Stora Enso launches Beyond Board services to support customers on packaging sustainability 

The Regional State Administrative Agency has granted the environmental permit for Finnpulp's bioproduct plant, which is to be built in Sorsasalo, Kuopio, and the wastewater treatment facility connected to the plant. The environmental permit defines the terms for the pulp plant's operation in the production phase, as well as for pipeline installation work and changes made to the shore line during the construction phase. Production is planned to start in 2020, and the plant's annual production capacity will be 1.2 million tons of softwood pulp. Additionally, the plant will produce other bioproducts, including 60,000 tons of tall oil and 1.5 TWh of bioelectricity per year. 1 TWh of the electricity will be fed into the national grid.

SCA is setting aside trial sites in the Sörgraninge conservation park for continuous cover forestry (CCF). The trial sites are part of a collaboration between SCA and the Swedish Forest Agency and will be used for training and follow-up to provide more knowledge of CCF methods. Continuous cover forestry is a method of harvesting that seeks to avoid clearfelling. SCA applies continuous cover forestry (CCF) methods on some of its forest land where there are special reasons for not carrying out regular harvesting operations. One example is sites that require alternative interventions in order to preserve environmental or cultural heritage values, or to promote recreation and reindeer husbandry. CCF methods includes group selection, where groups of trees are harvested to create gaps for new forest stands, or making shelters of trees where larger trees are retained to promote regeneration.

Two Sides has been busy this year, working on behalf of our members to eliminate anti-paper greenwashing claims, to help educate industry stakeholders on hot environmental topics and to conduct research on consumer attitudes toward our industry and its products. To give you a view of what we’ve been up to, here are some of the highlights. Through 3Q24, Two Sides’ Anti-greenwashing Campaign has persuaded 24 more corporations and other organizations to eliminate anti-paper greenwashing claims, which translates to 100 million more consumers who are no longer seeing misleading environmental claims about paper products from their service providers. We are in conversation with several other large companies right now, and continue to pursue claims as we find them. It’s important to note that Two Sides is the only industry organization that directly challenges the senior leadership of major corporations, government entities, educational institutions and other organizations to remove unsubstantiated and misleading environmental claims about paper products.