Heads up foresters, farmers, supply chain companies or those involved in manufacturing and processing! Earning the Preferred by Nature Certification will put you right on track to achieve your sustainability goals.
Jump to a specific section:
- Certification for forest & farm managers: Already certified against another scheme? Use PbN Certification to complement your existing certification. With our add-on certification options, the Preferred by Nature Certification audit can be combined with your existing audits to avoid duplication and ensure efficient certification process.
- Chain of Custody Certification
- Due Diligence System Certification
- Standards overview
Certification for forest & farm managers
We offer the Preferred by Nature Certification for both foresters and farmers. You have two options: (1) full certification against the Framework, or (2) Certification against the specific regulatory indicators, which also align with the EUDR.
You can also integrate the Preferred by Nature Certification as an add-on to other existing certificates you have, making your whole certification effort more efficient and cost-effective. This means you will not have to undergo duplicate audits for the same issues.
Add-on option for forestry
We have benchmarked the Sustainability Framework against the Forest Stewardship Council™ (FSC™) Forest Management (FM) and Chain of Custody (CoC) Standard. Forest managers holding an FSC certification and wishing to use Preferred by Nature Certification-related claims must comply with additional requirements for FSC-certified forest management operations, where applicable.
Get in touch with our team to discuss the specifics of eligibility. The add-on requirements can be checked during your regular FSC audit or, if preferred, checked earlier in a separate audit.
Learn more:
- For land managers - info sheet
- FSC FM benchmarking summary & add-on indicators
- FSC CoC benchmarking summary & add-on indicators
- FSC certification
Add-on option for agriculture
The Framework has also been benchmarked against the Rainforest Alliance 2020 Sustainable Agriculture Standard: Farm Requirements. Rainforest Alliance Sustainable Agriculture (RA SAS) Farm-certified companies can apply for an add-on certification within the Preferred by Nature Certification. The add-on requirements can be seamlessly integrated into your next scheduled audit, ensuring efficiency and minimal disruption.
Alternatively, if desired, a separate add-on audit can be conducted to expedite the certification process. Get in touch with our team to initiate the add-on certification process, and they will assist you in planning the next steps.
Learn more:
Chain of Custody Certification
Our Chain of Custody (CoC) Standard simplifies the management of product flows and ensures the accurate transfer of product claims and relevant information where necessary.
The Standard categorises materials into two types: (1) those with the Preferred by Nature Certification and (2) those evaluated against our requirements for EUDR. We offer two CoC models: segregated and mass balance, allowing companies to choose the one that suits their needs.
To facilitate conformance with the EUDR, we have included requirements in the Standard for the preservation of geolocation data along the supply chain. The claims we allow in the CoC Standard follow a straightforward and simple model, facilitating clear and effective communication about the product and the scope of the CoC certification.
This certification is applicable to all types of companies, from farm and forest managers to processing entities and retailers.
Learn more:
Due Diligence System Certification
Preferred by Nature has extensive experience in developing and auditing due diligence systems (DDS). Building on this experience, we have updated our Due Diligence and Supplier Management Standard to provide a clear and performance-based solution for our clients.
This Standard efficiently evaluates and recognises your due diligence and supplier management activities. These requirements align with the EUDR, making them an efficient tool to support companies in meeting regulatory obligations.
Learn more:
Standards overview
| SP-01 Sustainability Framework | |
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Contains the principles, criteria and indicators for sustainability. The Framework includes indicators for farm/forest certification, as well as indicators relevant for processing facilities. The Framework can be used in its generic form, or a commodity adapted form (we will develop commodity adaptations where needed). A subset of the Sustainability Framework is applicable to entities that hold CoC certification, such as processing, manufacturing and traders. The requirements focus on labour rights and health and safety in the value chain. |
| SP-02 System requirements | |
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Requirements for organisations seeking Preferred by Nature certification. The standard aims at providing requirements for handling systems to ensure consistent implementation of Preferred by Nature certification requirements. |
| SP-03 Supply chain management and due diligence requirements | |
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Contains requirements for entities seeking certification using a due diligence approach to securing low risk of violations of the Sustainability Framework (or regulatory) requirements in their product supply chains and at the source of the raw material. |
| SP-04 Seal-Use Policy | |
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Requirements for companies using the Preferred by Nature certified Seal. Also includes the requirements for climate compensation. |
| SP-05 Chain of Custody and Traceability Standard | |
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Generic CoC standard outlining the requirements for the models of CoC accepted under the Preferred by Nature Certification. |
| SP-09 Terms and definitions | |
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A key document containing expansion on the different terms and definitions used in the Preferred by Nature Certification program documents. |
| SP-13 EUDR indicators | |
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Subset of the SP-01 requirements, containing the indicators relevant to meeting deforestation and legality obligations of the EU Deforestation Regulation. These indicators are used to evaluate companies under the “Regulatory Scope”. |
