Legal and Responsible Sourcing
As set out in our Five-year environmental strategy, we are committed to sourcing legal and sustainable timber products and to continuously increase the proportion of third party certified and legally verified material in our supply chain. Our Environmental Compliance Team is currently setting a new environmental strategy, as our 5-year strategy has been successfully achieved.
We set a target of 70% of all purchases to be third party certified or legally verified by 2018, which we surpassed two years early. Our continued efforts have enabled us to successfully maintain levels above this threshold.
Our performance has earned us a 3 tree score in WWF’s GFTN’s Scorecard Timber (2017 & 2019), an important initiative by WWF to assess the progress towards sustainability by the timber industry.
In 2021, we experienced a slight decrease in third party certified and legally verified material in our supply chain due to the ongoing war between Russia and Ukraine. However we remain above the 70% mark and are still committed to due diligence requirements and in ensuring our supply chains are free from illegally sourced timber.
In 2022, due to the new United Kingdom Timber Regulation requirements established after the UK left the European Union, our Environmental Compliance Team has ramped up our EU operator due diligence requirements, working together with suppliers to ensure the right approach to information and documentation gathering is agreed and successfully implemented.
During the course of 2023, we will continue our focus on West/Central Africa sawn timber and flooring, where some of the greatest challenges to certification remain. This requires collaboration with sustainability thought-leaders within the industry and NGO community.
Change in proportion of certified and legally verified timber 2013-2021
Certified & verified | FSC® certified | PEFC certified | Legally verified* | Non–certified | |
2021 | 76.4% | 47.3% | 23.1% | 6.0% | 23.6% |
2020 | 77.3% | 47.6% | 21.3% | 8.4% | 22.7% |
2019 | 75.7% | 44.6% | 19.9% | 11.2% | 24.3% |
2018 | 78.2% | 42.1% | 23.6% | 12.5% | 21.8% |
2017 | 78.6% | 43.7% | 25.5% | 9.5% | 21.4% |
2016 | 71.7% | 45.7% | 21.6% | 4.4% | 28.28% |
2015 | 67.2% | 41.7% | 25.0% | <1% | 32.8% |
2014 | 61.7% | 45.8% | 14.8% | 1.1% | 38.3% |
2013 | 51.7% | 31.3% | 18.4% | 1.0% | 49.1% |
*Legally verified schemes identified in our Responsible Purchasing Policy.
2021
In 2021 Brooks Bros sourced 76.4% of our Timber from third party certified, or legally verified suppliers, with the remaining 23.6% of our lumber from non-certified sources. While the percentage of certified suppliers has decreased from 77.3% in 2020, this does not mean that Brooks Bros have moved away from sustainable sources. Instead, we have increased the depth of our due diligence, allowing us to source from smaller companies within communities for which certification is not feasible, and who still practice sustainable, community driven, environmentally and socially responsible harvesting. The slight decrease can be attributed to the ongoing war between Russia and Ukraine, which halted FSC Certified purchases originating from the conflict areas.
Furthermore the implementation of Brexit and the new UK Timber Regulations (UKTR) have meant that we have begun due diligences processes on all of our EU suppliers, with the same range and level of depth as the due diligence we perform on our non-EU suppliers. Brooks Bros is constantly exploring new ways through which due diligence can be carried out to ensure that all suppliers are treated fairly anywhere across the globe.
At Brooks Bros we have made a number of changes to set our Company along the path to net zero carbon emissions through the beginnings of a corporate carbon footprint initiative, moving to fully renewable energy, as well as continuing to use Biomass in our kiln drying facilities at our Sewstern location. Brooks Bros is registered with the Waste Packaging Regulation and manage our packaging consumption and waste in line with their requirements, with a majority of our packaging materials originating from 30% recycled plastic sources.
2020
77.3% of timber and timber-based products purchased were third-party certified or legally verified, an increase from 2019. This is despite the impact of the coronavirus pandemic, which has brought about significant sourcing challenges.
Of the 22.7% of non-certified material, 61% (13.8% of total purchases) originate from countries with good forest governance such as USA, Canada, UK and France. A further 8% (1.8% of total purchases) was imported directly from suppliers with whom we have engaged extensively to ensure legality, in accordance with our due diligence system and where certification is not currently a viable option.
2019
75.7% of timber and timber products purchased was third-party certified or legally verified, a slight decrease from the previous year. This is largely due to a decline in overall availability of certified goods from Central Africa, in part due to the instability resulting from the Anglophone crisis in Cameroon.
