In its report, The Amazon’s Silent Crisis in May, the NGO claimed up to 80% of logging in Pará is illegal. It also alleged that Saint-Gobain Building Distribution Group (SGBD) members Jewson and International Timber had sold ipé from Brazilian companies previously convicted of ‘forest crimes’.
SGBD said it was confident it had carried out its EU Timber Regulation due diligence requirements on the timber, but that Jewson was taking ipé off sale, and International was quarantining all outstanding material pending further audits.
Following "substantiated complaints" from Greenpeace, the UK EU Timber Regulation competent authority, the NMO, is also investigating the case.
Managing director Chris Sutton confirmed Lathams had put ipé sales on hold. "We’ve achieved excellent standing on EUTR performance and wider environmental commitment and we are not going to jeopardise that," he said. "Our environmental manager Ewa Bazydlo is constantly monitoring all sources of supply and where there are concerns or doubts, we act."
Mr Sutton said that Lathams’ FSC-only restriction on all Brazilian imports was a "natural progresson" in its environmental policy.
The company has alternatives to ipé decking, including bangkirai and plastic wood composite. "We are also looking at Accoya decking," said Mr Sutton.
Brooks Bros group environmental compliance manager Katerina Germanis said the company was taking the risks identified in the Greenpeace report "extremely seriously".
"I can confirm we have immediately quarantined and withdrawn from sale all non-certified ipé from Brazil, while we assesses if and how risks identified by Greenpeace affect our supply chains," she said. "We also cancelled remaining contracts for non-certified ipé and have adopted a policy that all timber products from Brazil must be FSC-certified to safeguard social and environmental values that may not otherwise be covered by the laws of the country."
She added that some Brooks customers had switched to modified wood Kebony, which is PEFC or FSC-certified.
