PEFC Group Certification Could Give NZ Growers a New Path to Market
Members would share audits and systems under a single certificate planned for 2028, with the certification body checking a sample rather than every forest.
Grant Dodson, chief executive of City Forests and chair of the Southern Wood Council, with Richard Laity in a Douglas fir stand planted circa 1924, City Forests estate, Dunedin. (Photo Credit: Supplied to Wood Central / Central PR by PEFC International)
Smaller forest owners and mills in New Zealand could reach the overseas buyers asking for PEFC certified wood by joining a group certificate, sharing the cost and work that keep many of them out of certification today. That is according to a new discussion paper prepared by PEFC New Zealand with PEFC International, which proposes a national PEFC group built around AS/NZS 4708 and is open for feedback from forest owners and mills until the end of November.
“A certificate is independent evidence that a forest is managed to a standard,” said Richard Laity, PEFC International’s South Pacific programme manager, who represents PEFC New Zealand and sits on the paper’s project team. He said “the job now is to make that evidence affordable for every grower in New Zealand, not only the largest”, adding that PEFC New Zealand is growing and stakeholders have identified the need to rethink certification for the country.
Under the proposal, members would share one management system, internal audits, and due diligence, with the certification body auditing a risk-based sample of members each year rather than every forest. The paper states that for any estate a group certificate “might be a fraction of the cost and complexity of an individual certificate”, with entry based on risk and fees to be set with industry.
It comes as mills in Japan, Indonesia, and China enquire about PEFC certified wood from New Zealand, with bioenergy buyers in Japan also asking for it. Laity said certification could help exporters make the most of New Zealand’s free trade agreement with India as rules such as the European Union Deforestation Regulation (EUDR) keep developing.
“Nothing is designed yet, and we want forest owners, mills and processors to help shape it before the working group sits down next year,” said Mark Ross, who chairs PEFC New Zealand and is chief executive of the Wood Processors and Manufacturers Association (WPMA). Ross said the paper starts that conversation, with PEFC New Zealand, formerly the New Zealand Forest Certification Association, revitalised under his chairmanship earlier this year.
Mark Ross and Richard Laity at the PEFC certified Pan Pac pulp mill, which has a long history with group certification and is developing PEFC for its supply chains. (Photo Credit: Supplied to Wood Central / Central PR by PEFC International)
At present, New Zealand relies mainly on one certification system, with two-thirds of its planted forest estate certified almost entirely under it, whilst PEFC covers 620,000 hectares. Meanwhile, the revised AS/NZS 4708, written by a standards group that is half New Zealanders, is due out next February and will widen group certification to medium and larger forests.
“Some industry professionals when mentioning PEFC weren’t aware or simply had no prior exposure to know that PEFC was acceptable,” said Ryan Stowers, architectural specification manager at bbi Wood Products. He said “having PEFC in the room changes that, and the moment a specifier or project manager understands there is more than one certified sustainable option, we can then start having a conversation on a wider range of sustainably sourced timber”.
The PEFC New Zealand stand at WoodWorks 2026, with Mark Ross, chair of PEFC New Zealand and chief executive of the Wood Processors and Manufacturers Association. (Photo Credit: Supplied by Wood Central / Central PR Group to PEFC International)
Support has also come from the south, with Grant Dodson, chair of the Southern Wood Council and chief executive of City Forests, showing PEFC International around the City Forests estate during the New Zealand Institute of Forestry (NZIF) conference in Dunedin in August. Dodson said the council was “pleased to host PEFC International in the south during NZIF”, and that “the conversation about making certification work for growers of every size is one the Southern Wood Council is glad to be part of”.
PEFC New Zealand’s committee will decide in December whether to form a working group to choose who holds the certificate, with forest owners asked to back it as founding members ahead of a group certificate planned for 2028. Before then, Ross, Laity, and John Schrider, a forestry consultant registered with the NZIF, will present the proposal at a webinar on 24 November, online and at the Forest Centre in Wellington.
Those who register can request the discussion paper and give feedback before consultation closes at the end of the month.
Editor’s note: This article is based on material supplied to Wood Central by PEFC New Zealand. To register for the webinar and request the discussion paper on group certification in New Zealand, visit the PEFC New Zealand webinar registration page, or send feedback to info@pefc.org.nz.
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