The founding idea
ESPEN was founded in 1992 in the wake of the Environmental Conference of the
United Nations in Rio de Janeiro.
It was the founding idea,
to make high-quality forest products from environmentally friendly, socially responsible and economically viable forestry accessible to the German market. In particular, the detailed knowledge and experience of the co-founder and current CEO, Mr. Dipl.-Holzwirt Jürgen Jordan, about forestry in the southern hemisphere were and are the basis for the successful development of the company.
The founding idea was supported by German environmental associations, which at the time were pushing for the implementation of the conventions drawn up in Rio de Janeiro in 1992 with the aim of sustainable management. The company name ESPEN is based on these ideas and stands for Environmentally Sound Products Engineeringand Negotiation.
ESPEN also sees itself as a "hinge" between the forest and the end consumer!
In this context, the aim from the outset was to support exemplary forest management through preferential purchasing. Decisive impulses for this came in 1993 with the founding of the FSC; these were the agreement on verifiable standards and the introduction of a recognized seal of quality for product labelling.
ESPEN was one of the first companies in Germany to be certified according to the FSC standards. The Chain of Custody certificate was awarded for the first time in 1996. It had the number SCS-CoC-00001.
As a result, the proportion of FSC-certified products increased steadily. Membership of the Global Forest Trade Network (GFTN), an organization initiated by the WWF to network producers, importers and traders, supports the sale of FSC products. ESPEN is also a member here.
The FSC articles sold by us today are marked with the FSC no. BV-CoC-116242 marked.
