PHONY ‘GREEN’ CERTIFICATION LABEL MISLEADS CONSUMERS, CHEATS TAXPAYERS

SAN FRANCISCO - Today ForestEthics joined the growing fight against 'greenwashing' by reporting the "Sustainable Forestry Initiative" (SFI) to the U.S. Federal Trade Commission (FTC) and Internal Revenue Service (IRS). These actions are part of a broader ForestEthics campaign to show that SFI misleads consumers with deceptive 'green' marketing and cheats taxpayers by operating as a nonprofit entity that pays no taxes.

You can download the IRS complaint .pdf here and download the FTC complaint .pdf here.

"SFI is spending millions to market wood and paper products sourced from destructive logging operations as 'green'," said Aaron Sanger of ForestEthics. "But the type of logging that they call 'green' destroys houses, roads, and watersheds while irrevocably injuring vibrant forested ecosystems."

"Meanwhile, environmentally controversial companies like Sierra Pacific Industries and Weyerhaeuser are taking tax deductions for their monetary contributions to SFI."

In its FTC complaint, ForestEthics describes how SFI, funded and managed primarily by large logging companies, gives its seal of approval to the logging practices of these same companies that harm people and wildlife, damage water resources and destroy forests.

The report submitted to the IRS focuses on SFI's funding and activities that serve the private interests of wood and paper companies that want a 'green' image. This is not a proper purpose for an organization with the same nonprofit status that the IRS gives to public charities.

"People are more concerned than ever about the damage inflicted on our atmosphere, forests, oceans, rivers and communities by reckless corporate behavior," said Daniel Hall of ForestEthics. "Greenwashers such as SFI enable the offending companies to profit from these concerns, while continuing to wreak the very environmental harm that consumers wish to avoid."

SFI today gives its seal of approval or 'certification' to more than 160 million acres of logging in forests across North America. To receive this certification, a logging company must pay for an SFI assessment of its operations and an outside auditor to check the company's compliance with SFI standards. But the standards are full of loopholes, and the assessment and audit processes are largely confidential. This means a logging company rarely needs to make changes in its business-as-usual operations to acquire SFI certification.

The ForestEthics campaign against SFI will include a wide variety of tools, including pressure on companies to sever their links to SFI, protests against wood and paper products that bear the SFI label and public communications to educate consumers and companies about SFI's greenwashing.

You can download the IRS complaint .pdf here and download the FTC complaint .pdf here.