FSC UK Forest Matters January 2016 Public Edition by Forest Stewardship Council (FSC) UK

Forest Matters FSC UK News January 2016

Director’s Overview Contents

Dear Reader,

2 News in Brief

Happy New Year!

3 New Regional Director

If you haven’t yet recycled your Christmas cards and wrapping paper you might like to take them to the special collection points at your local Sainsbury’s store. Sainsbury’s will make a donation to FSC UK based on the weight of paper/card collected. Last year they recycled 87 tonnes and donated over £12,000.

3 We have Moved 4 New Staff Member 4 Christmas Recycling 5 FSC Training 6 Trademark Consultation 7 Case Study 8 A Postcard From 9 Sustainable Palm Oil 11 Wood Windows 14 Future of Pesticides 15 Competition & FSC in numbers

We were recently invited to speak at the Chester Zoo Annual Conservation Symposium, a very engaging event, and subsequently asked the Zoo to tell our readers about the work they are doing in respect of palm oil. See page 9 for their story. FSC® is seeking to simplify the FSC trademark rules, and our article on page 6 highlights the main changes and gives more information on how you can get involved. If your New Year resolution includes professional development, you might be interested in booking one of our bespoke training courses or signing up to our online training. Take a look at page 5 for more details.

Rosie Teasdale Executive Director, FSC UK

News in Brief

Guest feature: Sustainable palm oil challenge at Chester Zoo

Case study: Thomas More Square achieves FSC Project Certification

Como, the specialist fit-out contractor, has received Full FSC Project Certification for the refurbishment the £20 million commercial development in the heart of London. 96.7% of all timber and timber-based products used were FSC certified.

Anand Punja appointed as FSC Regional Director for Europe From his time with the Timber Trade Federation, Anand brings with him a diverse network within both the UK and wider European Timber Trade, and a sound knowledge of European policy making.

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Guest feature: A sustainable market for wood windows Timber windows are enjoying a resurgence of interest in the UK and sustainability is a key issue for the customers. © FSC GD

Recycle your Christmas cards at Sainsbury’s to support FSC UK Customers can recycle their Christmas cards and wrapping paper until 13th January at an in-store collection point available front of store.

FSC Labels – New wording or one label? As part of the current revision of the trademark standard for certificate holders, FSC is proposing two options for changes to the on-product labels.

New Regional Director Anand Punja appointed as FSC Regional Director for Europe

Over the past five and a half years Anand Punja has led on sustainability issues at the Timber Trade Federation in the UK, working to provide an overarching strategic framework for its work. He has predominantly focused on Responsible Timber Procurement and Supply Chain Management and on the role that timber can play in delivering a low carbon built environment.

By leading on and promoting responsible sourcing and resource efficiency initiatives in the timber supply chain, both globally and within the UK, he has played an important role in creating a strong foundation for the greater use of certified timber with the largest players in the construction industry. Anand’s first exposure to FSC was in 1997 when he joined Global Witness as a volunteer and supported the team on their work on the links between deforestation in Cambodia, the Khmer Rouge and the Vietnamese Garden Furniture Trade. From there, he undertook an MA in Environment, Development and Policy. He brings with him a diverse network within both the UK and wider European Timber Trade, and a sound knowledge of European policy making and is very passionate about the role that FSC has to play in keeping forests standing. He looks forward to starting at FSC and working with the European Offices and FSC International to further develop FSC in Europe.

We Have Moved FSC UK is pleased to announce its move to a new premises on Great Oak Street in Llanidloes. Our new address is: The Billiard Room Town Hall Great Oak Street Llanidloes Powys SY18 6BN Our phone number and email addresses remain the same. © A. Bowden

New Staff Member FSC UK appoints Business Advisor Rachel Hembery We are delighted to welcome Rachel Hembery to the FSC UK Business team. Rachel is employed as Business Advisor to help engage, support and represent existing and potential FSC license holders. She will also be developing and delivering bespoke FSC training courses in the UK. Rachel has worked on various responsible trade issues over the last 20 years including environmental labelling, carbon sequestration, local food links and the responsible sourcing of forest products. She has previously worked at WWF UK as the Forest and Trade Network Manager assisting companies to ensure their forest products are from independently certified and well managed sources. “I am really excited about my new role at FSC UK. Working with companies who play a crucial role in protecting the world’s forests is something I’ve always enjoyed.”

