Keep Me Posted (KMP) is a global advocacy campaign working for the right of every consumer to choose, free of charge, how they receive important information from their service providers – on paper or electronically. Overseen by Two Sides North America, the KMP North America campaign will focus on educating and challenging corporations that are removing consumer choice and charging fees for paper. KMP has continued to grow its partnerships with consumer groups in both the United States and Canada. Partners include a diverse set of advocacy groups including the Coalition for Paper Options, Consumer Action, Haven Neighborhood Services, Montana Organizing Project, National Consumers League, Public Interest Advocacy Centre, and The National Grange. The coalition will work to protect the consumer’s right to choose between paper and digital communications. Click read more below for additional detail.

An investigation by Two Sides has found over 40% of local councils to be using unsubstantiated and misleading environmental claims about printed communication. Following an increasing number of individual “Greenwash” cases involving local councils being reported to Two Sides, an investigation was undertaken to identify the scale of misleading claims made by local government. An analysis of a random sample of 100 local councils found 42 to be making unsubstantiated claims about printed communication being bad for the environment. Misleading statements are being used by many of the UK’s largest councils: •“The paperless billing system… is better for the environment and saves money on postage and paper.” Birmingham City Council (1,137,100 residents) •“E-Billing is the fast, efficient, environmentally friendly way to receive your bills.” Liverpool City Council (491,500 residents) •“E-bills are more environmentally friendly as there is no paper or printing. Cardiff Council (362,756 residents). Click read more below for additional detail.

Aragotruf is dedicated to the cultivation of truffles in all its stages – from the plant nursery where we prepare trees for producing the precious mushrooms, until the production, transformation and commercialisation of the black truffle and other truffle products. The family company is based in Graus in the Huesca province, one of the main truffle areas of Spain. From the beginning, we have been committed to the sustainability of the environment in which we grew up and live. Our work allows economic, social and environmental development that values the characteristics of our surroundings. Click read more below for additional detail.

SCA is for the first time reporting the company’s impact on the climate as part of its Annual Report, to be published on February 27. At a seminar in Stockholm, SCA reported the positive effect on the climate from forest growth and substitution, as well as the climate impact of its operations. The net effect is positive and is equivalent to the total of emissions from road freight and domestic air travel in Sweden. During a seminar at the Royal Swedish Academy of Agriculture and Forestry on Monday, February 25, SCA reported the climate effect of its operations for some 100 seminar participants, including people in the fields of research, policymaking, government agencies and media. Click read more below for additional detail.

Paper manufacturers encourage forest sustainability through their purchase and use of certified wood fiber and by promoting sustainable forest management policies and practices at home and around the globe. By providing a dependable market for responsibly grown fiber, the paper industry encourages landowners to manage their forestland instead of selling it for development or other non-forest uses.², ³ • Net forest area in the U.S. has been stable since the early 1900’s and has increased from 754 to 766 million acres between 2005 and 2015. Net volume of growing stock increased by over 10% between 2005 and 2015.4 Canada’s forest area of 857 million acres has been quite stable over the past 25 years.5 • Each year forests in the U.S. and Canada grow significantly more wood than is harvested. In the U.S., average net annual increase in growing-stock trees nationwide is about 26 billion ft³.6 In 2015, Canada harvested just over 5.6 billion ft3 of timber, well below the estimated sustainable wood supply level of 7.98 billion ft³.7 Click read more below for additional detail.

Consumers and public and CoC Video 2private organizations are increasingly requesting forest products from sustainably managed forests. But how can they be sure about the origin of the products they buy? The answer is PEFC Chain of Custody certification. PEFC forest certification demonstrates that forests are sustainably managed. But there are many steps of processing before a product reaches consumers. Click read more below for additional detail.

The forest industry is currently mobilizing for a unique project to promote a more low-impact approach to forestry. Komatsu Forest, SCA and the entire forest industry will collaborate to investigate the possibility of developing a low-impact machine, the benefits of which would include less driving damage in the forest. The project involves developing a new generation of forestry machines for more sustainable and low-impact forestry. The idea is to develop a machine that, with low ground pressure, causes less driving damage in the forest and improved driver comfort, at the same time as productivity can increase and there is a more even flow of timber for industry over the year. The participants in the project are: SCA, Holmen, Sveaskog, Norra Skogsägarna, Södra, Mellanskog, Norrskog, Bergvik, Stora Enso, Billerud Korsnäs and Komatsu Forest. Click read more below for additional detail.

