FSC’s position on Russia's war on Ukraine

Last updated in August 2023

FSC remains deeply concerned about Russia’s attack on Ukraine and stands in solidarity with all victims of this violence. With full commitment to FSC’s mission and standards, and after a thorough analysis, on 8 March 2022, the FSC International Board of Directors suspended all trading certificates in Russia and Belarus and blocked all controlled wood from the two countries. At the same time, FSC has modified its normative framework to continue operating in Ukraine except where there is ongoing armed conflict to keep safety of staff and field operators as a top priority.

Below you can find more details about decisions related to specific countries.

Russia

• Because of the association of the forest sector in Russia with armed invasion, no FSC-certified material or controlled wood from Russia will be permitted to be traded until the attack ends. Read the full statement here. 
• Because of increasing risk to security of the people involved in oversight activities in Russia, Assurance Services International (ASI) decided to terminate its FSC assurance activities in Russia. This led to the withdrawal of the remaining forest management certificates in Russia by the respective certification bodies. Read more
• Due to operational and staff concerns, FSC Russia and FSC International ended their partnership. Read more. 

“All our thoughts are with Ukraine and its people, and we share their hopes for a return to peace. We also express our sympathy with those people in Belarus and Russia who do not want this war,” said FSC Director General, Kim Carstensen.

‘We must act against aggression; at the same time, we must fulfil our mission of protecting forests. We believe that stopping all trade in FSC-certified and controlled materials, and at the same time maintaining the option of managing forests according to FSC standards, fulfils both these needs.” he added.

For more details and clarity on FSC’s decision, please read this FAQ.

For technical updates to clarify measures in FSC requirements, visit this page. 

Ukraine

FSC remains determined to continue to support Ukrainian certificate holders, and allows certification bodies – the independent auditors of FSC certificate holders – to continue their work in areas not affected by war. Their work is facilitated, for example through remote audits and extending the time between audits to over a year, if required.

At the same time, FSC must continue to protect the integrity of the FSC system. In the invaded regions of Ukraine, government legislation cannot be enforced, and it is not safe for the auditors to carry out their work. These factors dramatically increase the risks of forests not being managed according to FSC’s standards. Therefore as of 4 May 2022, FSC required the suspension of the relevant certificates.

For more information please read the full article here.

For technical updates, please click here.

Belarus

All certificates in Belarus were suspended as part of FSC International Board decision due to Belarus’ association of the forest sector with armed invasion.

Additionally, all certificates in Belarus were terminated as a result of a decision by Assurance Services International (ASI) to exclude the country from the scope of all certification bodies due to the inability to credibly assess conformance with certain FSC social requirements based on International Labour Organization (ILO).

Furthermore, FSC is currently unable to bring the various interests to the table to develop and promote FSC as all environmental NGOs have been liquidated. The operations in Belarus will be reinstated once FSC has sufficient evidence that the fundamental values for FSC are in place and functioning again.

FSC is still committed to Belarus, its forests and people. We continue to hold dialogue and promote responsible forest management principles, even if members are now based abroad.

For more information, please visit this link. 

Decision-making process

The decisions were taken after a thorough analysis of the potential impact of withdrawal of FSC certification. We wanted to take wise action that can ensure continued responsible forest management in these countries.

Before we announced action related to our operations in Belarus, Russia and Ukraine, we listened to civil society, companies and Russian, Belarusian and Ukranian FSC members who agreed that the war is contrary to the values that we stand for as FSC.

The decision was almost two weeks underway. This episode of Forest for the Future podcast dived into why it was such a difficult decision to make and what we expect the impact of it will be on both the people and forests; not only in the effected regions but also around the globe.  

In this video of 4 March 2022, FSC Director General Kim Carstensen explains why it took FSC extra time to grapple with this difficult decision.