Greenpeace report
A report released by Greenpeace on Monday confirms that FSC is already deeply engaged in solving its credibility issues, while much can still be done to improve.
The report, entitled “Holding the Line with FSC”, contains the key outcome of an extensive review of 14 so-called ‘controversial certifications’ carried out by Greenpeace over the past two years.
The bulk of the report consists in numerous proposals for strengthening the credibility of FSC. These include recommendations for strengthening the FSC accreditation organisation ASI, improving FSC policies, and introducing special requirements for dealing with ‘controversial’ or -high-risk' operations. Improving stakeholder relations is another key issue; among other actions, the report recommends that FSC provide easy information for stakeholders, explaining how the system works, and suggests to develop the formal complaints resolution system.
The report acknowledges the collaboration and responsiveness shown by FSC and its accreditation organisation ASI as well as certification bodies during the review process. Of the more than 80 recommendations put forward by Greenpeace, over half have been positively received by FSC and many are already partially or fully implemented. FSC agrees partially with a further 25% of the suggestions. Greenpeace also recognizes that FSC needs to strengthen its governance structure and increase its resources base in order to successfully implement many of the proposed measures.
Greenpeace will release the full report on the organisation’s investigation of 14 ‘controversial certificates’ at a later date.