UPM supports the academy program of Plant-for-the-Planet, a charitable foundation that wants to contribute to climate protection. The foundation plants trees and organises children academies to promote sustainable thinking and environmental awareness. "In the academies children educate each other as amabssadors for climate justice. They learn concretely how the climate crisis threatens their future and the lives of people worldwide and develop their own actions for their future in groups. Furthermore, they also practice their presentation skills as a core competence for school and everyday life," explains Lisa Kohn, Public Relations, Plant-for-the-Planet. Click read more below for additional detail.

American Forest & Paper Association President and CEO Donna Harman thanked Congress for reaffirming that federal regulatory policy should reflect the carbon neutrality of forest-based renewable biomass. Fiscal Year 2019 appropriations legislation, which passed the House and Senate, contains legislative language to that effect. “We thank our bipartisan Congressional champions for advancing a measure that recognizes long-standing scientific principles and appropriately reflects the paper and wood products industry’s use of carbon neutral biomass for energy production. We are one of the largest manufacturing sectors in the nation and deserve clear public policy that supports our ability to grow the economy, create American manufacturing jobs and stay in step with global competition. We look forward to working with the Environmental Protection Agency, the Department of Energy and the United States Department of Agriculture to fully implement this Congressional directive.”

Pratt is America’s 5th largest corrugated packaging company and the world’s largest, privately-held 100% recycled paper and packaging company, with more than 8000 highly-skilled, green-collar employees dedicated to the environment and sustainability. We have a commitment to creating quality green jobs and engaging in the communities where we live and work. Our #1 focus is customer satisfaction. We specialize in building long and profitable partnerships, and we recognize that in order to make our customers happy, our employees and the communities we serve must be happy too. We are pleased to make available our summary of labor practices and accomplishments which we carry into 2019 and beyond! Paramount to our operations is the safety of our workforce. Pratt’s ongoing commitment in this arena includes investment in the most advanced and innovative technology available, coupled with on-going training and preparedness of our employees. Click read more below for additional detail.

Metsä Group is establishing a new demonstration site, called Nemus Futurum, to showcase sustainable forest and nature management in Finland in a way that provides visitors with a unique experience. The guided experience, taking place in the forests surrounding Kirkniemi Manor, combines nature, science and cutting-edge technology. At Nemus Futurum, visitors are given extensive information on best practices in managing different kinds of forests. Relying partly on augmented reality technology, the different forest environments are linked to globally topical sustainability themes, from climate change to biodiversity. Click read more below for additional detail.

The Home Depot® has been highlighted as a global leader on corporate climate action and continues to pursue its sustainability goals with new renewable energy initiatives in 2019. CDP, an environmental impact non-profit, has named The Home Depot to its Climate Change "A" List for its actions to cut carbon emissions and mitigate climate risks. Every year, thousands of companies disclose data about their environmental impacts to CDP for independent assessment and receive scores of A to D- for how effectively they are tackling climate change. Click read more below for additional detail.

Sealed Air Corporation announced they have joined the Alliance to End Plastic Waste, a new global organization comprised of nearly 30 companies to date making a five-year commitment to invest $1.5 billion in solutions to help eliminate plastic waste in the environment. “The Alliance brings together key members across the value chain, from materials suppliers to waste management companies, to jointly develop solutions that minimize and manage plastic waste, as well as promote means to use waste plastics in a circular economy,” said Ted Doheny, Sealed Air President and CEO. “Our increased investments in innovation, including collaborations with partners such as the Alliance, will help us accelerate progress toward our 2025 sustainability goals.” Click read more below for additional detail.

The Finnish Parliament has yesterday 6 February 2019 approved a law that sets a gradually increasing 30% biofuels target for 2030. Furthermore, the law sets a world-leading advanced biofuels target of 10% in 2030. UPM welcomes the Finnish government's ambition to take transport decarbonisation seriously: "UPM is a leading producer of advanced biofuels as defined by the EU Renewable Energy Directive, and we consider this move by Finland as a bold step forward in setting concrete measures for transport decarbonisation," says Sari Mannonen, Vice President, UPM Biofuels. UPM produces wood-based UPM BioVerno renewable diesel at the Lappeenranta Biorefinery in Finland. Click read more below for additional detail.

The state of the province’s forestry sector is grim unless the McNeil government provides a short extension for the completion of Northern Pulp’s Wastewater Treatment Project. “We are ready and willing to see this project through,” said Kathy Cloutier, Director of Corporate Communications for Paper Excellence Canada. “Without a short extension, thousands of jobs throughout the province are at risk.” “We just need a little bit more time.” The proposed plan would mean untreated wastewater will no longer leave the Northern Pulp site prior to being treated and released into the Northumberland Strait. Click read more below for additional detail.

