CERTIFICATION – DEFINITIONS Certification schemes for FERCs set a range of social and environmental standards with which production of these commodities should comply. These standards usually comprise a set of principles and criteria (with the principles setting out the broad elements of the standard and the criteria defining what is required for each element), together with verifiable indicators of compliance with the criteria. An area, product, farm, manufacturer or processor (eg mill) is certified by a particular certification scheme when it is assessed as meeting the standards set by that scheme. Whereas certification relates to a particular management area or processing facility, membership is what allows an organisation to participate in governance of the scheme. In some schemes (eg the FSC), a company can be a certificate holder but does not need to be a member.1 For other schemes, like the RSPO, membership is a prerequisite for certification.2 Participation in almost all certification schemes is voluntary, although in some cases the schemes serve to enable companies to comply with legal requirements – for example, compliance with the European Union’s Renewable Energy Directive (EU RED) sustainability criteria is ensured by certification schemes such as 1
See FSC, Home [Website], and FSC, Members [Website].
2 RSPO, RSPO certification [Website]
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Certification - definitions
the International Sustainability and Carbon Certification (ISCC) and REDCert.3 Certification is often used by companies that produce or trade FERCs – or manufacture or sell products containing them – to reassure customers that they or their suppliers have taken steps to minimise the negative environmental and/or social impacts linked to the production of the commodities concerned, and that their products can therefore be considered ‘sustainable’.4 Yet no certification scheme can make a claim that its certified products are truly sustainable, as what is actually sustainable in relation to forests, land and agriculture is not known.5 Certification labelling is a ‘promise’ or claim that a product meets the criteria set out by a certification scheme, and is mostly done at the consumer goods manufacturers’ end.6 Typically incorporated into a product’s packaging, labelling 3 European Commission, Voluntary schemes [Website] 4 For example, Unilever defines ‘sustainable sourcing’ of palm oil as purchasing only from certified sustainable sources. See Unilever (2020) p.3. 5 ISO 14021 on self-declared environmental claims says ‘The concepts involved in sustainability are highly complex and still under study. At this time there are no definitive methods for measuring sustainability or confirming its accomplishment. Therefore, no claim of achieving sustainability can be made.’ See ISO (2016) Clause 5.5, p.5. 6 Liu, P. (2010)
