2022 Scorecards Illustrate SFI’s Commitment to Sustainability

By Chuck Coup, PA SFI Implementation Committee Program Manager

The Sustainable Forestry Initiative (SFI) recently shared their annual “Scorecard” reports that highlight many successes over the last year in advancing forest sustainability and nature-positive outcomes in collaboration with a wide network of partners. Here are some of the key takeaways.

The new SFI 2022 Standards are being implemented at a large scale. The new SFI 2022 standards are being effectively implemented across SFI’s vast landscape of 354 million acres, meaning more SFI-certified forests than ever before are being managed to the new climate-smart and fire resiliency requirements, SFI-certified organizations are doing even more to respect Indigenous People’s rights, traditional knowledge and relationship building, and companies certified to the SFI 2022 Fiber Sourcing Standard are conducting landscape assessments of biodiversity and expanding screening requirements for controversial sources. In addition, 52 Indigenous communities across North America are now certified to the SFI Forest Management Standard, which is more than any other forestry certification standard.

Demand for the SFI label is increasing among organizations and consumers. SFI’s focus on sustainability and nature-positive outcomes is resonating with organizations and consumers alike. Seventy-eight percent of SFI-certified organizations reported steady or increased demand for SFI-certified products—more than any other forest certification standard—and more Fortune 100 companies are using the SFI label.

SFI’s conservation and community impact continues to grow. SFI continues to be the only forest certification standard with a research requirement. Since 1995, SFI-certified organizations have invested over $1.9 billion dollars in forest research, with $78 million invested in 2021 alone. Over 80% of this funding was directly linked to conservation objectives. SFI also awarded 34 new community, conservation, and education grants last year and engaged with 36 unique conservation organizations.

SFI is making a difference for diverse young people in their communities. SFI continues to grow a lifetime of learning from children to young adults through Project Learning Tree (PLT) environmental education, forest literacy, and career pathways programming. PLT trained more than 6,000 educators in 2022, resulting in an estimated 1.65 million students reached. SFI continues to be inspired to find new ways of collaborating with Indigenous, Black American, and underserved audiences through the creation of partnerships, tools, and resources. To review the 2022 SFI Scorecards please visit https://bit.ly/3ZnKNM5.

For more information about the PA SFI Implementation Committee, visit their website at www.sfiofpa.org or call 888-734-9366