Forestry is to become more digital so the forest can be utilized in a more efficient and sustainable manner. This is SCA’s position and other players in the forest industry who are now launching the joint research program Mistra Digital Forest. Accessibility to major digital information flows is rapidly increasing and is creating new opportunities. By linking together the information flows, the forest industry can improve the efficiency and the added value of the forest at the same time as contributing to greater sustainability through more considerate forest operations. The Mistra Digital Forest research program will therefore focus on the digitalization of the entire forest value chain. “We consider this a very exciting and interesting project that is looking to the future. We can now become even more efficient in the way we use the forest and contribute to a more sustainable society,” says Magnus Bergman, head of technology and operational development at SCA, and continues: “We already work with many digital solutions, but this project offers the potential to form a closer link between the requirements of our sawmills and our method of calculating the optimal way of using the timber. The digital information gives us more opportunity to simplify work processes and provides better support to our machine operators. Click read more below for additional detail.

The chemical industry is faced with enormous challenges in meeting the climate goals set by the European Commission and growing sustainability expectations. Firstly, fossil energy must be further reduced. Secondly, product sustainability must be improved, both during the product’s use and at the end of its lifespan. Last but not least, resource efficiency must be improved, raw material consumption decreased, and ecologically harmful loss pathways must be minimised through the advancement of a stringent circular economy. However, something inextricably linked with the above challenges is oftentimes ignored: The chemical industry can only become a sustainable sector once it bids farewell for good to fossil raw materials such as crude oil, natural gas and coal, and uses nothing but renewable carbon as a raw material in organic chemistry. Click read more below for additional detail.

Metsä Board Corporation has been recognised by CDP for its leadership in developing supplier engagement to tackle climate change and manage carbon emissions. CDP, a non-profit global environmental disclosure platform, has awarded Metsä Board a coveted position on its third annual Supplier Engagement Rating leader board. The leader board comprises of companies from around the world that have been specifically identified as leaders in their efforts and actions to manage carbon emissions and address climate-related issues across their supply chains in the past CDP-reporting year. This recognition further builds upon Metsä Board’s recent achievement of being placed on the 2018 CDP A list for both climate change and water security. Metsä Board also scored A- in the CDP’s Forest programme. Click read more below for additional detail.

Several brands including Procter and Gamble Company, Unilever, Coca-Cola and PepsiCo recently announced their plan to participate in TerraCycle’s Loop Program that develops circular solutions for hard-to-recycle products and packaging. These companies have all agreed to distribute more products in reusable packaging in place of their current one-time-use, disposable packaging. The goal of Loop is to “provide materials to a company that can be used as a sustainable alternative to virgin materials; using less crude oil and instead utilizing a material that would normally be sent to landfill.” Read more about this innovative program at TerraCycle.com and find out more about how you can participate as a consumer at LoopStore.com. Click read more below for additional detail.

We are pleased to announce that the Sustainable Forestry Initiative (SFI) and the American Forest Foundation (AFF) have formed a new partnership to grow the amount of certified family and other small holdings in North America. Through this partnership, SFI and AFF are working together on a Small Lands Group Certification Module (Module), an innovative way to grow certified family lands and small holdings by building on the foundation of SFI's Fiber Sourcing Standard, and drawing on the strengths of the American Tree Farm System (ATFS) forest management standard. Under this Small Lands Module, companies certified to the SFI Fiber Sourcing Standard will be able to form a new type of certification group to certify small lands within their wood and fiber supply area. Click read more below for additional detail.

The investments of recent years have had a positive effect on both the levels of energy use and CO2 emissions at the Laakirchen paper mill. This improvement is demonstrated clearly by the Paper and Carbon Profiles, which represent the established method within the industry of showing environmental impact and provide an overview of the relevant parameters. Moreover, Laakirchen Papier AG voluntarily commissioned Quality Austria to undertake an examination of these calculations. During 2017, Laakirchen Papier completed a variety of reconstruction and extension measures, in the course of which the raw material used was switched from primary to secondary fibres. This change has contributed greatly to a reduction in the electricity requirement and CO2 emissions during the production of SC paper (product name “Grapho”) to levels that are considerably lower than those prior to the reconstruction and expansion work. Click read more below for additional detail.

Between 2005 and 2015, U.S. forests grew by the equivalent of 2,740 NFL football fields each day. That’s a total of almost 1.3 million acres a year! In the U.S., we grow many more trees than we harvest. In fact, there are 20% more trees today than there were on the first Earth Day Celebration in 1970. Yet, our nation consumes more paper products than many parts of the world. How can this be? It turns out that consumption of paper and other wood products, along with sustainable forest management, is essential to maintaining this growth. Click read more below for additional detail.