Pfleiderer is a leading manufacturer of high-quality engineered wood and laminates that are used in the fast-growing market of high-class kitchens and furniture as well as in outdoor applications and timber construction in Western Europe.

At Pfleiderer, sustainable work has been closely linked to wood as a renewable material for over 125 years. The company places a special focus on sustainable procurement and production, the reduction of carbon emissions and the protection of the environment.

Pfleiderer does not operate any sites in or near protected areas. We therefore focus our attention on evaluating our impact on biodiversity in our supply chains. The responsible and sustainable use of wood as a renewable resource is at the heart of our corporate activities. It is our goal to keep the material wood in the circular flow of materials for as long as possible. This is because the multiple processing of wood helps to reduce the burden on the forestry industry and conserve resources. Since wood is also a very efficient CO₂ store, about one tonne of CO₂ per cubic metre of wood remains bound even over the extended useful life of the material.

In our particle boards, around 80 percent of the raw materials used are already sawmill residue and recycled wood. The remaining 20 percent is made up of thinnings and damaged wood, predominantly from domestic forests. Since 2007, all fresh wood and decor papers have come exclusively from controlled sources, about two thirds are certified according to FSC or PEFC.

We have an indirect effect on biodiversity through our contribution to mitigating climate change. Climate change is one of the main drivers of species and habitat loss. Climate protection measures are therefore of great importance in the protection of biodiversity.

As a manufacturer of wood-based materials, we need thermal and electrical energy throughout the year, among other things for drying the wood chips and heating the presses. We therefore generate energy at all five sites in Germany. Through measures at our sites and changes in the electricity mix, we have reduced greenhouse gas emissions in Scope 1 and 2 by 31% from 2020 to 2022. In the coming years, we will increasingly focus on savings in Scope 1, as these require both investments and time for necessary planning work.
In Baruth, Gütersloh and Neumarkt, we have been using combined heat and power (CHP) plants since the 1990s, in which we use biomass to generate the electricity and heat required for our production. In line with cascading wood utilisation, we use waste wood that is no longer suitable for recycling as biomass. In 2022, we have generated a total of 84 percent of our energy from biomass, which corresponds to an annual increase of 1 percent since 2020. In 2023, we plan to be self-sufficient in electricity through the three power plants for all five sites.

In the future, we want to take a closer look at and monitor the impact of our business activities on biodiversity and the consequences of species extinction for us as a wood-based materials manufacturer. We have set ourselves the goal of identifying the impact of our business activities on biodiversity in 2023 by determining suitable key figures. This will require working with our upstream suppliers to establish and collect appropriate metrics and to develop partnerships to mitigate potential negative impacts and positively influence biodiversity in our supply chain in line with the Decade of Restoration.

As with our memberships in the UNGC and the Climate Protection Wood-Based Panels Initiative, we also consider the exchange within the ´Biodiversity in Good Company´ Initiative to be a key success factor.