Renewable, Recyclable, Responsible – Aligning with Consumer Values

Sappi North America, Inc. announced that it has extended its current SmartWay® Transport Partnership, an innovative collaboration between U.S. Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) and industry. The SmartWay Transport Partnership provides a framework to assess the environmental and energy efficiency of goods movement supply chains and benchmark overall performance. This is Sappi's 12th consecutive year as a SmartWay Transport Partner, and the company will continue to contribute to the Partnership's savings of 279.7 million barrels of oil, $37.5 billion in fuel costs and 134 million tons of air pollutants. This collective effort is the equivalent of the annual electricity use in 18.2 million homes. By being a part of the SmartWay Transport Partnership, Sappi demonstrates its strong environmental leadership and corporate responsibility. As a certified shipper partner, Sappi utilizes carriers that leverage technology and design to minimize their collective carbon footprint. Sappi works toward increasing the amount of freight moved on intermodal and rail as well as increasing the amount of freight moved on certified carriers.

Ahlstrom-Munksjö and Metsä Fibre continue the collaboration by focusing on responsible wood sourcing. As part of a resource-intensive industry Ahlstrom-Munksjö, as a significant wood pulp consumer, and Metsä Fibre, as the world’s leading producer of bleached softwood pulp, have a particular responsibility to advance environmental performance and sustainability throughout their operations and supply chains. “We are committed to contributing to United Nations Sustainable Development Goals by reducing negative impact across the value chain. The collaboration with both the suppliers and customers is very important in developing and implementing our sustainability strategy, and thereby achieving these goals,” says Heli Nykänen, Manager, Group Sustainability and Capital Investments. The project that started in 2019 has mainly focused on responsible wood sourcing in the value chain from the forest to the end-products.

J.D. Irving Limited’s (JDI) partnership with Natural Resources Canada's Canadian Forest Service has led to the commercial development of advanced tree breeding, field testing and seedling production techniques. Maritime Innovation, JDI's new lab in Sussex, New Brunswick was designed to use advanced seedling production technologies based on selection from our native tree population for a range of high value traits such as fast growth rate, high wood quality, resistance to insects and disease and broad adaptation to climate change. A propagation method called Somatic Embryogenesis is used to produce large numbers of seedling from a broad range of genetically diverse trees which have been field tested across the region. Another aspect of the lab’s research involves fungi which live inside the needles and leaves of trees across our region which are called endophytes. A range of these fungi have been selected because they produce compounds which improve their host tree’s tolerance to insect and disease attack. Methods have been developed to inoculate small seedlings in the nursery with these special fungi which stay with the tree throughout its life. Investing in this technology will sustain diverse forests, contribute to a sustainable wood supply for the forest industry and improve tree tolerance to various insect and fungal pests leading to a reduction in pesticide usage.