TTF signs up to WWF Forest Campaign

24 August 2015


The Timber Trade Federation (TTF) has officially signed up to support WWF UK’s Forest Campaign

The move effectively adds 300 TTF members, accounting for two thirds of the £8.9bn annual turnover of the UK timber industry, including sawmills, manufacturers distributors and retailers.

By supporting the campaign, the TTF has pledged to support the market to buy timber and wood products from sustainable sources by 2020, including making members’ aggregated performance public.

It has also pledged to support the call for the EU to close the loopholes in the current EU Timber Regulation so all timber and wood products must be from legal sources.

The TTF will also support the call for the UK government and the EU to complete the transition to a market in sustainable timber and timber products by 2020.

In addition, the TTF has made more focused commitments to ensure the work undertaken on responsible sourcing over the past 10 years or so can be further developed to move the industry forward, including using its influence to encourage its many members to voluntarily make an individual declaration of support to the campaign.

“The TTF has supported the campaign in principle since last summer, however we wanted to make sure we played an active role in supporting delivery of the 2020 targets,” said David Lennan, TTF CEO.

Julia Young, manager of WWF’s Global Forest and Trade Network in the UK, said trade bodies like the TTF can play a significant role in bringing about new business norms that create sustainable industries as well as sustainable forests.

“We are very happy that the TTF continues to improve its own transparency on its membership’s sustainability progress, and look forward to ongoing collaboration on forest issues, whilst also welcoming individual leadership from among the membership to set the bar for others to be inspired by and learn from,” said Ms Young.