Of the 24.3% non-certified products, 63% (15.4% of total purchases) originate from countries with good forest governance such as USA, Canada, UK and France. A further 9% (2.1% of total purchases) was imported directly from suppliers with whom we have engaged extensively to ensure legality, in accordance with our due diligence system and where certification is not currently a viable option.
2018
78.2% of timber and timber products purchased was third-party certified or legally verified, roughly the same as 2017. This reflects an anticipated plateau as the biggest changes to our supply chain have now been made.
Similar to the previous year, the majority of the non-certified products, 67% (14.7% of total purchases) originate from countries with good forest governance such as USA, Canada, UK and France. A further 11.6% (2.5% of total purchases) was imported directly from suppliers with whom we have engaged extensively to ensure legality, in accordance with our due diligence system and where certification is not currently a viable option.
We became the first company in the UK to achieve Nature’s Barcode verification for all of our Chinese flooring imports. Timber legality and traceability experts Double Helix carry out a programme of auditing of the supply chain and product testing, providing legality assurances which we can pass on to our customers for both PEFC and non-certified flooring. Our efforts were also focussed on auditing numerous companies in Cameroon.
2017
78.6% of timber and timber products purchased was third-party certified or legally verified, a sizable increase from 2016. A significant increase of legally verified timber is attributed to changes in our African hardwood imports.
Of the 21.4% of non-certified purchased, 65% (13.8% of total purchases) originate from countries with good forest governance such as USA, Canada, UK and France. A further 24% (5% of total purchases) was imported directly from suppliers with whom we have engaged extensively to ensure legality, in accordance with our due diligence system and where certification is not currently a viable option.
Our due diligence initiatives include a visit to China to audit our supplier, with the support of third-party legality experts.
2016
71.2% of timber and timber products purchased was third-party certified or legally verified, surpassing our target of 70% by 2018. A significant increase of legally verified timber from <1% in 2015 to 4.4% is attributed to changes in our African hardwood imports.
Of the 28.8% of non-certified timber purchased, 55% (16% of total purchases) originate from countries with good forest governance such as USA, Canada, UK and France. A further 21% (6% of total purchases) was imported directly from suppliers with whom we have engaged extensively to ensure legality, in accordance with our due diligence system and where certification is not currently a viable option.
Our due diligence initiatives include visits to Ivory Coast, Cameroon and Republic of Congo to audit our suppliers, inspecting from sawmill back to forest origin. We have conducted training and audited our supplier in China, with the support of third-party legality exper
2015
67.2% of timber and timber products purchased was third-party certified or legally verified, making solid progression towards our target of 70% by 2018. 66.7% was either FSC or PEFC certified, up 6% from the previous year. Large growth in PEFC certified products is attributed to the acquisition of our Sewstern depot, which sources primarily British and European timber.
Our Responsible Purchasing Policy was revised in February to reflect our revised approach to due diligence and reviewed the certification schemes that we recognise; we maintain a clear preference for FSC® and PEFC but also recognise the importance of legality verification schemes as a stepping stone towards sustainability.
As part of our due diligence work, we initiated a programme of product testing on selected products to verify species and origin claims.
2014
60.6% of purchases were either FSC or PEFC certified, and a further 1% was legally verified. A strong focus on FSC, particularly in tropical hardwoods, has significantly increased our overall certified percentage from 49.8% in 2013. We introduced a certified-only policy on Brazilian Ipe.
We have updated our Due Diligence System to ensure our compliance with the EU Timber Regulation. We visited our supplier in Indonesia and China, conducted audits and liaised with stakeholders and timber legality experts.
In-house capacity and expertise
To head our new Environmental Compliance division, we hired a Group Environmental Compliance Manager in March 2014, bringing expertise in timber legality and certification. Further hiring of an Assistant with chain of custody experience in 2015 has provided additional support to this important area of work.
Commitment to improvement
We actively participate in stakeholder meetings and consultations, which enable us to stay abreast of the latest developments while also contributing to strengthening the forest certification systems that we use.
Since June 2014, Brooks Bros has sat on the TTF Forests Forever Environmental Committee , which plays a key role in shaping the TTF’s strategy and industry leadership on wider sustainability issues. In 2016, this included an overhaul of the RPP.
Last updated: 1st April 2021
Sustainability
UKTR
Sustainability
Certificates
