Credible claims with FSC Combatting greenwashing: Rigorous standards, established safeguards, and engagement with new legislation FSC Belgium /Bart Holvoet Greenwashing: FSC’s position and safeguards The Forest Stewardship Council (FSC) is a global NGO dedicated to responsible forestry. Our multi-stakeholder system, grounded in third-party verification, balances environmental, social and economic interests. Our rigorous standards are created with input from diverse stakeholders and continuously evolve in line with societal needs, scientific evidence, and emerging legislation. These elements are key in combatting greenwashing. The concepts of greenwashing and sustainability continue to evolve, both through emerging legislation, scientific evidence and knowledge, and consumer expectations. Three in four consumers believe green claims should only be allowed if independently verified and 80% believe that companies found guilty of greenwashing should be severely fined. FSC strengthens and adapts its system in response, with the goal of upholding our integrity and third-party checks, validating that environmental claims about FSC-certified products and materials are accurate, and encouraging rigorous and transparent communication globally. A report by OECD (Organisation for Economic Co-operation and Development) entitled Protecting and Empowering Consumers in the Green Transition acknowledges FSC’s “trusted marks for sustainable forestry practices” and highlights our rigorous certification and commitment to transparency as effective tools in empowering consumers and combatting greenwashing. FSC / We Communications What is greenwashing and what are the risks? Greenwashing is a deceptive practice where businesses make unsubstantiated claims, omit critical information, or obscure the truth about their environmental practices. While greenwashing may appear to be a harmless marketing tactic, it has serious consequences. It lowers a customer's ability to make informed choices and puts a company’s reputation at risk. It threatens real progress on sustainability issues, not only through false claims on the market. The fear of greenwashing can prevent communication and positive ripple effects of climate action. Read more about greenwashing → How FSC is safeguarding companies against greenwashing Why companies, businesses, and consumers can trust the claims about FSC. Protecting FSC-certified companies against greenwashing Equally influenced and balanced. FSC’s system is fundamentally balanced. The FSC membership, consisting of 1,000+ organizations, unions, environmental groups, individuals, and companies from 90+ countries, decide our policies. Social, environmental, and economic perspectives carry equal weight. Strict, globally aligned standards. FSC standards are developed with input from a balanced set of stakeholders, often through an open, public consultation. Wherever FSC standards are applied in the world, they must conform with a set of holistic, core principles. Learn more about our standards here. Independently verified certification. Independent third parties must evaluate companies to award certification and perform annual audits to confirm that the requirements set out in the standards are met. ISEAL Code Compliance. FSC is the only forest certification system that is ISEAL code compliant. ISEAL is the global association for voluntary sustainability standards, and FSC’s adherence to the code means our forestry standards are developed transparently, based on principles that set global best practices. Assuring credible claims about FSC products and materials Certified and non-certified materials separated. FSC-certified companies must separate FSC-certified materials from non-certified material. They are audited by independent verifiers annually to confirm that uncertified materials are not sold as FSC. Logo and trademark usage authorized. FSC requires prior authorization or approval of every communication or claim featuring FSC. This ensures that companies using the FSC logo or communicating about FSC performed the required checks and verifications and are held accountable as needed. Transparent labelling. FSC on-product labels include information about the FSC claim, the certified material, and the certificate holder. This helps consumers verify what they are buying. New innovations like FSC Trace will help companies trace the product or material back to the source. Misuse can be reported. Anyone, whether a company or a member of the public, can report suspicion of logo misuse. Report misuse → Violators expelled Our Policy for Association (PfA) uniquely allows us to identify and expel organizations engaged in harmful activities, even outside of certified areas. Learn more → Misuse investigated We thoroughly investigate instances of logo misuse. This investigation and reporting process involves collaboration with our accreditation partners and certification bodies, and use of the logo is revoked if necessary. FSC Belgium /Bart Holvoet Anti-greenwashing regulations and initiatives FSC strongly supports worldwide legislations and initiatives aimed at fighting greenwashing, with a shared goal of ensuring environmental claims and communications do not mislead