B&Q owner Kingfisher is to join up with the Rainforest Alliance SmartSource programme to help drive forward its sustainable forestry policies.
SmartSource will work with the company across its businesses to identify sources that require special attention to move them towards Forest Stewardship Council certification, Kingfisher said.
The partnership will also be employed to ensure compliance with Kingfisher’s own timber sourcing policy of obtaining products from proven, well-managed forests or using recycled materials.
Jamie Lawrence, Kingfisher corporate responsibility manager, said the company would not shy away from discontinuing product lines as a final option where suppliers were unable to provide evidence of progress toward FSC.
“It is recognised that we have a duty to stay engaged with forest sources that may struggle to meet international standards. In some areas this will require an engaged co-ordinated set of interventions and that is where the Rainforest Alliance can help,” said Mr Lawrence.
Rainforest Alliance spokesman Richard Donovan said Kingfisher was one of the world’s leading companies in driving sustainability and ensuring the timber it bought was from legal and certified sources, “but there are still challenges that have to be faced”.
