Stop SFI Greenwash -- The Issue

Avoid this phony eco-label! Learn why in our report, "SFI: Certified Greenwash."

Greenwash n. – The dissemination of misleading information by an organization to conceal its abuse of the environment in order to present a positive public image.

Growth in the market for green products has led to greenwash—and to great confusion: what does ‘green’ really mean? Who decides?

Witness the rise of the ‘eco-label’. More than 300 such labels now promote products or services as having environmental or social benefits. But most of these eco-labels are simply cashing in on confusion over what is and what is not green.

Among the worst of these self endorsement schemes is the one created by the industry devoted to cutting down trees: the ‘Sustainable’ Forestry Initiative (SFI), which markets business-as-usual forest destruction as green.

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The Sustainable Forestry Initiative: The Truth Behind the Label

An infographic in our report, "SFI: Certified Greenwash" details the web of influence over the 'independent' SFI eco-label. Dowload the full report >>

With slick ads in publications like The New Yorker and Fortune, SFI has used profits made from forest destruction to convince big brands to promote the SFI program, including JP Morgan Chase, Bank of America and American Express. This deceptive marketing started when the American Forest & Paper Association (AF&PA) – the primary trade association for a $175 billion per year industry – determined that its members’ products would sell better if they were perceived to be ‘sustainable’. SFI was spun off as a non-profit in 2001, but little else has changed since its birth as a marketing scheme for AF&PA.

SFI’s website, materials, executive speeches, and advertisements all vigorously claim that SFI is independent. Yet, virtually all of SFI’s funding comes from the paper and timber industry, thus conclusively refuting SFI’s claim to independence. Worse still, this funding arrives in SFI’s accounts as tax-deductible donations, for which AF&PA members directly benefit in the form of tax-free advertising.

False Claims of Sustainability

The aftermath of 2007 landslides in Washington State, 84 percent of which resulted from operations certified by SFI.

Despite its ‘Good for you. Good for our forests.’® logo, SFI certifies logging practices that have a disastrous impact on North American forests. Here is a short list of the practices approved by SFI that are not good for our forests:

• Threats to rare wildlife. SFI’s rules do not require any work, within areas they certify as ‘good’, to restore forests that are essential for the survival of rare wildlife.
• Clearcuts. The average clearcut approved by SFI is the size of 90 football fields. Whether it’s the ‘average’ SFI-approved clearcut or bigger, the cumulative impacts to watersheds, water quality and soil productivity are often permanent.
• Widespread toxic chemical use. SFI allows excessive use of toxic chemicals such as pesticides, fungicides, and herbicides that contaminate fresh water.
• Endangered Forest destruction. SFI provides virtually no protection against the destruction of old-growth forests, wild areas that do not currently have roads, or other places in which ecological values are especially rich.

Check out facts about the 'Sustainable' Forestry Initiative and greenwash eco-labels >>