Trust, legitimacy and power in forest certification: A case study of the FSC in British Columbia

► Trust and distrust in certifiers shapes certification standards and outcomes. ► Perception of value salience is key to trust in certifiers. ► Rationalistic accreditation systems fuel value-based distrust. ► Distrust of certifiers drives prescriptive standards and a spiral of surveillance and control. ► Trust is better viewed as a prerequisite to certification than an outcome of global, rationalistic control.