Why a new Certification
EverCover
EverCover is a trademark used for the certification and labeling of wood and wood products. Behind it stands the AEFC (Association of Ecological Forest Certification), whose task is to develop and maintain the entire system. The EverCover name appears on products and in communications, while AEFC is responsible for the principles, standards, and oversight of certification.
Why a new Certification?
- Biodiversity continues to decline even in countries where 98% of forests are certified under existing systems
- The scientific community does not consider any current certification system to be sustainable
- Valuable forests (High Conservation Value Forests, HCVF) are still being logged, yet they continue to receive certification
- In many countries, there are no restrictions on clear-cutting
Why haven’t current certifications worked so far?
- Clear-cutting with no size limits is widely permitted.
- Systems to protect HCV forests are very limited → part of these valuable forests are logged and still certified.
- Carbon considerations are still left unaddressed.
- The forest industry has effective veto power over changes: negotiated compromises repeatedly exceed nature’s limits.
Certification
The core of AEFC certification is a clear standard that defines the requirements for responsible forestry and wood production. The standard covers three main areas:
Forest management
Managing forests in an ecologically, socially, and economically sustainable way, in line with the principles of continuous cover forestry
Group certification
Enables multiple forest owners to join a group certificate, allowing administration and costs to be shared
Chain of Custody (CoC)
Ensures that products carrying the EverCover label can be traced through the supply chain and that companies comply with the principles of responsible production
Implementation of certifications and audits
The operating principle of AEFC certification is built around standards. In practice, the implementation is always the responsibility of the certificate holders — forest owners, group certifiers, and companies that commit to meeting the requirements of the standard. Independent auditing bodies assess and verify that these requirements are fulfilled in practice. In this way, the development of standards, their practical application, and compliance monitoring remain separate from one another, which guarantees the system’s independence and strengthens its credibility.
Audits are always carried out by auditors independent of AEFC. In practice, this means that each applicant for certification undergoes a thorough initial audit, in which forest management practices, group certification administration, or chain-of-custody management are evaluated against the requirements of the AEFC standard. Once approved, certified operators are audited annually to ensure that requirements continue to be met in day-to-day operations.
Audit reports and their contents are always the responsibility of the auditors. AEFC does not alter them or interfere with the conduct of audits. Instead, AEFC ensures the overall quality and functionality of the system by monitoring that audits meet international quality requirements (ISO 17065) and that auditors have the appropriate qualifications (training in AEFC standards as well as international auditing training according to ISO 19011).
Thus, AEFC certification combines the credibility of independent auditing with the system’s own quality assurance.