Sustainability

Sustainable practices

As the UK’s largest distributor of timber and other building materials, Saint-Gobain is also in a strong position to influence customers and suppliers. We currently have more than 200 branches, including 150 Jewson branches, offering certified timber with Chain of Custody and can provide certification for a wide range of timber products where required to satisfy the Government procurement policy. As a member of the WWF Forest and Trade Network, it also implements the ‘Stepwise’ approach to timber procurement.

Environmental Timber Policy

This policy is based on two principles:

• Responsible purchasing and procurement
• Responsible selling.

Responsible purchasing and procurement hinges on three axes:

1. Protection of endangered timber species

• Analysis of the degree of species’ vulnerability leads us to adopt our purchasing policy accordingly.

2. Assurance on legal sourcing

Our product traceability commits us to:

• Obtaining proof from suppliers that timber comes from legal tree-felling sources
• Stopping purchases from “law-breaking” countries.

3. Promotion of certified or sustainably managed timber

• This means each year increasing the percentage of certified timber (FSC, PEFC, …) on our sales plan, giving preference to local timber.

Responsible selling hinges on two goals:

• Involving our sales force in this processs
• Informing our customers and providing them with all necessary indications on products being offered.

Saint-Gobain Building Distribution’s timber environmental policy as applied to its Business Units and brands will be reviewed on a regular basis. This is an open-ended continuous improvement process with planned and quantified commitments.

Purchases of tropical wood

The Building Distribution Sector purchased over 3.5 million cubic meters of wood in 2006, of which tropical woods account for less than 6%. Several of the Sector’s companies, among others Saint-Gobain Building Distribution UK (SGBD-UK), Lapeyre and Point P, have embarked on policies based on controlling their purchases.