Leading UK companies make sustainable timber pledge

A group of leading companies in the UK, including Marks & Spencer, Boots and Penguin Random House, have pledged to use 100 per cent sustainable wood products by 2020.

The campaign was launched by WWF-UK and will seek to close legal loopholes in the European Union Timber Regulation.

Less than half of timber imports into Europe are proven to come from legal sources and the new initiative could reduce deforestation significantly.

Companies from various sectors including construction, publishing, DIY and grocery industries have signed up to the commitment.

Morrisons, Kingfisher and BSkyB have also joined the campaign under the terms of the deal, each company must now ensure all wood is legally and sustainably sourced by 2020.

Julia Young, manager of the WWF Global Forest and Trade Network UK:  “We all use products from the forests daily in our homes and at work, from the chairs we sit on to the books we read, and for businesses it’s essential to have a sustainable supply of materials, for now and tomorrow. The businesses signing up know this and are taking action to ensure a future for our forests, it’s time for the government to make good on its promises to do the same.” 

It is thought that around a quarter of all carbon emissions are absorbed by the biosphere and especially trees and deforestation is thought to be a key catalyst of climate change.

Illegal and unsustainable logging contributes to deforestation and degradation across the world’s most important forest regions such as Russia’s Far East, Central Africa, Latin America and South East Asia and has massive impacts on the habitats of some of the world’s most endangered species, as well as local people and indigenous communities in some of the world’s poorest countries.

The UK government previously made a commitment to make it a criminal offence to import or possess illegal timber.

The companies signed up from start of the campaign are:

• Argos
• Boots UK
• British Sky Broadcasting
• BSW Timber
• Canal & River Trust
• Carillion
• Homebase
• Lend Lease
• Kimberly Clark
• Kingfisher Plc (B&Q, Screwfix)
• M&S
• Pearson
• Penguin Random House
• Polestar UK Print and Polestar Bicester
• Pureprint Group
• Redrow Homes
• Steinbeis
• Tesco Stores
• Travis Perkins
• Wm. Morrison Supermarkets

Many more companies are expected to join the initiative in the coming months to demand that British business investments that depend on a steady supply of timber are guaranteed a sustainable long term supply.

In 2015 the timber regulation is due to be reviewed and WWF and its supporters are calling on the UK government to demand the EU makes the necessary amendments to the regulation to ensure that  all timber products are covered and thus end the import of illegal wood.