Empowering EUDR compliance and innovation with new partnerships

The final public consultation for the Version 2 standard revision process closed on May 31, 2022. During the consultation 43 responses were received, representing 75 respondents. By chamber, 28 Economic Chamber responses were received (representing 31 respondents), 10 Environmental Chamber responses were received (representing 39 respondents), 3 Social Chamber responses were received (representing 3 respondents) and 2 responses were received where chamber alignment could not be determined. The greatest number of comments were received about Principle 2 (Forest Workers’ Rights & Wellbeing) and Principle 6 (Impacts on Environmental Values). For Principle 2, topics with the most comments focused on worker wages and addressing expectations regarding fair compensation for injury or property damage. For Principle 6, topics with the most comments were Representative Sample Areas, Conservation Area Networks and expectations regarding justifying deviations from regional requirements for opening sizes.

UPM has joined the Renewable Carbon Initiative (RCI) which was founded in September 2020 by twelve leading companies in the chemical industry. The aim of the initiative is to support and speed up the transition from fossil carbon to renewable carbon for all organic chemicals and materials. “This is about a fundamental change in the chemical industry. Just as the energy industry is converting to renewable sources, renewable carbon will become the new foundation of chemical and material industries in the future. We want to accelerate the change,” says Michael Carus, CEO of nova-Institute in Germany and the head of the Renewable Carbon Initiative. The Renewable Carbon Initiative addresses the core problem of climate change, which is largely related to extracting and using additional fossil carbon from the ground.

In the beginning of 2020 UPM committed to the United Nations Global Compact’s Business Ambition for 1.5°C, promising to pursue science-based measures to limit the global temperature rise to 1.5°C. “Investors, customers, the society at large – even school children – ask about companies’ sustainability actions,” says Sami Lundgren, Vice President, Responsibility at UPM. “It is important for us to do our part. I believe our employees are very proud that we have signed this commitment.” UPM will meet this commitment by novel uses of their products, reducing CO2 emissions and by practicing climate positive forestry. Cick read more below for the rest of the article