Robert Horne Group has been a member of WWF's Global Forest and Trade Network in the UK since 2004. 

All GFTN members are committed to progressively sourcing forest products from well managed sources.

To monitor progress, Robert Horne Group collects as much information on supply chain sources as possible, and categorises this to enable identification of where any risks of poor sourcing may lie, and to eliminate them systematically from our supply chain into the UK market.

The new EU Regulation to limit the trade in illegal timber, which comes into full effect on 3^rd March 2013 provides a baseline of legality as a minimum for forest goods entering the European market and reaching consumers. GFTN members want to make sure they are playing their part in reducing the UK footprint on global forest resources, and to source sustainably.

To highlight the change achieved so far, to draw attention to the challenges that remain in order to meet the EU regulation, and to exceed the requirements of the regulation by sourcing sustainably and identify priorities in doing so, GFTN members are publishing the status of their supply chain for forest goods as established so far, according to the WWF Global Forest and Trade Network categorisation of forest goods.

We hope the UK GFTN members' decision to be transparent about performance on forest sourcing will prompt others in the sector to do the same, and initiate discussion about how business can overcome the remaining challenges in partnership with other stakeholders, including government.

We encourage all forest certification systems to continuously improve their performance in delivering responsible forest management. At present, WWF and GFTN participants believe FSC represents the gold standard and a credible benchmark for other forest certification schemes to match, and it remains our preference to increasingly source from credibly certified forests or verified recycled sources.

Robert Horne Group's status for the forest products reported for the 2011 calendar year is as follows:

11.6%    No information on origin

0.0%      Known origin but no legality verification possible

16.7%    Legal origin confirmed (including e.g. PEFC purchased with Chain of    Custody)

0.0%      In the process of becoming credibly certified

67.1%    Credibly Certified (e.g. FSC purchased with Chain of Custody)

1.6%      Pre-consumer Recycled

3.0%      Post-consumer Recycled

Robert Horne Group's Responsible Forest Product Procurement Policy can be found here:

http://www.roberthorne.co.uk/environment/policy-statement/

Scope of reporting

• - All forest products for resale and or end use in business delivery

Challenges

• Commercial pressures, internal business changes and a developing product offering have meant that reporting has needed to focus on certified and recycled sources.
• Customer demand for recycled products has reduced. However, there has been continued success in increasing the proportion of credibly certified products sold.

Priorities

• Ensure compliance with the forthcoming EU Timber Regulation.
• Populating, implementing and communicating the new supplier environmental information database being developed at a global level by Robert Horne's owning company, PaperlinX. Key within this will be the engagement of the procurement teams in using the database when sourcing product suppliers, so as to help them make decisions based on environmental parameters rather than just commercial.
• Continue to promote the benefits of using FSC and recycled products within in our Customer base, via marketing and sales activity. And in supporting this, work to move more of our products into the credibly certified category and expand our range of recycled products.