Hiroyuki Isono has been elected Chair of the International Sustainable Forestry Coalition (ISFC), a global alliance of 23 companies committed to advancing sustainable forest management and tackling challenges such as climate change, biodiversity loss, and deforestation.
Isono, who serves as President and CEO of Oji Holdings Corporation, will succeed Dr David Brand, founder and chair of New Forests, who has led the coalition since its inception. Oji Holdings has been a founding member of ISFC and remains a key participant in its international initiatives.
In his remarks, Isono expressed gratitude to Brand for his leadership and highlighted the forestry sector’s ability to deliver value to the climate, nature, and local communities. Before stressing that progress in policy frameworks from governments, investors, and international standard‑setters will be essential to achieving sustainability goals, ISFC said it will continue to draw on expertise from around the world to support a truly sustainable global society.
Coinciding with his appointment, ISFC released a progress report for the Forestry Natural Capital Project ahead of COP30 in Brazil. The report, Forests and the Future Bioeconomy, identifies seven ecosystem services as priorities for measurement and valuation, including timber and fibre supply, carbon, biodiversity and habitat, water quantity and quality, air quality, and recreational and cultural values.
Launched in July 2025, the Forestry Natural Capital Project is the first cross‑sectoral initiative in the forestry industry to apply Natural Capital Accounting principles. Jointly developed with ISFC and the Capitals Coalition, and supported by the Taskforce on Nature‑related Financial Disclosures (TNFD), the project involves 18 companies managing 23 million hectares of forest across 38 countries and aims to establish a unified framework for assessing and valuing forest ecosystem services.
