UPM regards forest certification as being an excellent tool for promoting sustainable forestry. Currently, only about 10% of the world's forests are certified.
UPM promotes all credible forest certification schemes, including the two major international schemes, PEFC and FSC.
All of UPM's forests are certified:
• In Finland to PEFC and partly to FSC
• In the US to PEFC under the Sustainable Forestry Initiative (SFI),
• In the UK to PEFC and FSC under the UK Wood Assurance Scheme (UKWAS),
• In Uruguay to both FSC and PEFC
The majority of the privately owned forests under UPM management are certified to PEFC in Finland, to FSC in the UK and to FSC in Uruguay.
Forest certification covers the three following elements:
1. Forest management certification
Independent third party verification of the quality of forest management in relation to the criteria of a sustainable forest management standard.
2. Chain of custody certification
Independent third party verification of the quality of the chain of custody/origin of wood tracing system used to monitor and report volumes of certified wood, in relation to the criteria of a chain of custody standard.
The chain of custody verifies that the wood originates from certified forests.
3. Logo use
A tool to communicate the sustainability and certification status of timber, paper and wood-based products to customers.