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Corporate social responsibility (CSR) has become a clear trend in the forest products industry. It is promoting companies to move from purely focusing on productivity and scale to focusing more on responsible and sustainable business activities. This trend, in part, has been fuelled by rising environmental standards and timber trade regulations which are pushing companies to achieve compliance. CSR is also being pursued proactively by many companies as a source…

Business and government both have a role to play in promoting “green” and legal trade. Sometimes companies lead the way in the interest of maintaining a sustainable business, or to stand out from the competition. Sometimes it is policy that sparks change across a supply chain. The Lacey Act Amendments in the United States, the European Union’s Timber Regulation, Indonesia’s new timber legality assurance system are all examples of the recent…

Increasing evidence has become available that domestic Chinese market may present good opportunities for “green” forest products. According to our recent survey, at least one-third of Chinese wood products manufacturers possess at least one type of third-party environmental certificate, led by ISO14000, China Environmental Labeling and FSC. The Ministry of Housing and Urban-Rural Development of China has released its own “Evaluation Standard for Green Building”, and the State Forestry…

A “traditional” supply chain in the forest products industry consists of a group of organizations and people (as well as information and technologies) that are involved in value-adding activities to transform forests, logs and lumber into finished products such as furniture and floors that are delivered to the end customer.  

As countries increasingly collaborate to combat illegal logging and to promote sustainable forestry worldwide, many forest products companies’…