Christmas Recycling Recycle your Christmas cards at Sainsbury’s to support FSC UK Between 26th December 2015 and 13th January 2016, customers can recycle their Christmas cards via an in-store collection point available front of store. Collection boxes will be in over 1,000 Sainsbury’s supermarkets and convenience stores throughout the country. Online customers can also have their cards collected from their homes when they receive their online shop, making it easier to recycle and help reduce the amount of waste going to landfill. Sainsbury’s will recycle all collected Christmas cards and make a donation to FSC UK in the New Year based on the volume collected in all its stores. Last year, customers donated 87 tonnes, the weight equivalent of over 500 reindeers, resulting in a donation of over £12,000 to FSC UK.

FSC Training Bespoke Face to Face training packages

FSC UK offers training courses designed to introduce and explain the FSC system and how it relates to your business or organisation. Our courses are suitable for anyone who needs a thorough understanding of the FSC system and the only courses in the UK delivered by FSC staff members, experts in all aspects of the FSC system. These courses are your opportunity to learn firsthand about the FSC system and ask specific questions about the benefits that FSC can bring to your business or organisation.

interactive and available from April 2016. This will be free to FSC certificate holders and for FSC UK Trademark License holders.

Courses A bespoke half day course for up to 12 participants (more by arrangement) can be run at your premises. Courses tend to focus on a main theme of FSC chain of custody but can be adapted to meet the needs of architects and construction companies, printers and packagers, retailers, re-sellers, manufacturers of paper and wood products and many others who wish to engage with the FSC system.

Online Training We are currently developing a new, online training programme for FSC Chain of Custody and the use of the Trademarks (for both certificate holders and non-certificate holders). The training will be 5

Please contact 01686 413 916 or training@fsc-uk.org to discuss your requirements.

Trademark Consultation FSC Labels – New wording or one label?

As part of the current revision of the trademark standard for certificate holders, FSC is proposing two alternative options for changes to the on-product labels. Through a consultative forum set up for the revision process, various models were consulted on in June 2015, with more than 200 participants joining in this consultation, 60 per cent being FSC certificate holders. The results indicated diverse views on the models, including whether changes to the label were required or not. As the results did not directly point towards or exclude any model, FSC decided to create a discussion paper, and further, in order to get extended input from stakeholders, presented two options with more detail.

enough not to mislead con-sumers. Several alternatives for wording are presented. • Option B suggests using only one label for all materials eligible for labelling within the FSC system, i.e. replacing the current FSC 100%, FSC Mix and FSC Recycled. It is an attempt to significantly simplify labelling of FSC products. The on-product label would reflect the system as a whole rather than the particular material mix in the product. Information on eligibility criteria to use the label would be transmitted by other means, e.g. through websites, campaigns, etc. Also for this option several alternatives for wording are presented. FSC invites all stakeholders to provide comments on the options and suggestions for the wordings, together with the consultation of FSC-STD-50-001 V2-0 D1-0. The consultation closes on 31st January 2016.

• Option A suggests replacing the current wording for the Mix label, in order to more accurately represent the meaning of the claim and the essence of material mixing allowed in the FSC system. The text would need to be concise enough to allow use within the limited space reserved for labelling, but precise

If you would like further information on the revision of this standard, please visit the consultation web page or contact the FSC UK office. If there is the demand, we are more than happy to host a webinar on this topic.

