Metsä Group is looking into the construction of a carbon capture facility

Today’s announcement of the Great Bear Rainforest Land Use Order by the Government of BC and First Nations is being applauded by five BC forest product companies as a unique solution for a globally significant area. BC Timber Sales, Catalyst Paper Corp., Howe Sound Pulp & Paper Corp., Interfor Corp., and Western Forest Products Inc. formed the Coast Forest Conservation Initiative (CFCI) in 2000. For 15 years, CFCI worked with ForestEthics Solutions, Greenpeace and Sierra Club to deliver joint recommendations to the Province and First Nations. “It is collaboration not conflict that ultimately drove the solutions in the Great Bear Rainforest,” said Rick Jeffery, representing CFCI. “This agreement will deliver certainty for coastal forests, local communities and jobs for years to come.”

Sealed Air has invested $9 million in a solar farm that is now powering its Madera, California manufacturing facility. The solar panels, which sit on 11 acres of company-owned land adjacent to the facility, are expected to help reduce energy spend at this site by $1 million annually. The 265,000 square foot plant, which manufactures BUBBLE WRAP® brand original cushioning, SEALED AIR® brand Korrvu® retention and suspension packaging, mailers, and other solutions, will have 98% of its electricity powered by the solar field. Over the course of the first year, the solar project will help avoid 4,982 metric tons of carbon dioxide and 72,172 metric tons of carbon dioxide over 15 years, which is equivalent to: *Greenhouse gas emissions from more than 15,000 passenger vehicles driven for one year *The carbon dioxide emission from annual electricity use for more than 14,000 homes *Carbon sequestered by nearly 1,200,000 tree seedlings grown over the course of a decade

Metsä Group acquires nature sites that are used to compensate for the conservation areas required of forest owners by the FSC® forest certification. The new service offered to owner-members ensures that the conservation required of forest estates belonging to the FSC forest certification group is aimed at the most valuable nature sites. Metsä Group’s partner in the acquisition of nature sites is the Dasos Habitat fund managed by Dasos Capital Oy. Key investors in the fund are Elo Mutual Pension Insurance Company, LocalTapiola and the Finnish Cultural Foundation. A requirement for the FSC forest certification is that at least 5% of the forest land of the associated forest estate is permanently excluded from forest use.