CPET activities

Though August was fairly quiet the past month has been busy with lots of work for the CPET team. It started off with a CPET reference board meeting where the next steps following the reporting study and the inclusion of the social criteria were discussed amongst other things.  See the minutes here. The consultation on the social criteria is ongoing and the comments are ticking in. If you want to have your say please refer to the page here and send the comments by 21 October. We have had a number of training sessions in Oxford and London and have teamed up with London Remade’s support team so they can help us raise awareness and give guidance on the policy in London. Later this month we will be coming to Birmingham and Cardiff. There are still a few spaces available and you are very welcome to attend. Find the booking form and the list of upcoming workshops here.

The Olympic Delivery Authority who are responsible for the construction of the Olympic park and village is working to ensure compliance with the Government’s policy and a timber supplier panel has been identified for the Olympic parks. CPET’s Sofie Tind Nielsen was invited to present at the Timber Supplier Panel’s Open forum and enquires to CPET from the Olympics site are already coming in.  

The construction sector is keen to ensure sustainability of the timber they use and at the Value of Sustainable Timber in Construction seminar last week there were several references to CPET and the UK government’s policy as a path to follow. CPET was also invited to Brussels in September where we shared our experiences with other EU member states. Read more here.

The Forestry Commission is at the very final stage of finalising the guidance to accompany the protocol which we have developed in cooperation with the Forestry Commission. The protocol will guide small non-certified forests in how to show legality and sustainability via the category B route. We will publish the guidance which is based on the current UK Forestry Standard and the English Woodland Grants Scheme as soon as it is available. Please contact CPET for guidance on specific cases in the interim.

Last week CPET was also invited to attend the Global Forest and Trade Network’s annual meeting. The UK government’s timber procurement policy via CPET creates a demand for sustainable wood and thereby an incentive for producer countries also in the tropics to manage their forests sustainably. GFTN is an important tool to provide support to the timber supply chain in moving towards certification and make verified legal and sustainable wood available to the public sector in the UK.

The work with local authorities is ongoing and we urge you all to help us encourage your local council to implement a timber procurement policy. Read more here.

There has been a change in staff. Last month Solene Le Doze was offered a job with the UN in Nairobi so the CPET awareness coordinator role has now been taken over by Nick Moss and he is quickly catching up where Solene left. We wish Solene all the best and welcome Nick to the CPET team. Read more here.