"There is growing demand for PEFC certified products, both sawn timber and fiber-based products. Obtaining PEFC certification for the management of our forest holdings allows us to satisfy the demand from an increasing number of customers specifying PEFC," said Mats Sandgren, President of SCA Skog.

PEFC certification was conducted simultaneously with this year's FSC audit by SP Technical Research Institute of Sweden. The certification is valid for all SCA Skog's five forest districts.

PEFC's sustainable forest management criteria are large parts aligned with FSC's criteria. In some areas, however, they require greater commitment than before, SCA reported. SCA must, among other things, require contractors involved in harvesting, silviculture and planning to obtain PEFC contractor certification to continue to receive work assignments from SCA.

"We congratulate SCA for achieving PEFC certification and for raising the bar for its sustainable forest management activities even further," commented Ben Gunneberg, Secretary General of PEFC International.

PEFC, the Programme for the Endorsement of Forest Certification, is an international not-for-profit, non-governmental organization dedicated to promoting sustainable forest management through independent third party certification.

SCA Skog is responsible for forestry management of SCA's extensive forest holding and wood procurement to SCA's Swedish forest industry operations. SCA´s forest holding comprise 2.6 million hectares in northern Sweden, of which 2 million hectares is managed for timber production.

SCA Skog is part of SCA's Forest Products business area, which produces publication papers for newspapers, magazines and catalogues, as well as pulp, solid-wood products and renewable energy, in addition to offering cost-efficient transport solutions to SCA's units.