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Wal-Mart aims to source only sustainable woods

Retail giant working with World Wildlife Fund

Heath E. Combs -- Furniture Today, July 15, 2008

BENTONVILLE, Ark. — Wood furniture will be the initial focus of a new Wal-Mart effort to work with the World Wildlife Fund’s Global Forest and Trade Network, or GFTN, to phase out illegal wood sources in its supply chain.

Through an agreement with the GFTN, Wal-Mart says it plans to increase the proportion of credibly certified sourced wood products for its U.S. stores, the retailer said in a press release.

According to the release, the agreement covers all wood-based products. The GFTN links more than 370 companies worldwide to help ensure that those buying wood or paper from valuable and threatened forests adopt responsible purchasing policies.

The collaboration is Wal-Mart’s second with the World Wildlife Fund. Earlier this year, the retailer committed to purchasing 100% of its wild-caught seafood sold in the U.S. from sources certified by the Marine Stewardship Council within four years.

Wal-Mart said it sources furniture from the Amazon, Russia, northern China, Indonesia and the Mekong region of Southeast Asia.

Wal-Mart was criticized late last year by the Environmental Investigation Agency, a U.S. and United Kingdom-based environmental watchdog, which claimed Wal-Mart doesn’t ask suppliers where the wood comes from, only if it’s cheap. The group asked Wal-Mart to stand by its CEO’s goal to sell “products that sustain our natural resources and the environment.”

Selling forest products that are illegally harvested already is against the law in the United States, because of new provisions in the Lacey Act passed by Congress this spring.

However, Wal-Mart’s commitment goes beyond legality by encouraging suppliers to take further steps to ensure their wood products come from legally harvested sources, said Kerry Cesareo, a manager of the Global Forest and Trade Network, North America.

The GFTN’s requirements put an emphasis on transparency in supply chains. Under the new agreement, within one year, Wal-Mart will complete an assessment of where its wood furniture is sourced and whether each source is well-managed and operates legally.

Once the assessment is completed, Wal-Mart has committed to eliminating wood from illegal and unknown sources within five years.

Wal-Mart is one of the first U.S. big box retailers to join the GFTN, Cesareo said. The agency also is also is working with other retailers, including Ikea.

The GFTN lists its requirements online at
http://gftn.panda.org/resources/tools/index.cfm?uNewsID=81080.

Wal-Mart’s move puts pressure on the worldwide supply chain to target where resources are coming from and puts American hardwoods in a positive light, because existing state and federal laws already address similar protections, said Tom Inman, president of the High Point-based Appalachian Hardwood Manufacturers.

“While we may not always agree with the WWF and GFTN, we do agree legally harvested timber should be in the marketplace,” Inman said.

Wal-Mart will be responsible for communicating its plans to suppliers. Some Wal-Mart suppliers already belong to the GFTN and others have contacted it for more information and technical assistance, Cesareo said.

“We encourage others to join the GFTN as well. We’re excited to work with Wal-Mart and its peers,” Cesareo said. “We would hope that a commitment like Wal-Mart’s would inspire other retailers to make similar commitments.”

The World Bank estimates that illegal logging costs developing country governments more than $5 billion per year in lost taxes and other revenues, the press release said.

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Wal-Mart seeking to source certified woods

Jul 27, 2008

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