna Bregar from CER – Partnership for a sustainable economy participated. The discussants exchanged their opinions, experiences and suggestions on how the state can support the green transition and what companies and academia must do.

The event was concluded with recommendations for measures and activities to support the forest and timber sector in the green transition:

• The state must ensure better communication and faster implementation of European green directives in Slovenia, as well as financial support for development and investments in companies related to the green transition.

• Currently, companies are in a wave of environmental and sustainable measures, for which they are not adequately prepared, monitoring everything is almost impossible, and sustainable and circular business models are rare and economically (yet) inadequate.

• It is necessary to strengthen cooperation between companies, research organizations and the state in the green transition with new research and development, training, exchange of good practices (including foreign ones) and awareness raising.

• Companies must consider new business models, including lean, energy and environmentally sustainable processes, circular design for more reliable products that can be reused, upgraded and repaired, and the management of scrap and waste. We are also talking about introducing the concept of a double (green and digital) transition, or Industries 5.0.

• It is necessary for the country to implement the EU Regulation on Green Claims, which prohibits the use of misleading environmental claims. This will make it easier for customers to recognize real green products, which is in the interest of companies that are seriously investing in the green transition.

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The event was organized by SPIRIT Slovenia, a public agency with the financial support of the Ministry of Economy, Tourism and Sport.

Co-organizers:

In cooperation with FSC Adria-Balkan: Supporting member: