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SFI officially launches 2022 updated standards

SFI certification is a powerful tool to provide customers and producers of forest products with the tools and guidance they need to make responsible supply chain decisions and achieve responsible forest management goals.

The SFI standards help us achieve our mission to advance sustainability through forest-focused collaboration and these new standards include a variety of updates that help us address global challenges. With 370 million acres/150 million hectares certified to the SFI Forest Management Standard, and tens of millions of acres positively influenced by the SFI Fiber Sourcing Standard, SFI is working to create solutions at the scale needed to help protect the environment, combat climate change, reduce fire risks and promote dialogue and cooperation.

Over the last two years, SFI has engaged in extensive consultations as part of our goal of continuous improvement in our standards and guidance. We gathered input from more than 2,300 stakeholders from the conservation community, Indigenous communities, the forest products sector, brand owners, private forest landowners and public forest managers, government agencies, trade associations, landowner associations, academia, and the public, and have released new requirements in a variety of areas.

• The SFI Climate Smart Forestry Objective requires SFI-certified organizations to ensure forest management activities address climate change adaptation and mitigation measures.
• The SFI Fire Resilience and Awareness Objective requires SFI-certified organizations to limit susceptibility of forests to undesirable impacts of wildfire and to raise community awareness of fire benefits, risks, and minimization measures.
• The new Objective 8, Recognize and Respect Indigenous Peoples’ Rights, ensure respect for Indigenous Peoples’ rights and traditional knowledge, and are aligned with the principles of the United Nations Declaration on the Rights of Indigenous Peoples.

When procuring fibre, avoiding controversial sources is critical to achieving sustainability targets. Recognizing this, SFI also developed a new definition of controversial sources and expanded requirements for a due diligence system to assess the risk of controversial sources entering a certified organization’s supply chain.

• Information on the major enhancements to the SFI Forest Management Standard and SFI Fiber Sourcing Standard
• View the complete SFI 2022 Standards and Rules
• Watch a webinar SFI staff recorded on the 2022 Standards