Response to Timberland

Timberland says that they have been assured that the material is not sourced from deforested areas.
Our response: Can they prove that their products are not destroying the Amazon?
The answer, unfortunately, is “No.”
Greenpeace’s recently-released report, “Slaughtering the Amazon,” notes the links between Timberland and Bertin, one of the companies Greenpeace has identified as the biggest contributors to deforestation in Brazil. These links have been confirmed through three years of investigations: "Bertin lists direct leather customers including Clarks, Eagle Ottawa, Gruppo Mastrotto, HTL International (Domicil), Natuzzi (Divani & Divani), Chateau d’Ax and Timberland." (p. 95) In fact, Timberland’s own factory disclosure lists from 2005, May 2007, and June and September 2008, list Bertin Ltda in Brazil as suppliers to Timberland.

Timberland states further that their Brazilian supplier [Bertin] strictly complies with Brazilian laws in its business, including regarding labor, environmental and fiscal aspects. Our response: The Greenpeace report describes the problem with Bertin: “Greenpeace has identified hundreds of ranches within the Amazon rainforest supplying cattle to Bertin’s slaughterhouses in the Amazon state of Pará. Where Greenpeace was able to obtain mapped boundaries for ranches, satellite analysis reveals that significant supplies of cattle come from ranches active in recent and illegal deforestation. Trade data also reveal trade with ranches using modern-day slavery. Additionally, one Bertin slaughterhouse receives supplies of cattle from an illegal ranch occupying Indian Lands.” (p. 66)

The Brazilian Federal Prosecutor based in Para State has opened a billion-dollar lawsuit against Bertin and other cattle companies for illegal deforestation. The lawsuit asks for the retention of the farm owners’ goods as well as payment of fines and compensation for environmental damage to society, seeks to establish an embargo of any activity in the areas that were illegally cleared, and demands that over 1 million acres are reforested with native species. For more information, read our blog post, "Brazilian Environment Minister agrees with Greenpeace report."

On June 12, the International Finance Corporation (IFC), the private lending arm of the World Bank, withdrew their $90 million dollar loan to Bertin. For more information about this recent update, read our blog post, "World Bank Drops Loan to Brazilian Cattle Giant."

Timberland says it wants to engage with Greenpeace on the issue of tropical deforestation and cites their establishment of and participation in the Leather Working Group as a demonstration of their environmental stewardship.
Our response: The Leather Working Group is a group of companies that establishes and reviews standards for conducting leather manufacturing audits and assessing suppliers’ environmental management systems. According to Timberland’s 2006 Corporate Social Responsibility report, “Tanners are scored on their environmental performance in over 300 areas, so the assessment is rigorous.” These standards, however, do not include the environmental impact of sourcing raw materials. In fact, none of the Leather Working Group’s documents contain any reference to leather procurement as an environmental issue.

This means that suppliers with ties to the ‘dirty’ companies identified by Greenpeace can nevertheless receive a high environmental rating by the Leather Working Group. For instance, one of the companies that has earned a Gold Award according to the Leather Working Group’s standards is Vietnamese tannery PrimeAsia. PrimeAsia, as outlined on page 87 of “Slaughtering the Amazon,” has ties to Independencia, one of the companies identified by Greenpeace as the biggest contributors to deforestation for cattle in Brazil.

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In the fight to save the Amazon, every step will count. We lose an acre every 7 seconds, and yet Timberland has still refused to meet with Greenpeace directly to discuss this urgent issue. Please contact Timberland now and tell them that you are concerned that they cannot prove your Timberlands are free from Amazon destruction.