I recently had a conversation with Jeff Bi, Managing Director of Tralin Packaging (aka Tralin Pak) about the about the packaging marketplace and perceptions of certification overseas. Tralin Pak is based in China and is the third largest supplier of aseptic paper-based packaging in the world. He was surprisingly candid, and said that he had originally thought of certification as a cost his business would have to absorb. But it was his customers and their desire to be green that convinced him otherwise. He says he now sees certification as an investment. Not just in his business, but in the social and environmental well-being of the communities his company serves, as well as his country and the planet. To see the full conversation, watch the video below. And please let me know your thoughts on the matter. Certification: cost or investment?

It’s been incredible here at Fortune’s Brainstorm Green conference – and educational. Meeting and talking to so many concerned and influential folks interested in climate change, environmental practices and the business of sustainability has been really encouraging. I also appreciated the opportunity to participate in the panel called Traceability: How Well Do You Know Your Supply Chain? This took place on Tuesday and it was a fascinating discussion moderated by one of Fortune’s contributing editors, Marc Gunther. Other panelists included Jill Dumain of Patagonia and Michael Kowalski, CEO of Tiffany & Co. My video post below details the panel discussion a bit more.

Kathy Abusow, President & CEO at SFI

During the traceability panel we also heard from Arlin Wasserman, Vice President of Corporate Citizenship at Sodexo. Sodexo employs 350,000 people worldwide and serves some 50 million people a day in 85 different countries. They provide facilities management, energy management and food service to corporations, hospitals, schools and government buildings. Sodexo is in a unique position to influence environmental practices and they stressed the importance of transparency, traceability and certification. And Arlin has a unique perspective on it – as you can see in our interview with him below.

Arlin Wasserman, Vice President of Corporate Citizenship at Sodexo

We were also able to spend some time with Rich Lechner, Vice President of Energy and Environment at IBM. IBM has had a corporate sustainability agenda since 1971. You’ll find a few similarities between some of IBM’s best practices and the requirement we have for independent third party auditors (it has to do with management, measurement, monitoring and transparency through third party verification). In our conversation, we talked about how sustainability fits into IBM’s corporate and business objectives, how IBM supports sustainable forestry and lessons learned re: sustainability. The highlights of this conversation are in the video below

Rich Lechner, Vice President of Energy and Environment at IBM

I’ve been involved in the forest sector for 20 years and I can honestly say I don’t remember a time when the sector faced as many challenges as it does today. It seems every day I am hearing of more mill closures, consolidation, layoffs, etc. I’ve seen some tough times in the sector for sure, and yet I’m always impressed by the resiliency of the sector and its passion for our forests.

This commitment to the environment is evident in SFI’s record growth over the past year. We’ve averaged more than one certification per day, and today we have more than 1000 locations certified across North America and more than 700 organizations are involved in our program. From land owners and managers to wood procurement companies to lumber yards, furniture makers, printers and paper makers and packaging companies to governments and customers – we are witnessing a unprecedented commitment to responsible forest management. This at time, when as a sector, we are clearly hurting.

I can’t say for sure what 2009 will hold for the forest sector, no one can. I can say this though, our forests in North America and globally are still a priority, that sustainable forest management and sustainable communities are paramount. However, with only 10% of the world’s forests certified, the health and sustainability of forests and our communities depends on us working together not against one another. This is not the time to support a monopoly, we need choice in forest certification programs, it’s time for us to work together to ensure our forests are there for future generations, that our customers have choice and consumers have access to forest products from well-managed forests. Whether you’re a printer, a forest company, another certification program, an environmentalist or anyone that cares about the world’s forests, I invite you all to work together with us at SFI to address the challenges facing our forest sector and seize the opportunities to promote sustainable forest management globally.

You’ve probably heard me talk lots about the fact that only 10% of the world’s forests are certified. Today I want to talk about the other 90% — that’s not certified. There are lots of reasons for this, developing nations may lack the capacity, support and legal framework to implement credible, independent forest certification programs. But what about uncertified lands in developed countries, like right here in the United States?

In December I had the privilege of touring uncertified lands owned by private land owners in Georgia. Today there are more than 10 million small family-owned forests in the United States and they produce 60% of the fiber in forest products manufactured in the US. I got to see firsthand this week the commitment these family forest owners have to sustainable forest management. Joe Hopkins, one such forest land owner, showed me a forest that he had recently planted and he told me “I’m not planting these forests for me, I’m planting them for my children and their children. In fact, I will unlikely live to see this forest harvested, but I still care about it because it’s the right thing to do.” Joe represents four generations of family forest owners and he’s just one of thousands across North America who participates in the SFI program through our unique fiber sourcing program.

For many family forest owners in both the US and Canada, certification is not a cost effective option for them. They may make money off their forests or woodlot twice in their lifetime, yet there are annual costs associated with a certification audit. While landowners can’t always justify the cost of an audit, our fiber sourcing program ensures that a company buying the fiber from these landowners undergoes a third-party audit by an accredited certification body to ensure the fiber sourcing requirements associated with landowner outreach, best management practices and logger training were met. In fact, since 1995, more than 110,000 loggers have been trained across North America through the SFI program.

I was moved by the commitment these family forest owners, loggers, foresters and SFI program participants have towards managing forests responsibly, respecting the rights of privacy of land owners and working to ensure forests for future generations. I’m proud that the SFI program has this unique feature – it shows our commitment to sustainable forest management not just on certified lands but on all forest land. Keep up the good work Joe… and the millions of other family forest owners across North America!

I never associated “monopoly” with sustainable forestry standards. At least not until today when I read Craig Webb’s story in ProSales, “FSC Hikes a Fee, Goes After Competitors.” Webb reports that the Forest Stewardship Council’s General Assembly approved a policy motion directing FSC’s administrators to prohibit certifying bodies “from falsely promoting less rigorous competing standards as equivalent to the forest management and chain of custody standards of FSC.” It calls for a review of those certifying bodies’ promotional media when those groups come up for accreditation, and predicts that one result of this initiative will be “fewer certificates being issued for competing schemes.” Unlike other motions for the General Assembly, which often are initiated by global, European or Third World organizations, this one was proposed by Bill Hayward, president and CEO of Hayward Lumber, Monterrey, Calif., and chairman of the FSC’s U.S. arm.

Webb writes that “FSC dislikes this trend in part because it sees its standard as being better than the others.”

We all may feel that way about our standards. But if we are all truly dedicated to managing our forests sustainability, we would focus on the fact that only 10% of the world’s forests are certified. There is a lot of catching up to do. Why spend our time arguing over who the A+ student is? Why don’t we focus where we should – on the 90% that isn’t certified. Sure, I want SFI to continue its rapid growth, but I also want to see more certified land. Attempting to force everyone to use a single standard is a step backwards. The last thing our forests need is a “monopoly” certification standard. Monopolies serve no one’s interests: they drive up costs, limit improvements and reduce choice for customers and consumers. The increase in dual and triple certifications over the past year clearly indicates that the market place also supports this position.