ForestEthics, a grassroots environmental organization, has filed a complaint with the Federal Trade Commission (FTC) requesting it investigate the Sustainable Forestry Initiative's (SFI) claim to be a certifier of sustainably grown and harvested forest products.
In a recent press release, ForestEthics said, "The complaint argues that SFI's claim that it is an independent, non-profit public charity is deceptive and misleading because SFI is substantially governed and financed by the timber industry and because its vague and ambiguous forestry standards are developed and approved by timber industry personnel in a closed process."
ForestEthics filed similar complaints with the IRS and FTC in 2009, neither of which took any action. However, since then 24 companies have moved away from SFI, according to ForestEthics. The FTC's recently revised Green Guides inspired the new filing, supported by a petition that received more than 8,000 signatures demanding the FTC take action.
"We feel that the complaint has no merit, and it's a rehash of a similar filing they made in 2009 where the FTC took no enforcement action," Monique Hanis, chief operating officer and vice president for communications at the Sustainable Forestry Initiative, told The Florida Current.
