1.    BUSINESS CHALLENGE
As part of a paper procurement decision making tool, a major Canadian media company commissioned ÉEM to investigate the different forestry certification schemes in order to identify their benefits and drawbacks.

Forest certification allows forest operators, pulp and paper producers and printers to be certified according to a specific standard. The standard sets a series of guidelines and targets that ensure the sound environmental management of a forest.

The three standards used in Canada are the Forest Stewardship Council (FSC), the Canadian Standards Association (CSA) and the Sustainable Forest Initiative (SFI). A fourth scheme, the Programme for the Endorsement of Forest Certifications (PEFC) was also reviewed.

2.    APPROACH AND STRATEGY
ÉEM conducted an in-depth examination of the standards, case studies, current production numbers and a review of previous work done by government bodies, industry associations, NGOs and private organisations. We also solicited information from auditors and the certification bodies themselves.
The researched information was evaluated according to more than 50 criteria, covering four main areas:

3.    SOLUTION
From the comparison table, we were able to draw broad conclusions about the three most important factors for a forest’s health: the maintenance of old-growth, high value forest; the biodiversity of the species that inhabit a forest, and legitimacy of the standard and its product labelling. We did not investigate the respect of indigenous peoples’ rights or other human factors, which play an important role in forestry operations.

4.    RESULTS
This survey formed the knowledge base of a paper procurement tool for our client.
Our generalized results were as follows:

• The SFI Program is weak with respect to forest management practices and the lack of independence in the certification process in the past means that it has credibility issues. Implementation of recent improvements will take time.

• A CSA certification can be acceptable, but further knowledge of the forest and management practices is required to assure the environmental performance of the forest is adequately defined and managed.


• A PEFC label is unreliable in Canada as it unconditionally endorses both CSA and SFI

• The FSC certification is most likely to ensure a sustainable forest.

The results encouraged the company to favour a mix of recycled fibre and virgin fibre from acceptably certified forests, allowing our client to move towards sustainable paper procurement.