The world’s largest green timber label will vote next week on whether to begin work on new traceability rules, amid renewed scrutiny and accusations over whether the body is doing enough to prevent fraud within its supply chains. The Bonn-based Forest Stewardship Council (FSC) bills itself as “the world’s most trusted mark for sustainable forestry.” …But forestry experts and whistleblowers have alleged for years that the FSC lacks a proper control system, allowing bad actors to fraudulently pass off timber that was illegally or unsustainably logged as FSC-certified. Phil Guillery, who was the FSC’s integrity director from 2011-21, said in early October said that he believed “20-30% of claims in the system were false” during his tenure.” The FSC issued a swift rebuttal, calling them unsubstantiated and “based on outdated information that does not reflect the system today.” …However, a senior FSC official said that they believed the figure was actually an underestimate.

From FSC’s Statement on Recent Criticism: “References to widespread false FSC claims are based on outdated information that does not reflect the system today. …The article relies on a broad estimate of false claims without providing verified evidence to substantiate it.”