Our Collaboration With WWF Promotes Responsible Forest Management
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The World Wildlife Fund (WWF) Global Forest & Trade Network has been working with companies for over 20 years, with the mission to encourage businesses to source forest products from well-managed sources.
DK and Penguin Random House UK have been active with WWF’s Global Forest & Trade Network (GFTN) since 2014. The companies have now set a goal of having 100% of the paper they use Forest Stewardship Council® (FSC®) certified, in other words, sustainably sourced.
Wood is a renewable resource, and when forests are properly managed, harvesting timber can be an effective way of safeguarding forests for future generations. That is important, because besides providing habitats for animals and livelihoods for humans, forests also offer watershed protection, prevent soil erosion and mitigate climate change.
FSC is the only wood certification scheme endorsed by WWF, Greenpeace and the Woodland Trust. Certified forests must meet a range of best-in-class standards, ensuring harvested trees are replanted or allowed to regenerate naturally. 74% of DK and 93% of PRH’s paper is currently FSC certified. Collectively this is 85%.
Through their work with the GFTN, DK and Penguin Random House UK have committed to ensuring all their products are responsibly and ethically sourced. This includes promoting responsible forest management together with their suppliers, eradicating illegal wood products from their global supply chain, and making sure their paper sourcing policy is publicly available. Thanks to their work in this area, they have been awarded the highest possible score as part of the WWF’s Timber Scorecard, which assesses the timber sourcing policies of companies across a range of industries.
Nicola Torode, Head of Product Safety for DK and Penguin Random House UK, said: “We recognize the importance of forests and the services they provide, such as clean water and air, raw materials, and biodiversity. As deforestation is the second-largest source of CO2 emissions, we know that combating this through responsible paper sourcing policies is essential.”
The GFTN is recognized as a successful partnership between WWF and businesses, and for spreading the message that sustainable forest management can help redress some of the most severe problems affecting forests, such as deforestation, and is key for the future.
According to WWF, the business community can play a “vital role” in ensuring forest resources are well-managed, and in order to assess whether improvements are being made, it is crucial for businesses to be open about their purchasing policies.
Their work with the GFTN is just one part of DK and Penguin Random House UK’s sustainability and social responsibility program. “We consider the ethical and environmental impact in all the work we do,” said Torode. “Our suppliers are audited to internationally recognized standards on a regular basis, and we only use materials that are from legal, ethical and sustainable sources. Using FSC paper and working with industry-wide bodies ensures we are continually conducting best practice.”