Wwf Gftn-Uk Newsletter
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WWF GFTN-UK NEWSLETTER SUMMER 2012 FSC® online training GFTN-UK has contracted FSC UK to provide training services to GFTN members as part of their membership benefits. A profile has been created for all members on the FSC UK online training portal at http://training.fsc-uk.org. If you have any questions relating to this service, please contact [email protected] Do you want us to thank any of your staff? We’d like to send a thank you to any members of staff who are doing a great job helping you to deliver on your organisation’s procurement policy. Please forward any names of staff you’d like to nominate and the reasons why they deserve it, to James Horne at [email protected] More members’ stories needed! We want to include more member successes in the forthcoming autumn 2012 newsletter. If you’d like to contribute, contact James Horne: [email protected] Member feedback If you have suggestions or feedback about this newsletter, or the WWF GFTN-UK website, we’d like to hear from you. Contact James Horne: [email protected] FSC Friday 2012! This year FSC Friday will be held on 28 September. For information on how you can get involved, please contact [email protected] front cover image: © Wild Wonders of europe /Konrad Wothe / WWf Contents GFTN-UK MeMBeR NEWs STORIES 05 FeAtURe: It’s All aboUt sUstainabilIty 08 NEW GFTN PARtICIPANTS 09 WWF GFTN NEWs 09 otheR WWF/FoRests neWs 10 GFTN At A GlAnCe 17 FsC GLOBAl UPDATES 18 USEFUl WWF DoCUMENTS AnD RePoRTS 18 USEFUl WeBsITES 21 © fritz pôlKing / WWf FSC helps Lend Lease create GFTN-UK the best places The principles of sustainability have always defined the way Lend Lease does business, and they matter more MeMBeR NEWs today than ever before. Part of our vision is to have the capability to know exactly where all the materials STORIES we use come from and what environmental, social and economic impacts they have in their lifecycle. We’ve set a target to use only FSC-certified timber products, and we can confidently say we’ve achieved this for 93.3% of our timber. Pascal Mittermaier, Lend Lease’s head of sustainability, notes: “For us, FSC certification is crucial for two reasons. First, it gives us confidence that we are doing the right thing with regards to one of the most precious natural resources. Second, it serves as a beacon for how we hope to extend this concept to all the other materials that we procure.” Only FSC certification can give us the guarantee that minimum requirements of sustainability are met, no matter where in the world the timber is from. This is more important than ever because timber construction is currently seeing a revival in the form of cross laminated timber, timber frame and timber-steel hybrid construction solutions. One of the highlights of the past year has been the award of full project certification on our Athletes’ Village project. This enabled Lend Lease to meet a key part of the Olympic Delivery Authority’s sustainable timber objectives. Charles Thwaites MBE, executive director of FSC UK, comments: “It is one of the largest and most ambitious FSC certified projects […] with such a high utilisation rate of FSC material. […] The percentage use of FSC is absolutely in the top rank, and is especially impressive when the size of the project is taken into account.” Our success in procuring almost entirely FSC timber for our construction projects sets an example to our peers that it is possible for a large contractor to procure timber responsibly and sustainably. We hope this will influence and inspire other companies in our industry to follow our lead. We could not have achieved this without our membership of the GFTN. It has provided invaluable support and a forum to discuss issues with the procurement of timber in our industry. Andrex® launches new sustainably soft Eco bath tissue Kimberly-Clark recently announced the launch of Andrex® Eco, the market leader’s first truly pioneering sustainable toilet tissue product. It’s set to revolutionise the ‘eco’ sub-category by changing current perceptions and meeting consumer expectations in terms of quality, softness and value. Andrex Eco is made from a completely new and innovative combination of sustainably-sourced fibres: 90% recycled fibre and 10% natural bamboo. This is the first time that bamboo has been used as a component in toilet tissue by a major brand in the UK. It is the unique manufacturing process that combines these fibres that delivers the softness that consumers have come to expect from the nation’s favourite toilet tissue brand. The product also features 100% recycled and recyclable packaging and core and is fully FSC certified. GFTN-UK summer newsletter 2012 page 5 Kimberly-Clark has one of the most progressive