Benefit from PEFC certification

For companies at the end of the supply chain, such as brand owners and retailers, PEFC certification offers you many benefits: from highlighting your sustainable procurement choices to meeting demanding legislative and market requirements.

Meet customer expectations

PEFC-certified products can carry the PEFC label. This is important, as consumers are increasingly demanding that the products they buy come from a sustainable source – by using the PEFC label, you can provide your customers with the proof they need. 

In fact, labels are the most trusted source of information by consumers about whether a product is environmentally and socially responsible. According to our survey, 81% of consumers would prefer companies to label products, and 70% said they would be more likely to purchase a product with such label. 

Position your brand and deliver on SDGs

These days, there is a clear advantage, but also a clear urgency, in being able to demonstrate your company’s commitment to sustainability, and the United Nation’s Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs) offer the ideal mechanism for this.

By buying and selling PEFC-certified products, you can report on the contribution of sustainable forestry towards the SDGs. But PEFC is much more than just certification. Our numerous activities on the ground, our collaborative work with forest owners, communities and stakeholders at local levels, enables you to offer support beyond sourcing PEFC, demonstrating a much wider contribution towards these vital goals.

Sourcing of certified material contributes to your triple bottom line reporting, as PEFC sustainable forest management standard assures that forests are managed in line with strict environmental, social and economic requirements, creating value for its workers and communities. 

Secure your supply

PEFC is the world’s largest source of certified, sustainably managed forests: using PEFC-certified material enables you to secure your supply of responsibly sourced material. Over 300 million hectares of certified forests (75% of total certified forests) in 45 countries around the world supply nearly 38% of global industrial roundwood production (FAO, 2018).

Comply with legislation

As a brand owner or retailer, you are surrounded by numerous legislative and regulatory requirements. PEFC-certified products all originate in PEFC-certified forests managed in compliance with national and international legal forest requirements. PEFC certification also meets fundamental ILO conventions, protecting the rights of people in the forest and throughout the forest supply chain.  

Furthermore, PEFC Chain of Custody certification is aligned with regulatory requirements such as the European Union Timber Regulation (EUTR), the US Lacey Act and the Australian Illegal Logging Prohibition Regulation. 

EU Timber Regulation (EUTR) is legally binding companies importing and domestically producing timber and timber products in all 28 EU Member States to implement a due diligence system (DDS) to minimize risk of placing illegally harvested timber on the market. PEFC DDS is fully aligned with EUTR and an integral part of PEFC Chain of Custody certification.

Proof of traceability

PEFC Chain of Custody certification tracks wood from sustainable sources through the supply chain to the final product. It demonstrates that each step of the supply chain is closely monitored through independent auditing to ensure that unsustainable sources are excluded. The audits are carried out regularly and consistently by third party independent certification bodies.