Verified Impact
Verified Nature and Climate Data from Canadian Forests
Verified Impact is a solution to capture high-quality nature and climate data from FSC-certified forests. It allows forest managers and businesses to partner in creating thriving forests that conserve Canada’s unique biodiversity, store carbon and contribute to healthy ecosystems.
How Verified Impact Works
Verified Impact is a solution to capture high-quality nature and climate data from FSC-certified forests. It aims to help businesses access and disclose high-integrity forest data which allows them to showcase their business impact on forest health, while helping forest managers prove their positive impact from forests’ ecosystem services and obtain additional income for their efforts.
At the core of the Verified Impact approach is the Ecosystem Services Procedure [FSC-PRO-30-006 V2-0] (“ES PRO”). The ES PRO allows forest managers to demonstrate and quantify the positive impacts of responsible forest management practices, generating verified ecosystem services impacts. It can be used to demonstrate positive impacts on seven types of forest ecosystem services:
- Biodiversity conservation
- Carbon sequestration and storage
- Water services
- Soil conservation
- Recreational services
- Cultural practices and values; and
- Air quality
FSC-certified forest managers already lead the industry in conservation and identification of areas with high ecological value. At the same time, growing regulations and frameworks such as CSRD (Corporate Sustainability Reporting Directive), GRI (Global Reporting Initiative), and CDP (Carbon Disclosure Project) and the Competition Act are placing greater demands on companies to comply with rigorous sustainability reporting and disclosure frameworks.
Recognizing this, Verified Impact allows forest managers to quantify the value of their responsible management practices with high-integrity data and connects them with businesses interested in supporting these efforts. Through this partnership, both forest managers cand businesses can tell a compelling and evidence-based story about contributing to positive impacts through nature-based solutions.
Verified Impact for Forest Managers
Find out more about Verified Impact for forest managers.
Verified Impact for Business
Find out more about Verified Impact for businesses.
Pilot Projects
Verified Impact aligns with an exciting ECCC-funded project looking at carbon and fire management in FSC-certified forests, with a goal of understanding how forestry management practices, including Traditional Ecological Knowledge, can contribute to forests that are more resilient to climate change.
Several pilot projects have commenced in 2024, with more planned for 2025-6. FSC Canada is actively seeking forest management companies, communities and Indigenous groups who may be interested in participating in carbon and fire management pilots. This is a unique opportunity to contribute to FSC standard development and advance forestry management practices. Funding is available to select participants.
Learn More and Get Involved
For questions about Verified Impact in Canada, or to find out more about getting involved in a carbon or fire management pilot program, contact Amy Willox: amy.willox@ca.fsc.org.