The Forest Stewardship Council (FSC), whose green certification label appears on billions of dollars worth of wood products worldwide, is under intense pressure to address widespread fraud allegations within its supply chains. Next week, the organization will vote on whether to develop stricter traceability rules following mounting criticism from industry experts and former employees.
The FSC’s distinctive tree-tick logo serves as a sustainability promise to consumers, appearing on everything from furniture to toilet paper as proof the wood came from responsibly managed forests. However, former FSC integrity director Phil Guillery dropped a bombshell in October, claiming that “20-30% of claims in the system were false” during his decade-long tenure from 2011-2021. Even more troubling, a current senior FSC official told environmental publication Mongabay that Guillery’s estimate may actually be too conservative.
The Bonn-based organization has pushed back hard against these accusations, calling them “unsubstantiated” and “based on outdated information.” FSC officials emphasize that integrity remains central to their mission and insist they take fraud allegations seriously. Yet the controversy highlights a critical vulnerability in one of the world’s most trusted environmental certification systems.
The upcoming vote represents a pivotal moment for the FSC as it grapples with questions about whether its current oversight mechanisms are sufficient to prevent bad actors from passing off illegally or unsustainably harvested timber as certified. With consumer trust and billions in certified product sales at stake, the organization faces mounting pressure to demonstrate that its “world’s most trusted mark for sustainable forestry” claim isn’t just marketing rhetoric.