Responsible Wood Engages with Sustainability Leaders
Responsible Wood recently attended the Leaders in Sustainability Network (LiSN) event, hosted by the Sustainable Choice Group. The event brought together professionals from a diverse range of industries to explore strategies for driving impactful sustainability outcomes.
As an organisation dedicated to promoting forest and chain of custody certification, Responsible Wood plays an important role in ensuring timber products meet the highest environmental and social standards. However, as the global Environmental, Social, and Governance (ESG) movement continues to shape decision-making in businesses and supply chains, the challenge remains: How do we communicate the value of forest certification beyond the traditional wood and forestry sectors?
Why Certification Matters in a Broader ESG Context
In industries where sustainability is front of mind such as construction, design, retail, and manufacturing there is growing demand for transparent, traceable, and responsible sourcing of materials. Certification, like that provided under Responsible Wood and PEFC standards, ensures that timber products come from sustainably managed forests, but its impact reaches much further than the forestry sector alone.
Matt’s de Jongh’s recent attendance at the LiSN networking event was one such opportunity to engage with sustainability leaders from outside the timber and forest products sector. The discussion highlighted how businesses across all sectors are increasingly aligning their operations with ESG principles, with a particular focus on supply chain transparency, circular economy initiatives, and carbon reduction strategies.
Matt shared his thoughts on attending the event and bridging the gap,
“The more we connect with sustainability professionals beyond the forestry and wood products sector, the stronger our collective impact will be. Sustainable timber has a crucial role to play in lowering embodied carbon in construction and manufacturing, but if we don’t effectively communicate the credibility and integrity of certification, we risk being overlooked in broader ESG conversations.”
Engaging with Sustainability Networks
The Leaders in Sustainability Network provides a platform for knowledge sharing, where businesses at different stages of their sustainability journey can learn from one another. Through conversations with manufacturers, procurement professionals, and retailers, the event reinforced for Responsible Wood that certification isn’t just about compliance. It’s about building trust and accountability and demonstrating real impact.
A key takeaway from the event was the importance of making certification more accessible. While certification professionals understand chain of custody standards and sustainable sourcing claims, many ESG professionals in other industries aren’t aware of the depth of auditing and due diligence that underpins them. Responsible Wood’s challenge (and opportunity) is to bridge that gap and ensure certification is recognised as a critical piece of the ESG landscape.
Looking Ahead
As ESG reporting requirements continue to evolve, Responsible Wood is committed to ensuring that forest certification is positioned as a benchmark for responsible sourcing. Events like this offer an avenue to engage with new audiences, ensuring that businesses looking to meet sustainability goals understand the role of certified timber in reducing environmental impact. Matt reflected on the opportunity ahead,
“Sustainability is a shared responsibility. If we want certification to be valued beyond our sector, we need to be actively involved in conversations about responsible supply chains, carbon reduction, and circular economy initiatives. The more we collaborate, the greater our ability to drive change.”
