BillerudKorsnäs’ annual and sustainability report 2018

The 25th PEFC General Assembly, the first one to ever be held virtually, has welcomed three new members. The General Assembly, our highest decision making body, voted Turkey, Bosnia and Herzegovina and UPM Kymmene Corporation into the alliance. “We look forward to joining PEFC to further strengthen our role in promoting sustainable forest management globally,” said Inka Musta, Senior Manager, Global Forest Affairs at UPM, our new international stakeholder member. The Association of Private Forest Owners “Naša Šuma” and the Association for Sustainable Forest Management, Forest Products and Services Certification (SOYDER) are the new national members for Bosnia and Herzegovina, and Turkey, respectively. They are our 54th and 55th national members!

SCA has become a co-owner of SE technology and the pilot facility developed and operated by SweTree Technologies. With SE technology, it is possible to quickly and efficiently produce more plants from the best seed material from forest breeding. SweTree Technologies is running a pilot project to develop automated plant production via Somatic Embryogenesis (SE) in collaboration with forestry companies Stora Enso, Sveaskog, Södra, and Holmen. Now, SCA has also joined the project as an SE company and become a co-owner of SE technology and the pilot facility developed and operated by SweTree Technologies. So far, the development has focused on spruce plants, but with SCA's involvement, SweTree has also started the development of SE technology for pine. This is being done jointly with all participating companies, parallel to the ongoing development for spruce.

You may be familiar with forest management certification, the voluntary process in which an indeendent, accredited third-party auditor conducts an onsite assessment of forestland to determine the quality of forest management against established standards such as those developed by the Sustainable Forestry Initiative® (SFI®), Forest Stewardship Council® (FSC®) and Programme for the Endorsement of Forest Certification™ (PEFC™). Perhaps less familiar, but far more prevalent, is fiber sourcing certification. Around 90% of all forestland globally is not certified. For North American paper manufacturers who do not own their own forestland, this means they need a way to document that the wood they buy from non-certified forests is sourced responsibly. Certifying their wood and fiber procurement operations to a sustainable sourcing standard provides strong, proven mechanisms that enable responsible sourcing. The American Forest and Paper Association reports that of the total wood fiber from forests used for products, its members procure more than 99% through a certified fiber sourcing program.