fibre sourcing policies in the industry. It is continuously looking into new and sustainable solutions. Bamboo is a relatively new fibre in Europe and has considerable opportunities for the future – it’s one of the fastest-growing plants in the world, and produces significantly more fibre, on less land, than trees traditionally used to make tissue paper. Aligning with existing Kimberly-Clark fibre and sustainability policies, the bamboo sourced for Andrex Eco is FSC certified. The recycled fibre that makes up 90% of the Andrex Eco product is sourced from the UK and Ireland. It is paper that’s been recycled by homes and businesses. Like all inputs in Andrex bathroom tissue products, the recycled fibre and the bamboo have been through rigorous quality and safety testing to deliver the high Andrex standard and softness. Jon White, European bath tissue director comments: “Through sourcing of new materials and technology we are able to produce a toilet tissue using recycled fibre that we are happy will meet the expectations of quality and softness that our consumers expect. The eco sub-category currently only represents 3.5% of the toilet tissue market but we know there is greater demand for a quality sustainable product, so there’s a real opportunity for us as market leader to raise the bar in terms of quality and softness and meet the high expectations and needs of consumers. Jon continues: “This launch also offers real shopper value meaning consumers will not have to compromise on price, green credentials or quality to do their extra bit for the sustainable agenda.” Kimberly-Clark is a member of the WWF Global Forest and Trade Network (GFTN) and Julia Young, manager (GFTN), comments: “With great demands on our forests worldwide, were pleased to see Kimberly-Clark innovating to promote the use of recycled fibres in combination with FSC-certified bamboo. Creating a softer product like Andrex Eco could open the door for greater consumer uptake and help us all play a part in moving to a more sustainable lifestyle.” Kimberly-Clark has a continuous focus on improving and weaving sustainable business practices into everything it does, as outlined in its ‘Sustainability 2015’ strategy. The launch of Andrex Eco is one way in which the company is demonstrating its commitment to the planet, its people and its products. For more information visit http://www.kimberly-clark.com/sustainability.aspx GFTN-UK summer newsletter 2012 page 6 © Kevin schafer / WWf-canon Legality verification is high on FEATURE: people’s agenda at the moment. With the timber regulation looming up in IT’s All About less than a year, products need to be sUstainAbIlity compliant with the law, and many businesses are focusing on gathering evidence for the products already on stream, which need verification. GFTN participants have published their performance again this year and the figures provided show that on average, 61.2 % is coming from credibly certified sources, 7.8% from recycled sources, 24.6% where legality is established as a minimum – leaving 6.4% with limited or no knowledge of the source. It is easy to think that people have forgotten about the real goal – driving change towards products from well managed forests, but our figures show that for GFTN businesses at least this is not the case –sustainability is the main feature of their work on responsible sourcing, even if some have to focus on those goods in that limited knowledge zone to gather as much evidence as possible, in the absence of being able to move across to sustainable goods in the short term. by Julia Young In 2013, WWF will ask GFTN participants especially highlight the improvements they have managed to make in driving the sustainability agenda when they independently publish their performance again. There is no doubt that the new regulation will help drive improvements across wider business in the UK to eliminate poorly sourced forest goods from their supply chains. We hope this will support those businesses who have invested in sustainability, and not instead provide room for argument for compliance only, when this alone will not lead to a better future for forest resources. Julia Young GFTN-UK summer newsletter 2012 page 8 GFTN-Peru welcomes two new participants NEW GFTN Wood Tropical Forest and Von Humboldt Forest both joined GFTN-Peru in April 2012. Wood Tropical Forest is a forest management company with a 46,000ha PARtICIPANTS forest in the Madre de Dios region. It achieved FSC certification in February 2012 for this concession. Von Humboldt Forest is a forest management company located in Ucayali. It achieved FSC certification for its 44,000ha forest concession in December 2011. For more information please visit: http://gftn.panda.org/about_gftn/current_participants/gftn_members.