As a leading North American home improvement company, Lowe's purchases a significant amount of wood and recognizes the important role the world's forests play. Forests are crucial to the planet, supporting plant and animal life, capturing and storing greenhouses gases, and providing food, water, medicine and livelihoods to people around the world. Lowe's is dedicated to protecting these critical resources by adopting responsible practices. To do so, Lowe's implemented its first Wood Sourcing Policy in 2000. Since then, Lowe’s has continued to work with employees and vendors to safeguard valuable forest resources. Trees are critical to the planet and Lowe's business, so ensuring a sustainable source of wood is of paramount importance.
Scope
This policy applies to all wood and pulp products sold at Lowe’s both in-store and online - including all wood components within a product, such as solid wood, composite wood, veneers, plywood, wood pulp and paper.
Product Sourcing Requirements
Lowe’s evaluates relevant wood sourcing areas based on the following risk factors: deforestation, ecosystem conversion, illegal harvesting, endangered species trade, human rights and corruption.1 Lowe's has assigned risk levels (Low, Medium and High) and sourcing requirements to these wood sourcing areas.
“Wood sourcing areas” are defined as the areas where the trees are grown and harvested, not the manufacturing site locations.
| High-Risk Area |
Wood products sourced are required to be FSC certified from the forest to Lowe’s. |
|---|---|
| Medium-Risk Area |
Wood products sourced are required to be certified by a Lowe’s recognized third-party certification scheme, or the vendor is required to participate in an annual due diligence measure with a Lowe’s designated third-party. |
| Low-Risk Area |
Vendors are required to share traceability information when requested, maintain compliance with all requirements within this policy and strive for third-party certification when commercially viable. |
Guiding Principles
Lowe's recognizes that environmental and socioeconomic issues often are directly related to forest products. As a responsible corporate citizen, Lowe’s takes addressing these issues seriously. Lowe’s expects all vendors to comply with these guiding principles.
- No illegal logging
- No deforestation
- Preserve High Conservation Value (HCV) areas
- No sourcing endangered species
- Protect and preserve biodiversity
- Respect and protect human rights
- Undergo and secure Free, Prior and Informed Consent (FPIC) as defined by the United Nations wherever applicable
- Maintain wood sourcing traceability
Operational Requirements
Vendors are also required to:
- Participate in Lowe’s and/or Lowe’s designated third-party activities verifying compliance with this policy
- Submit wood sourcing data annually in the Lowe’s wood sourcing survey
- Maintain their own wood sourcing policy that is in line with Lowe’s requirements
Vendors not complying with these requirements will be notified, and corrective actions and potential business consequences could occur.
Sustainable Forestry Certifications
Lowe's expects our vendors to proactively seek sustainably sourced wood products and obtain credible third-party certifications whenever commercially viable. Lowe's recognizes the following credible third-party certification schemes.
- Forest Stewardship Council (FSC)2
- All certifications recognized under the Programme for the Endorsement of Forest Certifications (PEFC), including the Sustainable Forestry Initiative (SFI)
Lowe's will continue to prioritize and give preference to FSC-certified wood products when purchasing items, as long as they meet business and market requirements.
Lowe's Wood Sourcing Risk Levels
Lowe’s will not source any products from countries or entities that are subject to U.S. Office of Foreign Assets Control sanctions. The list below is only a reference to wood sourcing risk levels and does not imply that Lowe’s actively sources products from any of these countries.
| Angola | Djibouti | Laos | Paraguay |
| Bolivia | Ecuador | Liberia | Peru |
| Bulgaria | Equatorial Guinea | Madagascar | Republic of the Congo |
| Cambodia | Gabon | Malaysia | Romania |
| Cameroon | Ghana | Mexico | Thailand |
| Central African Republic | Guatemala | Mozambique | Vietnam |
| Colombia | Guyana | Myanmar | Zambia |
| Congo (DRC) | Honduras | Niger | |
| Cote d'Ivoire | Indonesia | Papua New Guinea | |
| The Amazon Rainforest | The Cerrado Region | The East Australia Region | The Gran Chaco Region |
| Albania | Eswatini | Maldives | Puerto Rico | The Gambia |
| Algeria | Ethiopia | Mali | Qatar | Timor-Leste |
| Argentina (excluding the Gran Chaco Region) | Fiji | Malta | Rwanda | Togo |
| Armenia | French Guiana | Marshall Islands | Saint Kitts and Nevis | Tonga |
| Azerbaijan | Georgia | Martinique | Saint Lucia | Trinidad and Tobago |
| Bangladesh | Greenland | Mauritania | Saint Vincent and the Grenadines | Tunisia |
| Belize | Guadeloupe | Mauritius | Samoa | Turkmenistan |
| Benin | Guinea | Micronesia | San Marino | Turkey |
| Bhutan | Guinea-Bissau | Moldova | Sao Tome and Principe | Tuvalu |
| Bosnia and Herzegovina | Haiti | Monaco | Saudi Arabia | United Arab Emirates |
| Botswana | Hungary | Mongolia | Senegal | Uganda |
| Brazil (excluding the Amazon Rainforest and Cerrado Regions) | Iceland | Montenegro | Serbia | Uruguay |
| British Virgin Islands | India | Morocco | Seychelles | Uzbekistan |
| Burkina Faso | Israel | Namibia | Sierra Leone | Vanuatu |
| Burundi | Jamaica | Nauru | Solomon Islands | Zimbabwe |
| Canada | Jordan | Nepal | Somalia | |
| Chad | Kazakhstan | New Caledonia | Somaliland | |
| Chile | Kenya | Nicaragua | South Korea | |
| China | Kuwait | Nigeria | South Sudan | |
| Costa Rica | Kyrgyzstan | North Macedonia | Sudan | |
| Cyprus | Lebanon | Oman | Suriname | |
| Dominican Republic | Lesotho | Pakistan | Taiwan | |
| Egypt | Libya | Palau | Tajikistan | |
| El Salvador | Liechtenstein | Panama | Tanzania | |
| Eritrea | Malawi | Philipines | The Bahamas |
| Australia (excluding East Australia) | France | Luxembourg | South Africa |
| Austria | Germany | Netherlands | Spain |
| Belgium | Greece | New Zealand | Sweden |
| Croatia | Ireland | Norway | Switzerland |
| Czech Republic | Italy | Poland | United Kingdom |
| Denmark | Japan | Portugal | United States |
| Estonia | Latvia | Slovakia (Slovak Republic) | |
| Finland | Lituania | Slovenia |
Lowe’s Wood Sourcing Commitments
- Lowe's aims to achieve 100% Forest Stewardship Council (FSC) certification for all wood products sourced from identified High-Risk Areas.3
- By 2025, 100% of Lowe's wood products will be purchased from a responsible source, thus either certified or from a controlled source.
- By 2027, 100% of Lowe’s wood products sourced from Canada will originate from credible third-party certified forests.
Lowe's Forestry Supply Chain Grievance Mechanism
Lowe’s has established a Forestry Grievance Mechanism to provide stakeholders within our forestry value chain a way to share concerns. Please report any potential concerns through this process.
1 “Wood sourcing area” refers to harvest origin of the trees used in wood products.
2 FSC is the only certification accepted from vendors sourcing from High-Risk Areas.
3 High-Risk Areas were previously known as Regions at Risk.