Imperial Communications Joins Two Sides

The Bio Era Tour, introducing bioeconomy and its possibilities and innovations, is launched today on the International Environment Day in Helsinki, Finland. In the core of the tour is the Bio Era Truck exhibition, where visitors can learn of the latest innovations made of renewable raw materials in an interactive manner and get to innovate also themselves. UPM is a partner in the tour as part of its Biofore Share and Care programme where one focus area is boosting bioinnovations. As the project partner UPM wants to highlight the industry's new innovations, versatile operations in the circular economy and meet young people around Finland. UPM's expertise in renewable and recyclable materials, low-emission energy and resource efficiency is the key to developing new, sustainable businesses. Click Read More below for additional detail.

Stakeholders globally are invited to nominate candidates to participate in the revision of some of the core standards of PEFC, the world's largest forest certification system. The standards include PEFC's global requirements for sustainable forest management, forest certification procedures, standard setting procedures at national level, and the PEFC assessment and endorsement process of national/regional forest certification systems. The nomination deadline is 22 February 2016. "We review our standards every five years to ensure that they incorporate latest knowledge, best practices, and evolving stakeholder expectations," explained Ben Gunneberg, CEO of PEFC International. "This process is of fundamental importance as these documents define not only the environmental, social and economic requirements for sustainable forest management, but also how implementation in the forest is certified."

Sappi North America, Inc., a leading producer and supplier of diversified paper, packaging products and pulp, has been awarded a platinum score in the latest EcoVadis rating, alongside the company's regional counterparts Sappi Europe and Sappi Southern Africa. EcoVadis is a leader in third-party evaluations of business sustainability performance, and its platinum medal is only awarded to those companies who score in the top 1% for sustainability practices. "We are very pleased to see improvement in all four categories," said Sandy Taft, Director of Sustainability at Sappi North America. "We are developing new strategies and processes to improve even further upon these results next year."