5. Forestry requirements 2015

Treelist 2015

Wood is a key resource for sustainable development. The forest provides many ecosystem services and is also very important in relation to global climate change. Nordic Ecolabelling, therefor sets stringent requirements regarding forestry to ensure that the timber comes from sustainably managed forests:

  • A minimum of 70% by weight of all wood raw material must origin from forest managed according to sustainable forestry management principles that meet the requirements set out by FSC or PEFC chain of custody schemes and/or originate from recycled material.
  • Remaining wood raw material must be either controlled wood (FSC) or come from controlled sources (PEFC).
  • Nordic Ecolabelling always requires the licensee to comply with current regulations and legislation. This means that the licensee may not manufacture Nordic Swan Ecolabelled products containing wood from illegal logging.
  • Apart from the forestry requirement, Nordic Ecolabelling follows ISO 14024 and sets strict requirement based on a lifecycle perspective, including environmental performance, quality, health aspects and performance/functionality.

Traceability Certification

The traceability in the production chain must be documented with a valid FSC/PEFC Chain of Custody certificate, either from the producer of the Nordic Swan Ecolabelled products or from the supplier, depending on the product group. The two schemes together cover 98 per cent of the world’s total certified sustainable managed forest area. Nordic Ecolabelling recognizes the most recent versions of the traceability standards (FSC:2017/PEFC:2020) as satisfactory guarantee that the certified wood fully meets the requirements of the EU Timber Regulation (995/2010/EC), prohibiting marketing and sales of illegal timber in the EU.

Prohibited tree species in Nordic Swan Ecolabelled products

A number of tree species are not permitted for use in Nordic Swan Ecolabelled products. The list of prohibited species contains endangered species or species which originate from High Conservation Values Forests and areas with widespread corruption. 

Download the complete list of prohibited tree species (xlsx sheet).

Criteria for tree species found in the list are wood originating from:

  • IUCN red list, categorized as critically endangered (CR), endangered (EN), vulnerable (VU) and relevant species as Near Threatened (NT).
  • Tree species list CITES Appendices I, II and III.
  • Non-sustainable forestry, such as tree from HCVF, IFL -areas in countries/regions with high corruption.

Listed tree species are indicated by the scientific name and the most common trade names, which is not always adequate, as there may be more than one scientific name/trade name for the listed tree species than the list indicates. From a precautionary approach, closely related or similar tree species are included in the list.

The list is only based on wood species which have the potential to be included in Nordic Swan Ecolabelled products.

Declaration form for applications: 

Declaration of tree species not permitted to be used in Ecolabelled products.