Case Study Thomas More Square achieves FSC Project Certification

Como, the specialist fit-out contractor, has received Full FSC Project Certification for the refurbishment of a £20 million commercial development in the heart of London. The year-long project at Thomas More Square in St Katherine’s Dock, covered 10 storeys of high end office space following a £20 million investment from the client Land Securities. Works were completed in October 2015. The project is one of Land Securities’ first fit out projects to achieve FSC Project Certification, after the project proved that 96.7% of the timber used in the construction and interior finishing were sourced from FSC Certified suppliers (FSC Project Certification code TT-PRO-005197). Thomas More Square used a total of 148m3 of timber, including panelling, partitions and wood used temporarily during construction. It also used FSC certified tropical Iroko timber for the benches in the courtyard outside the building.

“Land Securities is proud to share this accolade with our partners Como and FSC. Thomas More Square is a perfect example of our commitment to the environment. Holding FSC accreditation enables us to work with suppliers, contractors who share our values, standards and ethics. Through this article, we hope to encourage others to follow our lead.”

Como is a subsidiary of Mace Group – the construction and consultancy company – and the project was audited by Exova BM TRADA. Andrew Butt, Project Manager for Land Securities, comments: © A. Kinsey

Andrew Kinsey, Head of Sustainability Construction at Mace, said: “This was a very challenging project with highend specifications. We worked closely with many SME craft suppliers to help educate them on the requirements needed to ensure the chain of custody was maintained for a successful outcome.”

Trevor Bacon, Managing Director for Como, comments: “FSC certification is an increasingly important tool for supporting our clients in demonstrating their wider sustainability goals. We’re delighted to have achieved Certification for Thomas More Square. Many people will recognise FSC certification in consumer products, but this achievement shows its application refurbishment too.”

As a Land Securities requirement, all timber must be FSC certified, which ensures the responsible production and consumption of forest products, working towards sustainable solutions by integrating environmental, social and economic interests.

Mace Group and Land Securities are working together on a number of current projects, all targeting FSC Certification. These include Nova Victoria, a £450 million development located on Buckingham Palace Road.

A Postcard from... FSC Belgium In 2015 FSC Belgium celebrated its 10th anniversary and currently counts 3 staff members in our Brussels office. We work with stakeholders across the 3 chambers, reaching a significant number to date. Currently Belgium counts close to 300 FSC Chain of Custody certificate holders, with around 700 FSC certified company sites steadily growing within the wood, building, paper and packaging industry. Roughly 20% of the raw timber products on the Belgian market are coming from FSC certified The team at FSC Belgium: Siska Verbrugghe, Bart forests. As Belgium is not a heavily forested Holvoet and Stéphan Justin. country, most of our timber and paper products are coming from all corners of the world. FSC certified forests in Belgium are mostly to be found in the Flemish region, and through an initiative lead by the Flemish forest administration, close to 15% of the forest cover has achieved FSC forest certification . The recognition of the FSC label has grown a lot in the recent decad e from less than 5% in 2005 to 38% in 2014. Recent surveys with specific target groups show an even higher recognition: 60% with corporate purchasers and over 80% with architects. With the ambition to increase market recognition and uptake, next year FSC Belgium will launc h a 3-year brand awareness campaign in collaboration with WWF Belgium. © FSC Spain

Guest Feature Sustainable Palm Oil Challenge at Chester Zoo

Cat Barton, Field Conservation Manager at Chester Zoo discusses Chester Zoo’s mission to be a major force in conserving the living world. As a conservation charity run by the North of England Zoological Society, they manage field conservation programmes in the UK and overseas alongside conservation breeding programmes in the zoo. However, they also recognise that an ever increasing demand for natural resources is putting tremendous pressure on ecosystems and wildlife globally. As a business, we are committed to improving environmental performance, including sustainable resource use, in all of our business operations. We are the first UK zoo, and only the second one in Europe, to be awarded ISO14001 – an independent, internationally recognised environmental standard. We are also one of only a handful of zoos in the UK to be awarded a Green Tourism Gold award.

FSC certified bins and tables at Chester Zoo.

