Sustainable Forestry Initiative (SFI) is a certification standard endorsed by PEFC. According by a new report released by ForestEthics, SFI is mere industry-sponsored greenwashing to market wood and paper products. Titled SFI: Certified Greenwash, the report highlights how the SFI serves the interests of the timber, paper, and forest products industries. Its centerpiece is a two-page infographic depicting the web of influence through which industry dominates SFI.
"Greenwash is deception pure and simple - said Aaron Sanger, of ForestEthics - Our report exposes SFI's greenwash, an industry-sponsored scam that threatens our forests, communities, fresh water and wildlife."

Among the findings of the report are:

• Virtually all of SFI's funding comes from the paper and timber industries;
• SFI's most commonly used label, the Fiber Sourcing label, requires no chain-of-custody tracking of a product's content or origins;
• Out of 543 audits of SFI-certified companies since 2004, not one acknowledges any major problem on issues - such as soil erosion, clearcutting, water quality, or chemical usage - that should be the focus of a "sustainable forestry' program;
• In one case, the SFI audit team - which included only two auditors - spent just five days assessing an area larger than the entire state of Pennsylvania. They reported no violations of SFI standards and didn't identify so much as a single opportunity for improvement;
• Board members representing SFI's environmental and social sectors include Mike Zagata, former NY Gov. Pataki's most controversial agency head, and Marvin Brown, who this October resigned as Oregon state forester amid accusations that his department conducted and tolerated environmentally-harmful forestry practices.