Response from Clive Duncan, director of marketing and merchandise at Bunnings, November 20:
Bunnings has had a zero-tolerance approach to illegally logged timber for almost two decades and
our goal is to ensure all our timber and wood products originate from legal and well managed forest
operations.
Our timber policy recognises the value of a stepwise approach to achieving certified responsibly
sourced product and we have long supported and encouraged supplier efforts to pursue this.
We are proud that we can state with confidence that more than 99 per cent of our business wide
timber products are confirmed as from low risk plantation, verified legal or certified responsibly
sourced forests.
Within that, more than 79 per cent of Bunnings total timber products are sourced from
independently certified forests or sourced with demonstrated progress towards achieving
independent certification, such as that provided by the Forest Stewardship Council(r) (FSC) and the
Programme for the Endorsement of Forest Certification (PEFC).
With respect to VicForests, we support their commitment to pursue FSC Controlled Wood
certification and welcome the recent release of the Audit Report and road map toward FSC
Controlled Wood certification by 2020. FSC regards legality as essential to responsible forest
management. We will be closely monitoring the actions they undertake to achieve this goal and
demonstrated progress will be required, in keeping with our policy.
As stated previously, in highly contentious areas, we believe that FSC certification may be the most
effective mechanism to address biodiversity impacts and stakeholder concerns, and to secure the
necessary social license to operate into the future.
We believe that customers and team members have the right to expect that the timber they
purchase is sourced from well managed forestry operations.