Green marketing of forest products: theory and application

Abstract

The article "Green marketing of forest products: theory and application" presents a study on green marketing characteristics, and shows the case of Canadian wood marketing, where researches on building product's Life-Cycle Assessment indicates that both the steel and concrete products, due to substitute wood products, embody and consume 12% and 20% more energy, emit 15% and 29% more greenhouse gases, release 10% and 12% more air pollution, discharge 3 and 2.25 times more water pollution, use 7% and 50% more resources from a weighted resource use perspective, and produce 6% and 16% more solid wastes, respectively. While the strategy for products' environmental differentiation is a special case in marketing of product differentiation, the particular approach for the issue requires considerations beyond economics. It includes social environmental demands that affect market regulations, consumers' perception and social responsibility of organizations. The green marketing incorporates a dimension of education for sustainable consumption added to the aspects of products research and development, environmental costs accounting and implementation of an environmental ethics.