Councils sign the pledge

Arecent report by WWF-UK, entitled Barking up the right tree, showed that out of 124 local authorities that responded to a survey designed to measure how widespread responsible procurement for timber and paper was among them, only 16% had stand-alone procurement policies related to timber or paper. And out of those, only about a third were being monitored at all.

WWF has tried for many years to engage with local authorities on the procurement of their wood and paper products. In the past, meaningful progress has been hard to achieve, but things are starting to change.

We've been running a campaign helping local authorities set and achieve a series of sustainable timber pledges. At a time when councils have to do more with fewer resources, local authorities appreciate the added value that WWF-UK can bring to help improve their responsible procurement processes, and help ensure that they are effectively monitoring their timber or paper procurement policy.

In this Olympic year, we decided to go for some Olympic themed pledges - bronze, silver and gold, according to the level of commitment.

For bronze the first step in developing and implementing a sustainable timber procurement policy is for a relevant individual in the local authority (for example, the head of sustainability or head of procurement), to attend a CPET training workshop or to organise a seminar on the steps needed to implement a sustainable timber procurement policy.

For the silver pledge the local authority chooses a project, contract and/or product group where only recycled and sustainable timber products will be used. WWF and CPET can help the council select the right place to start and see what needs to be changed. It may be as simple as getting evidence from contractors and/or suppliers that timber for a refurbishment job comes from a sustainably managed source. This will also allow the local authority to understand the process and resources needed and develop monitoring procedures appropriate for its own management systems.

For the gold pledge the local authority sets up a recording and monitoring system to ensure forest products procured meet the requirements of its policy.

Once it has published and implemented its policy the final step is to develop systems to record timber purchases and monitor compliance with the policy. This may only need to be a small sample of all timber procured, but a system of monitoring is a good incentive to ensure compliance among its suppliers.

WWF and CPET can provide local authorities with sample spreadsheets to record timber product purchases and give advice about what constitutes a good monitoring system.

The uptake of pledges has been extremely encouraging: we currently have 91 councils across the UK making 121 sustainable timber pledges between them. We're anticipating many more will do so in the coming weeks.

Several councils have achieved certificates. Hackney, Haringey, Lambeth, Edinburgh, Falkirk, Fife and East Dunbartonshire have all recently achieved silver pledges, while Durham became the first council in the UK to achieve a gold pledge back in March.

We think the pledges have been WWF-UK's most effective method of engagement with local authorities to date, and the initiative has been cited by organisations such as Sustainable Scotland Network and CPET as a way of engaging with councils on responsible procurement. Promoting the responsible timber procurement pledges is our way of assisting the UK government with the implementation of its own timber procurement policy.

There have been several successes since the campaign launched, including:

• Supporter activism: councils do respond to their constituents' demands. Emails sent to council leaders by WWF-UK's supporters and ambassadors have resulted in several councils signing up to a pledge.
• Offering free assistance has been critical to enabling continued uptake of these pledges and bringing about a step change in local authority timber procurement, as councils' resources and capacity have been pressurised.
• Another positive effect of the pledges was the high level of interest from other organisations - Greater Manchester Police and Strathclyde Fire & Rescue (Europe's second largest fire and rescue service) have now made sustainable timber pledges.
• Local authorities are now pushing their suppliers and contractors to improve their performance and supply legal and sustainable forest products. Many SMEs are being encouraged to go for FSC's small business chain of custody group scheme. Previously these companies have proved challenging with regards to engagement on the issues of responsible procurement, due to the perceived burden of cost and bureaucracy.
• Best practice sharing: councils like Durham, which have passed their pledge evaluations, have been sharing best practice tips with other councils and contractors.