Palm Oil Palm oil is an edible vegetable oil found in around 50% of packaged supermarket products, including food products such as biscuits and margarine, and personal care products, biofuel and animal feed. Along with an increasing human population, the demand for vegetable oil is also increasing annually. Palm oil is the highest yielding of all the vegetable oils, producing more oil per hectare than any other oil. This makes it the best one to use, in a world where we are asking more and more of the land. It’s also highly versatile; hence the wide range of products in which it can be used. In Indonesia and Malaysia where around 85% of all palm oil is grown, the oil palm industry is a huge part of the economy and creates millions of jobs. Our concern is with the deforestation, loss of biodiversity and greenhouse gas emissions which have resulted from the rapid and unregulated expansion of unsustainable plantations. Vast areas of rainforest once home to orangutans, tigers, elephants and rhinos, have been cleared to make way for oil palm trees. The new plantations

contain just a fraction of the flora and fauna of rainforests and cannot sustain the native wildlife. As a result, animal numbers are falling fast. The impact on global warming is also of great concern; rainforests growing on peat soils have been cleared, releasing carbon stored in the peat into the atmosphere and contributing significantly to global warming. We work with partners on the ground in Borneo and Sumatra, protecting and c o n s e r v i n g the wildlife of these incredibly important, species © Chester Zoo rich islands. The Sumatran orangutan is impacted by unsustainable palm oil production.

Sustainable Palm Oil

Transforming the palm oil market to a sustainable and traceable supply chain is the most responsible path and the first step to ensuring that the industry impacts as little as possible on the biodiversity of the regions it is grown in. A boycott of palm oil would simply increase the demand for other less efficient edible oils, potentially having even greater environmental impacts. The Roundtable for Sustainable Palm Oil (RSPO) is the most recognised certification scheme globally, with 20% of palm oil now being certified. Although this is a positive step on the road to responsible palm oil, the RSPO still has some way to go to further enhance the scheme and move swiftly towards a ‘deforestation free’ status through a traceable and transparent process.

“Transforming the palm oil market to a sustainable and traceable supply chain is the most responsible path.” The Challenge Chester Zoo’s Sustainable Palm Oil Challenge (launched in September) aims to make sustainable palm oil the industry norm. The challenge is in finding a way of celebrating

the companies who are already committed to sustainable palm oil and supporting those that want to become sustainable through various different activities: Shopping List: Individual action Thanks to recent changes in EU legislation, every food product sold to the public in the UK that contains palm oil must have ‘palm oil’ listed on the packaging. Some will also state if their palm oil is certified sustainable, however others won’t. We are crowd-sourcing a ‘shopping list’ gallery of products which contain RSPO sustainable palm oil, and for those products not labelled, our team are contacting the companies producing them. The Green Gold Conspiracy: A new audience Alongside Coney, a theatre production company, we are reaching new audiences with the palm oil message through a piece of experimental theatre. The production, called The Green Gold Conspiracy, an interactive game of probability, is served over a three-course meal and gives audiences the chance to explore the science behind food sustainability. The first screening took place at The Lowry Theatre in Manchester on Friday 23rd October 2015. Restaurant Tool-kit: Engaging Businesses Following research into the awareness and knowledge of sustainable palm oil amongst the restaurant community in Chester, and following our experience of sustainable palm oil procurement in our restaurants at Chester Zoo, we put together a Restaurant Guide. This ‘tool-kit’ is full of practical tips to help businesses make and deliver their sustainable choices. We are working with a number of restaurants to become a ‘Sustainable Palm Oil Restaurant Partner’, of which The Lowry Theatre is our first.

To find out more about our challenge and the action we are taking, please visit our website at www.actforwildlife.org.uk/palmoilchallenge All images courtesy of Chester Zoo. 10

