Buyer's Corner

Inclusive wood procurement policies

Green Procurement Policies

Many companies have developed green procurement policies as a means to instill an environmental ethic and guide their business practices towards greater sustainability. Buyers of forest products are also discovering that a procurement policy can be a valuable voluntary tool to help them deliver on their environmental policy in terms of the products they purchase. While buyers have found it helpful to engage different internal and external stakeholders in developing a policy, this brief outlines some of the types of issues that buyers are considering when developing their leadership commitments on procurement.

Benefits of a Policy

By making their environmental and purchasing policies public, and living up to them, companies can communicate an economic, social and environmental ethic to the general public, who in turn can reward this corporate social responsibility. When written and implemented well, responsible procurement can reduce costs, and improve resource efficiency, while strengthening consumer confidence.

Working with Suppliers

Suppliers, in particular, are an integral part of the policy development process - businesses should work with their suppliers to understand how certain commitments can impact their ability to meet price, quality and service requirements as well as environmental criteria. When developing a policy, buyers will want to think to the future, while setting achievable commitments today that can be improved upon as experience is gained through implementation. Some of the issues to consider when working with a supplier on procurement matters include:

• Relying on Life Cycle Analysis: While some issues are more important than others, taking a single criterion approach has the risk of running counter to long-term sustainability objectives. Therefore, it is important to adopt a life-cycle approach as a guiding framework when evaluating the environmental characteristics of a product.
• Focusing on Forest Management not Forest Type: While some buyers have opted to focus on specific forest types, others have focused on forest management approaches and achievements to ensure a more holistic approach. Examples of key considerations of the forest management approach should include 3rd-party independent sustainable forest management (SFM) certification, or evidence that companies are collaborating with government and/or conservation interests. Such a proactive approach offers the best incentive to ensure that the "right things" are happening on the ground.
• Using Clear Language: Avoid vague terms and those with many conflicting definitions, such as endangered forests, ancient forests, intact forests, or old growth forests. These terms have different meanings and often reflect the values of those defining them. Adopting such terms could conflict with your company's values, while running the risk that they are interpreted differently by relevant stakeholders.
• Promoting Certification: 3rd-party certification is a useful tool for communicating performance against a SFM standard. Policies that recognize and encourage 3rd-party certification offer incentives for suppliers to adopt certification and be transparent on how they are managing forests to a particular standard. For SFM certification in Canada, FPAC recognizes the Canadian Standards Association (CSA), Forest Stewardship Council (FSC), and Sustainable Forestry Initiative (SFI) systems.
• Rewarding Leadership: A key element of procurement policies is that suppliers be given incentives to undertake actions that advance a company's procurement objectives, and likewise recognize existing efforts that promote sustainability, such as 3rd-party certification commitments, collaborative engagement with conservation organizations, and voluntary pollution control actions.
• Promoting Competitiveness: It is preferable that policies favour inclusive and objective approaches that promote sustainability, rather than monopolistic and discriminatory exclusive approaches. For example, a commitment that supports programs or initiatives that do not treat wood products as one of the best environmental choices should be avoided. After all, life-cycle analysis shows wood products as a preferable environmental choice over competing building products.

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