The Romanian Association of the Wood Industry – Prolemn and the Chamber of Commerce and Industry of Romania have the honour of inviting you to the conference SMART GREEN INDUSTRY: Green Prospects for an industry of the future. The conference will take place on 28-29 September, at the CCIR Business Center in Bucharest (2 Octavian Goga Bd, “Al. I. Cuza” amphitheatre).
We want to celebrate together the achievements of an essential industry for our country and to discuss with top institutional decision-makers the best ways to capitalize the green potential of Romania’s forests for economic development, community well-being and decarbonization for a healthy environment.
Smart green industry
The forest-timber sector is an essential component of the national economy of Romania, an engine of local development, and an important support of rural communities in areas with forest resources. Moreover, the sector has a unique potential to contribute to the achievement of the environmental targets set by the European Green Deal.
Wood-based industries contribute 3.5% to the formation of Romania’s GDP and represent 16% of the cumulative turnover of all industrial branches in Romania. The sector maintains more than 142,000 direct jobs and contributes to the development of forest-dependent communities in some of the most vulnerable areas of the country, with the sector’s production units considered veritable “bread factories”.
The energy based on the wood resource – mostly thermal energy used for heating – represents over 60% of the renewable energy produced in Romania, over 5 times more than the electricity currently produced from wind and solar sources. Forest biomass is an essential resource for Romania’s energy security – 3.5 million households are heated with firewood.
Wood is a renewable resource, with a low carbon footprint in the production stage, biodegradable and easy to recycle at the end of the life cycle (in other products or in energy). At the same time, the sector contributes decisively to carbon sequestration in wood-based products. Substitution of non-renewable materials with wood products (including in energy production or construction) has the potential to further reduce the carbon footprint by up to 50%.
Through the SMART GREEN INDUSTRY conference we intend to open new lines of dialogue for capturing and using the green potential of an industry of the future.
Dialogue for the future
Together with our partners from the Chamber of Commerce and Industry of Romania and member companies from the wood-based industries, we invite representatives from the top of the relevant ministries (Environment, Agriculture, Economy, Energy, European Funds) to speak on the first day of the conference, to present their vision and plans for the sector and to delegate representatives at the technical management level of the ministries to actively participate in the workshops that will take place on the second day.
At the centre of the debates – a strategy for the development of the wood industry, for superior utilization of the wood resource from Romania’s sustainably managed forests, for supporting smart economic growth in relation to the objectives on the line to combat climate change.
The programme of the event
28 September 2022: Smart Green Industry
- 09:30 – Welcome
- 10:00 – Opening
- 10:15 – PriceWaterhouseCoopers presentation – Report on the impact of wood-based industries
- 10:30 – INCDS – Prolemn study: The forest-timber sector in the context of climate change. The 2030 vision: 10 targets for Romania
- 10:45 – Presentation of the National Forest Strategy 2030
- 11:00 – Vision and plans for the sector. We invite ministers of the Environment, Agriculture, Energy, European Funds, Economy, and Finance to speak and take question from the media in attendance.
- 12:30 – Lunch
29 September 2022: Green potential for an energy of the future – workshops
- 09:30 – Breakfast
- 10:00 – How to increase the green potential of the national forest fund
- Legality and traceability of timber transport
- How to extend the forest fund, the forested area of Romania, and how to improve the structure of the forest for optimal function
- Accessibility of the forest fund and sustainable mobilisation of the wood resource
- First on the market and EU Regulation 995/2010 (EUTR)
- 11:30 – Wood is brilliant
- The potential of wood-based industries to create economic wellbeing
- Timber value chains: from wood processing and wood engineering to furniture and constructions to pulp and paper and beyond
- Sustainable policies for regulating acces to the wood resource
- 13:00 – Lunch – finger foods
- 13:30 – Biomass, “the queen of renewable energy”
- From firewood to superior energy efficiency
- The potential for defending national energy security, cost reduction and decarbonization of the national energy system
- Definition and sustainability criteria for all types of biomass
- 14:30 – Economic growth, efficiency and energy security
- How to use the wood resource for growth, efficiency and smart adaptation to climate change
- Commercial and strategic objectives with connected sectors
- Foundations for a industrial development strategy of the sector
- Legislation and commercial policies that will allow involvement and accountability of the actors in the forest-timber sector
- Financing the forest-timber sector
- 16:00 – Closing
RSVP
The speakers and moderators for the workshops will be announced on this page in due course. To confirm or find out more details, we kindly ask you to contact us:
Cătălin Tobescu · catalin.tobescu@pro-lemn.ro · +40 758 979 531
Vlad Dumitru · vlad.dumitru@pro-lemn.ro · +40 722 495 592