Redesigning the Future with Renewable Packaging

Metsä Group and forest owners planted 270 million seedlings in Finnish forests between 2010 and 2020. This summer, the figure will increase by more than 35 million seedlings. Metsä Group supplies forest owners with native tree species that occur naturally in Finland. Under the Finnish Forest Act, a new forest must always be established after felling. This can be done through natural regeneration, or by sowing seeds or planting seedlings. Planting is the fastest and surest way to create a new forest. To secure biodiversity, individual trees from the previous generation are always left in the forest. “We supply forest owners with species that occur naturally in Finland – pine, spruce and silver birch – for use in forest regeneration. This helps preserve forest nature in the state to which our native species have adapted,” says Teppo Oijala, Metsä Group’s Forest Manager. In the decade between 2010 and 2020, Metsä Group supplied forest owners with a total of 270 million seedlings and 9,000 kilograms of pine seeds.

Corduroy is back in fashion with foresters and conservationists who want new ways to conserve wetlands crossed by resource roads. The earliest days of Canada’s timber trade featured wetland crossings made of logs lined up in rows, which resembled corduroy fabric. Road building gradually became more permanent, sometimes affecting water flow in wetlands. Putting a modern spin on corduroy roads is one of the recommendations in a new field guide just released by FPInnovations and Ducks Unlimited Canada. The guide, “Resource Roads and Wetlands: A Guide for Planning, Construction and Maintenance,” developed in part with funding from the SFI Conservation and Community Partnerships Grant program, offers best management practices to mitigate the impacts of roads on wetlands in Canada’s forests.

Heidelberger Druckmaschinen AG (Heidelberg) is redoubling its activities in sustainability management. Against the backdrop of the global challenges caused by climate change, and as part of its sustainability strategy, Heidelberg has made a commitment to become climate neutral by 2030. To help achieve this goal, the company has set up an Environmental Social Governance (ESG) panel, which is responsible for developing strategy and defining, implementing, and monitoring the associated measures. The panel is headed by Dr. Eva Boll, who reports directly to the CEO. “Heidelberg is well aware of its responsibilities regarding the dangers posed by global climate change and affirms the 1.5-degree target of the Paris Agreement,” says the company’s CEO, Rainer Hundsdörfer. “For many years, we have been actively working to gradually minimize harmful emissions and reduce the health and environmental impact of our sites. We have now made a further commitment to ensuring our worldwide production and distribution sites are operating on a climate-neutral basis by 2030, which is earlier than required by legislation.”