Certification visit well packaged for PEFC Chief
Facts and figures
More than 17m hectares of Australian forests are certified under the Responsible Wood forest certification scheme – this represents more than 90% of Australia’s commercial forests.
Our work is made possible by the voluntary engagement of countless stakeholders at local and national level around the world, who support its ongoing efforts to expand certification and sustainable forest management beyond the current 9% of global forest area.
Quick Facts
Almost 300 million hectares of forest area (or 740 million acres) are managed in compliance with PEFC’s internationally accepted Sustainability Benchmarks – that’s roughly the size of Egypt, South Africa and Turkey combined. Nearly three-quarters (71%) of all certified forests globally are certified to PEFC (n.b. estimation, based on the latest PEFC and FSC figures).
PEFC certification provides assurance that forests are managed in line with challenging environmental, social and economic requirements. It is crucial in giving evidence of sustainable forest management, enabling forest owners and managers to demonstrate that the practices they apply in the forest are sustainable and that their forests meet our needs and those of future generations.
Currently more than 29,800 companies and organisations have achieved PEFC chain of custody certification. That equals one-third of all chains of custody globally, and you can find these companies in more than 80 countries.
PEFC chain of custody certification tracks forest-based products from sustainable sources 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.
57 national members, with 45 endorsed national and regional certification systems covering 49 countries, have joined forces under the PEFC umbrella to collaboratively promote sustainable forest management. Through our projects and partnerships around the world, we work to increase this number, bringing sustainable forest management and certification to more countries and to more forest owners, large and small.
PEFC certification is a standard of choice for public timber procurement policies in e.g. the United Kingdom, Germany, and Japan, in addition to numerous private timber procurement policies. PEFC certification also demonstrates compliance with legislative requirements, including the EU Timber Regulation (EUTR), the U.S. Lacey Act, and the Australian Illegal Logging Prohibition Regulation.
