Home Depot Commits to Good Wood

At an August 26 celebration of the company’s 20th anniversary, Home Depot president and CEO Arthur Blank announced a major—if somewhat vague—environmental commitment: “By the end of 2002, we will eliminate from our stores wood from endangered areas—including certain lauan, redwood and cedar products—and give preference to ‘certified’ wood.” While the official company statement did not specify that certification had to be to Forest Stewardship Council standards, it did include a reference to chain-of-custody tracking and the inclusion of social and economic criteria along with environmental criteria. “Their description clearly identifies FSC as the highest standard in the marketplace,” says David Ford, president of the Certified Forest Products Council, noting that no other existing certification schemes include these elements.

Given Home Depot’s enormous market influence—the company sells close to 10% of the lumber in the world—this commitment has the potential to make environmental certification a high-priority competitive issue for forestry operations everywhere.