consumers and supports licence holders to continue communicating about FSC credibly. Together with global NGOs, we are engaging with key global initiatives to advance transparent communications. Legislations, while most pressing in Europe, are formalizing a global urgency for robust legal measures to prevent misleading environmental claims How FSC is aligning with European anti-greenwashing regulations Since their emergence, FSC has been engaging constructively on emerging directives, working with ISEAL, and feeding back to EU Institutions with the joint goal of raising the bar for sustainability claims and keeping compliance achievable. Empowering Consumers Directive This Directive sets requirements for sustainability labels. It is already adopted, and it will enter into effect as of September 2026. FSC certificate holders are already in a strong position. At the same time, we are actively reviewing its system’s alignment with the requirements set in this Directive. The ongoing revision of the Trademark Standard (FSC-STD-50-001), which sets the rules for trademark usage for certificate holders, is an example of the work we are doing to increase transparency and improve consumer access to information. For instance, it will provide claims that FSC-certified companies can use with confidence, and which provide consumers with the required substantiations. More about Empowering Consumers → Green Claims Directive This initiative aims to prevent misleading environmental labels or claims by establishing a pre-approval mechanism for sustainability labels. It is currently under negotiations among the EU Institutions. FSC has been engaged on this Directive since its onset. We are monitoring and actively engaging with EU decision-makers working on the file, with the goal of raising the bar for environmental claims and ensuring the provisions will work in practice. FSC's advocacy work is conducted as part of the ISEAL alliance. Once the final text of the Green Claims Directive is published, we will conduct a detailed, third-party analysis to understand how our system aligns with the Directive. More about Green Claims → Since the two Directives are intertwined and still need to be transposed by EU Member States, and Green Claims is still in negotiations, we continue to monitor the areas where we need to adapt our system to achieve compliance. Emerging and evolving policy initiatives beyond Europe The Regulatory Frameworks to Combat Greenwashing report by the One Planet Network highlights momentum outside Europe: Canada has updated its Competition Act to address deceptive environmental marketing with a complementary legislation in the pipeline The Australian Government launched an inquiry into greenwashing, examining the prevalence and impact of misleading environmental and sustainability claims, and will issue a report with guidance. FSC is actively engaging in the process. India’s new Ecomark Rules seek to ensure accurate labelling and prevent misleading information about products. Products accredited under these rules will adhere to specific environmental criteria and encourage sustainable consumption. Read about more global policies and initiatives against greenwashing here. FSC supports global initiatives against greenwashing FSC is working with the United Nations Environment Programme (UNEP) and One Planet Network to promote integrity in sustainability communication: We adhere to the UN Environment Programme (UNEP) Guidelines for Providing Product Sustainability Information, on making environmental claims that are clear, credible, and evidence based. Read more here. We align with the OECD (Organisation for Economic Co-operation and Development) recommendations on Protecting and Empowering Consumers and are acknowledged in the related report as having “trusted marks for sustainable forestry practices". Read more here. FSC / Jonathan Perugia Advancing global ambitions for credible communications FSC shares the global goal of ensuring that environmental claims and communications do not mislead consumers and lead to purchasing decisions that drive real environmental impact. We encourage credible communications that empower consumers to make impactful purchasing decisions, and we are here to support companies that are ready to commit to transparent marketing. Echoing the call from UN Secretary-General António Guterres—“We must have zero tolerance for net-zero greenwashing”—FSC reinforces its commitment to transparency, accountability, and consumer trust in sustainability markets. Tools and support from FSC Meeting global best practice for communicating credibly about sustainability work may seem daunting, but we are here to support. If you are an FSC certificate or licence holder, we have a platform just for you. Logo usage and promotional support Visit the FSC Brand Hub now for ready-made marketing materials and campaign assets you can use with confidence. FSC Brand Hub → FSC Canada / Monika Patel Additional resources Article: Our extensive article on greenwashing provides further background reading. Resource: FSC contributed to Good Practice: Ecolabels and Sustainable Public Procurement. Read it here. Webinar: Listen to our interview (in Spanish) at this webinar