27.07.2020. Because our products give access to life-changing benefits to a community of 10’000 people in one of Congo’s most landlocked regions. Because our resources are vitally important living wonders.  Because our forest protection means that anything, from a mushroom to an elephant, should thrive in their natural habitat.  We know, and care about, forests. And it shows.

INTERHOLCO has pride of place in SPOTT’s transparency assessment 2020, continuing to lead timber and pulp and paper companies since 2017.

Through its annual assessment, SPOTT makes it possible to identify areas in which a company excels or progresses, and where it should be more transparent or adopt best practice.

This year, SPOTT’s assessment saw the addition of 44 new indicators (+33.5%, compared to 2019) across the already existing categories, for a total of 175 sector-specific indicators. This provides a large snapshot of the state of transparency in the timber sector.

Also, SPOTT’s ranking 2020 allows fine-tuning or ‘weighting’ results. 

What do similar results in a specific category mean, when comparing different companies?

Are companies transparent, disclosing information on how they function (organization)? Do they show willingness to move towards best practice (commitment), or are they already implementing best practice (policy), giving examples of what happens on the ground (practice)? And who says so: is the company disclosing what it does (self-reported) or is what the company says, externally verified? Which companies certify what they say (certified)?

Viewers can thus make better sense of the weight that a company’s score has.

For instance, take a look at INTERHOLCO’s score breakdown for water management:

Needless to say, the ability to weight results becomes crucial, when looking at sensitive categories, like Deforestation and Biodiversity. Below is INTERHOLCO’s score breakdown: