Sustainability is something of a buzzword at present. Last year’s publication of the UK Sustainable Development Plan and the establishment of the Sustainable Procurement Task Force demonstrate that this issue is high on the government’s radar. Consumers too are increasingly interested in the environmental credentials of the goods they buy.
Sustainability increasingly impacts on our own industry with the continuing development of the government’s CPET (Central Point of Expertise on Timber) process, designed to provide advice to central government departments on legal and sustainable timber procurement. Currently four schemes (SFI, FSC, PEFC and CSA) meet the CPET requirements for both legal and sustainable timber.
By establishing a process which evaluates all of the major forest certification schemes against a common set of criteria, the CPET process has undoubtedly contributed to their evolution. Where the timber certification debate was once polarised between those who promoted the certification of individual forests and those advocating forest certification on a national level, there is now increasing recognition that as different countries have different forestry standards this creates a requirement for a range of forest certification schemes. Having several schemes available to the market provides users with both volume and choice.
The two leading global forest certification schemes now provide the market with wood products from 257 million ha of certified forest. PEFC alone currently has 187 million ha under certification and has recently celebrated the award of its 200th chain of custody certificate in the UK.
Sustainable procurement is here to stay so it’s crucial for our industry to gear up to meet this growing demand for certified timber while demonstrating its unique sustainability credentials as a construction material compared to aluminium, concrete and steel. Industry should be choosing certified product where available (from whichever scheme best meets their requirements) and then undergoing a chain of custody certification to provide customers with assurances about the environmental provenance of their purchases.
Martin Gale is a member of the PEFC UK board of directors