Guest feature A sustainable market for wood windows

ÂŠ Wood Window Alliance

Iain McIlwee from the British Woodworking Federation (BWF) discusses the subject of sustainable wood windows on behalf of The Wood Window Alliance. It might surprise some people that timber windows are enjoying a resurgence of interest in the UK, with the sterling share of the windows housing market enjoyed by wood and wood composites doubling from 12% in 2000 to 23% in 20141. The figures reflect considerable work by the industry to move away from selling products on cost alone to selling on quality, performance and sustainability. Fully factory-finished double or triple-glazed windows and innovations in coatings and materials have supported this evolution. But the figures also reflect the determination of the Wood Window Alliance (WWA), (that represent many of the major manufacturers) to set the bar high and to provide authoritative evidence to support ambitious claims that factory-finished timber windows made to WWA standards donâ&#x20AC;&#x2122;t just look good but last longer, offer better value and are kinder to the environment too. Apart from aesthetic considerations and repair options, wood windows offer considerable environmental advantage. This was of particular interest to social housing clients, however there was no good evidence to support this claim, with worse to come when the PVC-u industry signalled its intent to take even this ground by starting a well-publicised recycling campaign and putting out the message that you donâ&#x20AC;&#x2122;t have to cut down a tree to make a PVC-u window. 11

Sustainability is a big issue for us This is where the WWA stepped in. From the beginning, one of the cornerstones of membership was the need to offer certified timber sourced from responsibly managed forests. This was crucial to the establishment of a robust sustainability story, particularly in the context of the development of the low CO2 message and the important LCA (Life-cycle Assessment) study. Take away the proof of sustainable sourcing and you take away both the credibility of a renewable resource and the benefit of the creating a smaller carbon footprint by utilising the comparatively smaller level of carbon sequestered in the forest.

One of the big changes in the UK timber industry in recent times is that, thanks to certification schemes like FSC, better practice, government

initiatives and industry marketing campaigns, its image has undergone an extraordinary change from bad guy (cutting down trees, deforestation, illegal logging) to good (a natural, renewable low carbon resource playing an important part in mitigating climate change).

Is sustainability an issue for our customers? For many customers, sustainability is still not top of the list. But, if you want to do business with government, local authorities, more enlightened developers and more sophisticated homeowners, it is a must. It’s a requirement of PQQs for the major buying groups, an entrée to the bigger development sites and it makes a contribution to BREEAM points. In the home improvement market, where we often sell windows and doors directly to homeowners, we are selling an aspirational product – a ‘dream’, if you like, mainly to well educated women. For them, sustainability is assumed; it is a ‘hygiene factor’, and they have become familiar with the

FSC logo in a range of applications, from paper to garden furniture.

Sustainability and the Heriot Watt University Whole Life Analysis report2 This report, commissioned by the WWA and led by Dr Gillian Menzies, was published in 2013. It looked at two major aspects of a window’s life: expected service life (Service Life Planning) and environmental impacts (Life Cycle Assessment). The results of the Service Life Planning study were derived by applying design, manufacturing and maintenance factors to an established Reference Service Life in accordance with ISO 15686-8. It showed that timber frames made to WWA specifications could be expected to last twice as long as comparable PVC-u frames, around 60 years; while modified (e.g. Accoya™) and aluminiumclad timber frames could be expected to last significantly longer. See figures below:

Scenario 1 GWP of unsustainably sourced timber (no carbon sequestered during growth)

Scenario 2 GWP of Cradle to Grave recycling

Sources: The wood and aluminium/timber composite window markets in Great Britain. Interim report on the markets in housing, Palmer Research, 2015

Whole Life Analysis of timber, modified timber and aluminium-clad timber windows, Heriot Watt University, Edinburgh, 2013

of CO2e over 60 years, compared to around one and a half tonnes of CO2e in a typical house. The LCA looked at a number of end-of life scenarios and found that wood was consistently better than PVC-u, whatever proportion was recycled, as well as demonstrating that frames made from responsibly sourced timber have fewer environmental impacts than those made from PVC-u. © Wood Window Alliance

The extended service life of WWA specification frames, together with the CO2 benefit of sustainably sourced timber, contributed to a convincingly superior set of LCA results. The study showed that, taking into account all aspects of materials production, conversion, transport, maintenance and disposal, all WWA timber-based frames (timber, modified timber and aluminium-clad timber) have a negative GWP (Global Warming Potential) over 60 years and that using a WWA timber frame instead of a comparable PVC-u frame and will save 160kgs

BECAUSE THIS IS FSC® CERTIFIED TIMBER, IT’S NOT JUST THE DECKING HE’S TAKING CARE OF. Our forests give us many things, including decking for our gardens. FSC helps look after forests and the people and wildlife who call them home. So you can keep your life full of forest products while keeping our forests full of life. Choose FSC.

