“Certification is one of the most powerful tools companies can use to assure the public that they're committed to environmental responsibility and sustainable forest management.”
Well said, Denis O’Hara.
O’Hara is CHEP's global lumber lead and one of the key contributors to CHEP's newest sustainability achievement - 100% Chain of Custody certification for timber sourcing in Australia.
The Chain of Custody certification is part of the Australian Forest Certification Scheme: Australian Forestry Standard (AFS) and is internationally recognised by the Programme for the Endorsement of Forest Certification (PEFC).
The PEFC International Standard [hyperlink http://www.pefc.org/standards/sustainable-forest-management/requirements-criteria] states: “Sustainable forest management (SFM) is a holistic approach defined as the stewardship and use of forests and forest land in a way and at a rate that maintains their biodiversity, productivity, regeneration capacity, vitality and potential to fulfil, now and in the future, relevant ecological, economic and social functions, at local, national and global levels and does not cause damage to other ecosystems.”
To achieve certification, CHEP worked with its suppliers to help them fulfill the requirements for the certification. So now CHEP can assure its Australian customers that the supply base used to make and repair the timber pallet pool is sourced from sustainably managed forests.
CHEP is continuing a program of increasing sustainability that is winning international recognition, too, for its parent company, Brambles. In its forests annual report, The commodity crunch: value at risk from deforestation, CDP, previously known as the Carbon Disclosure Project, named Brambles a global leader in sustainability for the Industrial and Auto sector. CDP provides the only global system for companies and cities to measure, disclose, manage and share vital environmental information.
Other sector leaders in the CDP report included: J Sainsbury - UK (Food & Staples Retailing), Kimberly-Clark Corporation - USA (Household & Personal Products,), Unilever – UK (Packaged Foods & Meats / Brewers and Soft Drinks), and Marks and Spencer Group – UK (Retailing).
CHEP’s global framework for the sustainable sourcing of lumber across more than 20 countries enabled the company to participate constructively in the CDP survey.
CDP’s forests program asks companies to disclose their exposure to deforestation risks through their use of five agricultural commodities that are responsible for most deforestation (palm oil, soy, biofuels, timber and cattle products).
Institutional investors and major purchasing organisations use the insights from CDP’s forests program to understand and mitigate their exposure to deforestation risks across supply chains worldwide. This was the first year that Brambles had joined the CDP’s forests program by making a submission.
