PEFC Introduces Traceability Certification for Individual Construction Projects

PEFC has introduced a revised Project Sourcing Certification standard that applies timber traceability to an individual building or infrastructure project. Published as PEFC ST 2102:2026, the framework adapts Chain of Custody requirements to projects involving many suppliers, contractors and material packages.

Traditional Chain of Custody certification is usually held by an organisation. Construction projects are different: responsibility is distributed across a temporary network, and products may arrive through dozens of procurement routes. Project certification creates a defined boundary in which the origin and certification status of forest- and tree-based materials can be documented.

The standard can be used for new construction, renovation and civil-engineering works. It replaces the earlier project-certification annex, with transition arrangements running to June 2028. PEFC also introduced models for multi-project, multi-site and group use, intended to make certification practical for organisations delivering repeated programmes.

What project-level certification records

A certified project must define responsibilities, identify relevant material flows and control claims from procurement through installation. Documentation can show the proportion of PEFC-certified material and distinguish other accepted or non-certified categories according to the standard.

This does not mean that every piece of timber automatically becomes certified because the building has a certificate. Supplier evidence, product claims and project records still matter. The value of the framework is that these records can be consolidated and audited at the scale clients and building owners understand: the completed project.

For public clients and developers with responsible-sourcing requirements, that can make procurement claims more transparent. It also reduces the gap between a sustainability specification written at design stage and the materials that finally reach site.

The software opportunity

Project certification creates a natural role for digital design and fabrication tools, although the standard does not prescribe a particular software implementation. Material attributes can be attached to real components: species, product, supplier, certificate reference, quantity and delivery batch.

When those objects generate schedules and cutting lists, traceability can move with the project instead of being reconstructed in a separate spreadsheet at handover. A change of supplier or product can then update both the physical model and the sourcing report.

The controls must remain honest. Missing evidence should be visible; unverified material should not silently inherit a certified status; and percentage calculations must use the correct project categories and quantities. Traceability is strongest when software fails closed rather than filling gaps with assumptions.

For FrameVerk, the opportunity is particularly direct. A canonical timber model already knows which pieces are required. Extending that information with verified sourcing fields could connect design, fabrication and certification while reducing duplicate data entry.

From a product claim to a building claim

PEFC ST 2102:2026 responds to the way construction is actually procured. A building is assembled from many products by many organisations, but clients increasingly want one clear, auditable statement about its timber.

Project Sourcing Certification does not replace structural, fire, quality or environmental assessment. It answers a narrower question: where the forest-based material came from and how the sourcing claim was controlled. That narrower answer can nevertheless become a valuable part of whole-project reporting.

Sources: PEFC, PEFC ST 2102:2026, “Project Sourcing – Requirements”; PEFC project-certification guidance and transition information, June 2026.