Explaining different approaches to voluntary standards: A study of forest certification choices in Norway and Sweden

Abstract

This paper explores divergent approaches to forest certification in Sweden and Norway. While the NGO-supported Forest Stewardship Council (FSC) has five times the endorsement in Sweden than the industry-dominated Programme for the Endorsement of Forest Certification schemes (PEFC), virtually all commercially productive forests in Norway are certified by the PEFC-endorsed Living Forests scheme. The PEFC scheme leaves forest companies with less stringent sustainable forest management standards than the FSC, and greater leeway to apply those standards. Three explanations for the divergent approaches to forest certification are explored: public policy and government support; advocacy-group and market pressures; and industry structure. It is found that although the government in both countries facilitated and legitimized certification processes, environmental group activism and supply chain pressure were more important for certification initiatives. A group of large Swedish forest companies responded to market and advocacy group pressures by choosing the widely recognized FSC scheme. Non-industrial forest owners in both Norway and Sweden rejected this scheme due to narrower market and public exposure and their belief that environmental, social and forest company interests dominate the FSC decision-making process. While showing that states influence non-state governance projects, these findings challenge traditional conceptions of political spaces constituted by sovereignty.