A statement, signed by 28 firms, including BBC Worldwide, Polestar Group and Random House UK, was delivered at a seminar for the WWF Global Forest & Trade Network (GFTN) in Finland on 28 September.

"The message is entirely consistent with what we (the buyers) have been saying for the last 10 years," said BBC Worldwide deputy production director and head of procurement, David Halford.
He said the BBC wanted to deliver a credible label, which currently was the Forest Stewardship Council (FSC) certification scheme, to its readers.

The statement drew particular attention to northern Finland, which has come under environmental groups' spotlight due to allegations of logging in high conservation forests.

"It's to reinforce the message that products we purchase come from well-managed sources," said Halford.

The purpose of the seminar, which was organised by WWF Finland and GFTN, was to encourage the positive steps Finland has taken to promote FSC certification.

These have included the first large-scale FSC group certification in Finland, led by Stora Enso, and parallel certification testing by UPM.