FSC® F000100

Sustainability and the future for wood windows With the renewed emphasis on climate change and the growing acceptance that we have to use the earth’s resources more wisely, sustainability won’t be a luxury - it will become a requirement for doing business. Sustainability will remain at the heart of the continued resurgence of the UK wood window industry. GWP Scenario images courtesy of Heriot Watt University2 Images courtesy of The Wood Window Alliance

Forestry What is the future for pesticides in the FSC system?

ÂŠ Crown copyright / Forestry Commission

At the end of November, we posted a news story on our website highlighting the upcoming revision of the FSC Pesticides Policy, which will be carried out by an interest balanced Working Group. The FSC International Board of Directors has agreed that the Working Group will prioritise the task of developing the fundamental approach towards the use of pesticides in certified operations. This will include a consideration of the future of the controversial system of derogations for the use of what FSC identifies as â&#x20AC;&#x2DC;highly hazardousâ&#x20AC;&#x2122; pesticides.

In the interim, the Board decided to suspend the requirement for derogations for any substances added to the list of highly hazardous pesticides in February 2015. This decision affected a derogation application already submitted by some UK certificate holders for the use of the insecticide Acetamiprid to control weevils. Under the circumstances, FSC International agreed to refund the fees paid by applicants. Issues surrounding pesticide use often elicit strong responses, and no doubt many different views will be expressed during the revision of the FSC Pesticides Policy. We will alert you to any opportunities to have your say on the future treatment of pesticides in the FSC system.

UK pesticide usage To inform debate on the future of pesticides, it is useful to consider the current situation. Information on pesticide usage in FSC certified forests may be found in publicly available audit reports accessible via the FSC Certificate Database. In December 2015, FSC UK compiled information from the most recent audit report for each of 40 forest management certificate holders on the volume of pesticides applied and the area of application in the year leading up to the audit. When interpreting these data, it is worth noting that certificate holders vary considerably in the size of their forest holdings, and include group schemes which may have many individual members.

There are currently two derogations for the use of highly hazardous pesticides in force in the UK, for Cypermethrin and Alpha-cypermethrin, both used to control weevils. Both derogations will expire at the end of October 2017. Information from audit reports shows that in the year prior to audit, Cypermethrin was used by 13 certificate holders on 16,750 hectares of land, around 1 % of the total certified area. Alpha-cypermethrin was used by five certificate holders on over 5,000 ha, around 0.3 % of the total certified area. Among pesticides not listed as highly hazardous by FSC, the herbicide Glyphosate was by far the most commonly applied, used by over half of all forest management certificate holders; information on the area of application was incomplete, but it is likely to be considerably greater than 5,000 ha.

Learning more about pesticides in the FSC system FSC International maintains a website dedicated to pest management (click here), where you can learn more about pesticides policy, how FSC identifies highly hazardous pesticides, and how pesticide use can be minimised through integrated pest management (IPM). FSC guidance on IPM is heavily influenced by guidance on reducing pesticide use in forestry developed by the Forestry Commission. 14

Competition

Competition: Guess the product Can you work out what FSC certified product is shown in the photo? Tweet your suggestions to @FSCUK using the hashtag #GuessFSC. Bee lucky!

Forest Stewardship Council® (FSC®) UK is a charity dedicated to promoting responsible forestry. For more information about FSC UK: www.fsc-uk.org info@fsc-uk.org The Billiard Room, Town Hall, Great Oak Street Llanidloes Powys, SY18 6BN 01686 413916

Charity number: 1130203 FSC®F000231

FSC in numbers 2,376 Chain of Custody certificates in the UK 1,621,191 hectares of FSC certified forest in the UK 29,764 Chain of Custody certificates worldwide 187 . 236 million hectares of FSC certified forest worldwide Latest figures from FSC IC. Correct as of 01/12/2015. The full list of figures can be viewed here