Carbon footprint reporting on the rise among business … It has become relatively commonplace for businesses to voluntarily disclose descriptive information about what they are doing to ensure environmental sustainability in their operations via their …

Australia passes Illegal Logging Prohibition Bill … On 19 November 2012, the Australian Senate voted in favour of the Australian Illegal Prohibition Bill, which prohibits the importing of illegally logged timber and timber products as well as processing …

Leadership needed in absence of global climate deal … Governments of the world who gathered for the climate conference in Durban were unable to agree on an international, legally-binding …

Environmental devotion propels success for greeting cards … Perhaps more than other forestry products, greeting cards have a unique ability to connect with consumers on an emotional …

FSC and PEFC requirements: update on key changes … The FSC and PEFC forest certification systems are constantly evolving based on stakeholder feedback and new developments in the political and legislative …

Outlook 2012: sustainability trends in the timber market … Will the global financial crisis kill efforts to foster sustainability in the timber sector? This would seem likely, but the opposite seems to be the …

NGOs: PEFC fails to deliver key values … Despite recent revisions and improvements of a number of core PEFC standards, Greenpeace and eight other NGOs find that the PEFC system does not provide sufficient assurance of responsible forest …

FSC remains the sole choice of Tetra Pak … Despite improvements in the PEFC system, it has not attained an assurance level that satisfies the standards set by Tetra Pak, global leader in beverage …

Positive outlook for certified sales in Eastern Europe … The largest printing house in Central Europe, QuadWinkowski, sees clear business benefits of its dual FSC and PEFC certification. Demands for certified products are growing across all of the …

Timothy Synnott: "The controversies have calmed down" … He was a constructive voice in the sustainable forestry debate, while the concept of FSC was still bubbling in its primordial soup. Twenty years later, he remains strongly engaged in sustainable …

Forestry issues: interim standards and large operations … Members decided to move ahead with efforts to solve a long-standing issue on the consistent interpretation of the global Principles & Criteria at country level, when national standards are absent. …

To stay or not to stay: FSC members take stock … As FSC responds to changes in the political, environmental and economic landscape, new challenges and opportunities emerge that are transforming the system. These changes can be highly contentious for its …

Editorial: "Isofication" of FSC - are we hitting the ground? … FSC General Assembly 2011: Today’s editorial coins the term "isofication" in describing the direction FSC's accreditation programme Accreditation Services International (ASI) is taking to …

Overhaul of FSC’s control system: field performance … Is the FSC system - including its quality control body ASI - ensuring sufficient focus on field performance? Jakob Ryding from Forests of the World - formerly known as Nepenthes - sets out to discover …

FSC movers and shakers: Grant Rosoman, Greenpeace … In this extended online interview, Grant Rosoman Global Forest Solutions Coordinator for Greenpeace International, shares why he first jumped on board the FSC ship and remains a loyal ally. He urges FSC …

More needed to put smallholders on FSC’s map … A side meeting yesterday FSC IC confirmed that key challenges remain for smallholders. Perspectives from three regions were offered on their success in applying the Small and Low Intensity Managed Forest …

FSC Principles & Criteria review: for better or for worse? … The fundamental principles for good forest management, the global Principles & Criteria (P&C) were heavily debated among FSC’s members over the weekend. A key issue of concern was whether they …

Sabah: Conversion criterion hinders expansion of FSC … There had to be a cut-off date, and FSC chose the year 1994. After that point, certification of plantations converted from natural forest is excluded. But FSC certification was invented as a …

FSC to create online tool for timber traceability … FSC has announced that it is in the process of developing an online platform for tracing FSC-certified timber products throughout the certified supply …

Graphic industries embrace forest certification for comeback … Historically, the paper and print industry has been an important driver of forest certification worldwide. Now this role is set to grow even stronger. Forestry certification schemes play a …