Forest Certification

All of MWV's forestry and wood procurement operations are certified to internationally recognized certification standards.

Third-party fiber certification provides assurance that paper and packaging products contain fiber from sustainably managed forests and certified procurement systems.

SFI and CERFLOR

In the United States, the company's forestry operations are certified to the Sustainable Forestry Initiative (SFI®), while our Rigesa forestry operations are certified to the Brazilian standard CERFLOR. Both of these certification systems require regular independent, third-party audits to assure continued conformance to these standards.

Both SFI and CERFLOR are recognized by the Programme for the Endorsement of Forest Certification Schemes (PEFC™), a global assessment and mutual recognition of national certification programs. PEFC is the world's largest forest certification program, with members accounting for over 200 million hectares in 25 independent national forest certification systems.

To qualify for membership, a certification system must undergo a rigorous assessment involving public consultation and independent consultants.

MWV actively supports the SFI and has chosen to certify to this group’s rigorous standards. SFI bases its fully independent program on the simple premise that we can protect and manage our forests and produce the wood and paper products that help the global economy grow. The program integrates growing and harvesting of trees with the protection of wildlife, plants, soil, water, and air quality. Over 127 million acres of land are certified by independent, third-party audits to meet the SFI standard.

In addition to having our forestlands third-party certified, at our U.S. mills we have also obtained SFI and PEFC chains of custody certification which ensures that 100% of the fiber in our paperboard products comes from certified forests and other acceptable, legal sources. To learn more about the implementation of our chain of custody programs, read our April 22, 2008 news release.

Report on Exclusive Use of the Forest Stewardship Council (FSC) Forest Certification ProgramMWV's Stewardship and Sustainability Department assessed the issues and opportunities raised in a shareholder proposal that would require MWV to use the Forest Stewardship Council (FSC) forest certification program exclusively and to increase the use of post-consumer recycled fiber significantly above current levels to further reduce greenhouse gas emissions. This paper reports on the feasibility and advisability of excluding all other certification programs in favor of the Forest Stewardship Council (FSC), the availability of certified wood in areas where we purchase our wood fiber, and the impact of increasing the use of post-consumer recycled fiber on greenhouse gas emissions.

MWV's position, as outlined in the report, is that joint certification would be redundant and represent an additional expense that does not confer an additional benefit to the company. We do not envision a scenario in which it would benefit our company to contribute to a monopoly in forest certification by limiting ourselves, our suppliers, and our customers to one certification scheme.  Read the report.

Learn More:

• Review MWV's 2006 SFI® Data