Holmen receives global sustainability award

Rottneros' subsidiary Vallviks Bruk AB has on January 12th been granted permission by the Land and Environment Court in Östersund to produce the requested 255,000 tons of sulphate pulp. It is a comprehensive permit under the Swedish Environmental Code, which is associated with a number of conditions, which are broadly in line with the company's previously stated position. "The new permit will ensure that we can continue with our long-term industrial plan, Agenda 500 and increase the capacity of both our mills. The permit also ensures that we can continue to develop the company and our organization," says Per Lundeen, CEO of Rottneros.

Amazon announced that its largest wind farm yet—Amazon Wind Farm Texas—is now up and running, adding more than 1,000,000 MWh of clean energy to the grid each year. Amazon has launched 18 wind and solar projects across the U.S., with over 35 more to come. Together, these projects will generate enough clean energy to power over 330,000 homes annually. These projects also support hundreds of jobs and provide tens of millions of dollars of investment in local communities across the country. Amazon Wind Farm Texas includes more than 100 turbines – each over 300 feet tall with a rotor diameter more than twice the wingspan of a Boeing 787. Amazon Wind Farm Texas is built, owned, and operated by Lincoln Clean Energy (LCE), an I Squared Capital portfolio company and a leading developer of wind and solar projects across the U.S. Amazon, LCE, and local officials and residents celebrated the grand opening of the wind farm with a BBQ event onsite. To thank and support the local community, Amazon is donating $50,000 to the Snyder Education Foundation to provide students and teachers with STEM learning opportunities. Click Read More below for additional information.

UPM Biofuels commissioned a study from leading international energy and climate consultancy Ecofys - A Navigant Company, entitled "Crude tall oil low ILUC risk assessment: comparing global supply and demand". The study looked into crude tall oil (CTO) availability, current usage, whether the feedstock creates an additional demand for land, and whether the use of CTO in advanced biofuels can cause distortive effects in the markets. The recently conducted Ecofys study concludes that "the CTO market is not overly tight and potential surplus of about 850,000 tonnes of CTO is still available that could be tapped into". The total potential CTO supply is around 2.6 million tonnes. Current actual CTO demand is approximately 1.75 million tonnes, of which about 1.4 million tonnes is used by distillers and roughly 230,000 tonnes for biofuels. Ecofys also concludes that "CTO use for biofuels did not cause displacement effects elsewhere, and hence CTO, a non-land using process residue, is a low ILUC (Indirect Land Use Change) risk material." UPM considered it necessary to investigate the impact of UPM Biofuels' market entry, and to verify whether UPM BioVerno production may have impacted negatively on the CTO market. The study brings necessary information into the debate concerning raw material availability for various end-uses such as advanced biofuels and biomaterials. Click Read More below for additional detail.