Last month, The Sustainable Furnishings Council (SFC) and The National Wildlife Federation released the 2023 Wood Furniture Scorecard, a joint initiative that assesses North American furniture retailers on their wood-sourcing policies. The sixth annual program encourages furniture retailers to implement responsible wood-sourcing practices through their complex supply chains. 

Top- and high-scoring retailers are requesting more documentation from their vendors including where the wood comes from, chemical inputs and social equity aspects regarding conditions of the manufacturing facility. These companies are searching for more certified or reclaimed wood vendors than those with lower scores. 

The program “was designed to move the proverbial needle in an industry that has been a major contributor to illegal wood sourcing and deforestation,” explains SFC Executive Director Scarlette Tapp, adding it’s “a tool that helps push the industry from the inside, as well as from the outside through consumer awareness. The furniture-buying public increasingly wants to know about the origins of their furniture.” 

The nonprofit Sustainable Furnishings Council, located in North Carolina, is the leading sustainability resource center for the home furnishings industry, focusing on suppliers, manufacturers and retailers of interior furnishings, and the designers that specify them. 

The mission of the National Wildlife Federation, America’s largest conservation organization with 52 state and territorial affiliates and 6-million-plus members and supporters nationwide, is to unite all Americans to ensure wildlife thrive in our rapidly changing world.

View the 2023 Wood Furniture Scorecard at FurnitureScorecard.nwf.org. Also visit SustainableFurnishings.org and NWF.org.