New FSC Forest Stewardship Standards in Chile for Plantations and Native Forests

Graphic Packaging International (“Graphic Packaging” or the “Company”), a global leader in sustainable consumer packaging, today announced it has entered into a virtual Power Purchase Agreement (“vPPA”) in Europe with Zelestra, a client-focused, multi-technology, global renewable energy company.The vPPA supports Zelestra in adding renewable electricity to the European power grid and advances Graphic Packaging’s commitment to reduce its greenhouse gas (“GHG”) emissions by receiving renewable energy attribute certificates[1] generated by the project. The renewable electricity generated by two of Zelestra’s solar projects to be built in Spain – José Cabrera and Socovos II – will have a combined total capacity of 83 megawatts (MWdc). Graphic Packaging expects to receive renewable energy attribute certificates1 corresponding to approximately 86 percent of the solar projects’ output. The agreement is a strategic component in achieving Graphic Packaging’s science-based target to reduce Scope 1 and 2 GHG emissions by 50.4 percent by 20322. It will increase the Company’s purchased renewable electricity in Europe to approximately 70 percent.

With an increase of almost two million hectares of PEFC-certified forests in Indonesia over the past year, the Indonesian Forestry Certification Cooperation (IFCC) took top prize for growth during our PEFC Forest Certification Week award ceremony. “Without the tremendous support from everyone within the PEFC family and without the strong commitment and hard work from all members of the IFCC family, we would have never arrived at this proud state,” said Dradjad Wibowo, Chairman of IFCC. “So, IFCC thanks everyone from the PEFC and IFCC families for this! Though we still face huge challenges, we are confident, that together we will prevail," Mr. Wibowo concluded. Click Read More below for additional information.

The American Forest & Paper Association (AF&PA) today announced that nearly 68% of paper consumed in the United States (67.9%) was recycled in 2022. The paper recycling rate held approximately steady to the 2021 rate and has remained consistently high. In fact, the paper recycling rate has met or exceeded 63% each year since 2009. In 2022, the recycling rate for old corrugated containers (OCC), also known as cardboard, was 93.6%, an increase over last year's rate. Meanwhile, the 3-year average (2020-2022) for OCC was 91.3%.