As the world marks another World Environment month, CHEP, one of the world’s most sustainable logistics businesses, is using its 18 pine timber farms to help deliver on the United Nations Decade on Ecosystem Restoration 2021-2030.
“Our timber forests are another step towards building a sustainable and regenerative supply chain,” said CHEP Forestry Senior Director, Jed Krige. “We are getting to a point where we are putting more timber resources into the world than we take out.”
CHEP has recently acquired 4000 ha of timber forests which brings its total to 7 500ha of standing pine plantations. The original 3500 ha are all Forestry Stewardship Council (FSC) accredited with plans in place to get the additional newly acquired plantations certified by end September 2021.
CHEP forest assets are part of the organisation’s backward-integration strategy, which provides the timber for CHEP’s pallets and other supply-chain platforms according to sustainability and regenerative principles.
CHEP has long been a sustainability pioneer, with its share-and-reuse model of pallet pooling a quintessential example of circular-economy principles. CHEP’s current sustainability strategy aims to put more into the environment than is taken out, and chimes perfectly with the goals of the UN’s environment programme. Proof of this is the recent inclusion of CHEP’s parent company, Brambles in the World Economic Forum’s 1t.Org Corporate Alliance, a cross-industry community of companies aimed at conserving, restoring and growing 1 trillion trees by 2030.
“Timber has countless benefits as a raw material: it’s renewable, reusable, recyclable, biodegradable and it captures carbon – but only if it comes from sustainable sources,” said Krige. “This is why we ensure 100% of the timber we use globally comes from sustainable timber farms, through FSC or the Programme for the Endorsement of Forest Certification (PEFC).
FSC forest management certification guarantees that a forest is managed to preserve biological diversity and benefit local people and workers, while ensuring it stays economically viable. Forests are required to adhere to 10 FSC principles, incorporating everything from management planning to environmental values and indigenous people’s rights.
“Global maintenance of both natural and man-made forests, with the carbon sequestration they provide, are essential in our struggle against global warming and climate change,” said Krige. “In support of this thinking, and as part of a number of our 2025 Global Sustainability Targets, Brambles and CHEP have committed to a Forest Positive goal, which means growing two trees for every tree used in the business. We call it ‘one for our pallets, one for our planet’”.
Increasing global forest cover will help CHEP achieve their sustainability goals, and their regenerative ambition, because sustainably managed forests:
- absorb carbon and produce oxygen
- mitigate the impact of severe weather events, reducing wind speed and preventing soil erosion, which reduces climate-change related risks
– contribute significantly to maintaining biodiversity by filtering and holding moisture, providing base inflows for wetlands and waterways
- offer jobs and sustainable livelihoods
- can increase productivity of farmland through agroforestry
CHEP’s humble pine pallet underpins many of the world’s supply chains. Third-party Life Cycle Analysis (LCA) has shown that CHEP’s reusable pallets use 3,5 times less wood, generate 2,5 times less waste, and emit 2,3 times less CO2, compared with the main market alternative.
“The timber backward-integration strategy was initiated in 2006, as a result of shortages of industrial-grade timber for the South African pallet market,” said Krige. “The strategy was to secure standing sustainable timber plantations for supply to sawmills. The sawmills produce pallet-repair timber to exact CHEP dimensions, maximising timber yield. Today, our plantations supply our own sawmill with up to 60% of CHEP’s annual requirements.”
Owning its own sustainable pine timber plantations allows CHEP to protect against local market shortages, and avoid importing timber, which is time-consuming, expensive and environmentally unsustainable.
CHEP-owned plantations also create job opportunities for surrounding communities – as forestry workers, or to join businesses harvesting reeds on the farms to manufacture reed mats. Alien timber is also supplied to surrounding communities for use as firewood.