Specifying and buying timber
Approved Certification Schemes
Currently, there are five certification schemes whose programmes are accepted by CPET (the UK Government’s Central Point of Expertise on Timber Procurement) as proof of legality and/or sustainability.
Legal | Sustainable | |
Canadian Standards Association (CSA) | All certified products | Yes |
Forest Stewardship Council (FSC) | All certified products | Certified Products containing more than 70% certified or recycled raw material |
Malaysian Timber Certification Council (MTCC) | Products containing 100% certified raw material | No |
Programme for the Endorsement of Forest Certification (PEFC) | All certified products | Certified Products containing more than 70% certified raw material |
Sustainable Forestry Initiative (SFI) | All certified products | Certified Products containing more than 70% certified raw material |
For more information call the CPET Helpline: telephone
01865 243766, email cpet@proforest.net or visit http://www.proforest.net/cpet
What if the wood I purchase isn’t certified – is it sustainable?
Since the early 1990s, forest management and certification have grown rapidly, mainly in developed countries where good forest management was already in place. But the scale of the task is enormous.
It’s important to recognise that forests that are not certified can still be sustainably managed.
Over 90% of the wood used in the UK comes from European forests which are considered “generally stable, well-managed and in surplus production” (source: IIED, Using Wood Products to Mitigate Climate Change, 2004).
As of mid-2004, certified forests accounted for nearly 180 million hectares worldwide. This meant that, of the 700 million hectares of actively managed forest, 25% was certified. 44% of the world’s certified forests (almost 78 million hectares) were in Europe and 96% of Europe’s certified forests were in EU25 countries, representing 75 million hectares – half of all EU25 forests.
In the UK, all Forestry Commission forests - over 60% of all our forests - are FSC certified.
Responsible timber importers have implemented a range of procedures that identify and manage the risks attributed to importing illegal timber. These range from detailed questionnaires to factory and forest visits.
Contract terms may require independent verification of any evidence offered as confirming legal and sustainable status of the supplied timber product.
There are, of course, constraints on what can be achieved in any industry and the timber industry has continued to make good progress in its ethical approach to the supply of the world’s most unique and sustainable building product.
Note: certified forest worldwide is only about 6% of forest area and tropical certified forest, only about 1%, although rates of increase in certified areas are rising.
Verified Progress
One of the encouraging aspects of certification is the beginning of schemes which aim to help growers in poorer countries – typically in the tropical forests of African countries – move towards certification. This is called Verified Progress, an initiative offering supply chain guarantees.
Presently, there is a very limited supply of credibly certified, well managed timber from tropical Africa and a very limited supply from other tropical regions, notably South East Asia.
Verified Progress timber has been independently confirmed to be:
- traceable from forest to customer;
- from legally harvested forests, and from forests where forest management practices are actively improving to certification, with FSC as the target certification scheme.
Learn more from the Certification, procurement and specification module in wood for good’s Online Learning. It’s free to architects, specifiers, members of the TTF and wood for good. To register free click here