Lord Sebastian Coe, chairman of the London Organising Committee of the Olympic Games (LOCOG), has responded to a letter querying why the organisation adopted a timber procurement environmental policy preferring FSC-certified material, but seems to have failed to address the issue.
The Olympic Development Authority (ODA), which managed timber procurement prior to LOCOG taking over for the final London Olympics developments in January, developed a policy in close consultation with the timber sector. This followed the guidelines of the government’s Central Point of Expertise on Timber (CPET), which accepts FSC and PEFC certification schemes as equally valid proof of sustainability and legality.
However, when LOCOG took over procurement, it adopted what was in effect an FSC-first policy.
The issue was taken up on behalf of the timber sector by Lib Dem peer Lord Tim Clement-Jones, who wrote to Lord Coe asking why LOCOG had ditched the ODA approach.
Five months later, Lord Clement-Jones has received a reply. But Lord Coe has simply confirmed that decking used in the Olympics stadium and media centre is made in FSC-certified European softwood.
He said that two types had been evaluated, one softwood, the other composite. Both were FSC-certified, but the manufacture of former had only been recently certified and hadn’t previously supplied FSC-labelled products.
One of the issues of the original timber sector complaint about LOCOG’s policy was that one bid to supply decking for the Olympics site had been turned down because it was PEFC- rather than FSC-certified. Plywood for temporary works in the Velodrome was rejected for the same reason.
Responding to Lord Coe, Lord Clement-Jones said he “missed the main point” and no “clear reason” had been given why LOCOG ditched the ODA procurement policy, which “allowed a far wider range of product choices”.
He said timber products continue be procured for the Games’ site and there was still time for LOCOG to switch back to the ODA approach.
