SFI BLOG

Dear colleagues, friends and partners,

As we look forward to the holidays and the New Year, it is my pleasure to share with you some of SFI’s many successes over the past 12 months as we continued to advance sustainability and nature-positive outcomes in collaboration with our impressive network.

The 2022 SFI Standards are being implemented at a large scale

Our new SFI 2022 standards are being effectively implemented across our vast landscape of 354 million acres/143 million hectares, meaning more SFI-certified forests than ever before are being managed to our 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 are now certified to the SFI Forest Management Standard, which is more than any other forestry standard.

Demand for the SFI label is increasing amongst organizations and consumers

Our 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. We also awarded 34 new community, conservation, and education grants last year and engaged with 36 unique conservation organizations. SFI also invests in and partners with over 180 different Indigenous communities. In 2022, we released a series of online courses through Sault College to support respectful relationship building, understanding, recognition, and respect for Indigenous Peoples’ rights; traditional knowledge; representative institutions; and distinctive relationships with the forest.

We are 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. We have also placed over 7,000 young adults in PLT Canada Green Jobs since 2018, including over 1,000 Indigenous youth from over 100 different communities, and achieved gender balance throughout. We continue to be inspired to find new ways of collaborating with Indigenous, Black American, and underserved audiences through the creation of partnerships, tools, and resources.

Please see our 2022 scorecards below for additional successes!

On behalf of all SFI, thank you for your continued support and collaboration. We look forward to continuing to work together to advance sustainability through forest-focused solutions in 2023 and beyond!