Displaying items by tag: WWF

Two High Street retailers have recently sold greetings cards that could be contributing to forest destruction. The testing, organised by WWF-UK and carried out by a laboratory in Germany, tested 20 cards and envelopes. Three products, bought from Paperchase, the Card Factory and Clinton’s contained various amounts of Mixed Tropical Hardwood (MTH), meaning that the fibres had most likely come from natural growth tropical forests.

Of the three retailers, one, Paperchase, seems able to provide evidence that their product was from a sustainable source. This highlights the need for firms to carefully scrutinise their supply chains to reassure themselves and their customers that their products are not contributing to forest destruction.

More cards are bought per person in the UK than in any other country, with an average of 31 per person bought every year, and last year the UK market for greeting cards was valued at £1.29 billion. Due to legislative loopholes, it is possible to legally sell imported cards that have been made from illegally-logged or cleared forests. WWF wants the loopholes closed and firms to take proper responsibility for their supply chains. WWF believes consumers should be confident that the cards they buy are not contributing to the illegal logging or unsustainable harvest of forests in places like South East Asia.

Beatrix Richards, Head of Corporate Stewardship Timber and Seafood, WWF, said;
“These results suggest that the true cost of our Valentine’s card could be far greater than the price on the wrapping. They may be contributing to the further loss of some of the most valuable forests in the world. Companies that rely on forests for their raw materials should scrutinise their supply chains, and reassure consumers that they are buying cards made from recycled or sustainable materials.”

Over thirty UK businesses have already signed up to WWF’s Forest Campaign that will help enable a market in 100% sustainable timber and wood products by 2020, including Carillion Kingfisher, Tesco, Marks and Spencer and Travis Perkins.

Deforestation is an issue affecting some of our most important natural forests around the world, and with global demand for wood set to triple by 2050, businesses and countries need to get their act together in order to ensure a sustainable supply for the future.

The European Timber Regulation (EUTR), which came in to force in March 2013, was set up across Europe to remove illegally sourced timber from the EU markets.
Due to loopholes in the EUTR it is currently legal to import certain goods made from illegally sourced wood, such as greetings cards, musical instruments or books. These exemptions mean that some firms may be unwittingly or deliberately purchasing materials from dubious sources.

20 cards and envelopes from three outlets were tested by the Institution for Paper Science and Technology in Darmstadt, Germany.
The lab results found that one from each of the stores contained MTH (Mixed Tropical Hardwood):

Card Factory – 10% MTH (in the card itself)

Clintons – 8% MTH (in a paper component of the card)

Paperchase – 5% MTH (in the envelope)

The results shown here are products on the market in the UK that contain pulp from natural growth tropical forests – in this case, probably SE Asia.   In addition all of the products contained acacia, which carries a risk of being grown in plantations that have been created on recently cleared tropical forest.

More information on WWF’s forest campaign can be found at  www.wwf.org.uk/saveforests

FAO’s State of the World’s Forests 2014 report outlined key findings on just how critical forest resources are to billions of people worldwide for their livelihoods. Forest provide them with socio-economic benefits including employment, fuel,, water and shelter. 

Global deforestation rates are currently estimated at around 13 million hectares per annum, which is equivalent to an area the size of a football pitch being cut down every two seconds.
The EU Timber Regulation (EUTR) came into force in March 2013. It covers a wide range of timber and wood products, as listed in its annex using EU customs code labelling. The EUTR also applies to timber products whether they were harvested in the EU or outside.

EU member states are responsible for overseeing and applying the law – which means that all 28 EU countries must take active steps, and designate appropriate resources, to do so.

For the EUTR to work in practice it will need the active participation of industry, government and civil society stakeholders, as well as even implementation across the EU. 
Following the publication of WWF report on what is in or out of scope of the regulation, it is clear that the EUTR only covers 41% of all products by value. There are a wide range of products not covered by the regulation such as greetings cards, musical instruments and books.

WWF is one of the world’s largest independent conservation organisations, with more than five million supporters and a global network active in more than one hundred countries. Through our engagement with the public, businesses and government, we focus on safeguarding the natural world, creating solutions to the most serious environmental issues facing our planet, so that people and nature thrive.  Find out more about our work, past and present at wwf.org.uk.

WWF has invited the world’s most important and strategically relevant paper manufacturers, representing 25% of global wood pulp production and 35% of global paper and paperboard production, to participate in the third edition of its Environmental Paper Company Index (EPCI). 70 leading paper manufacturers from Europe, North America, Latin America, Asia and Africa have been identified as potential leaders in promoting transparency and continual improvement in paper manufacturing. The list is publicly available on wwf.panda.org/epci2013 

The EPCI started in its current form in 2010 and is one of WWF’s key tools to promote and reward transparency and continual improvement to reduce the environmental footprint of paper production. The index is produced every two years. It offers an opportunity for paper producers in all product sectors to set a signal for transparency on environmental performance and to receive public recognition from the leading conservation organization WWF. 

“Transparency is increasingly recognized by the industry as an important aspect of their operations, and many companies today make efforts on transparency in various ways,” says Emmanuelle Neyroumande, Manager of WWF International’s global pulp and paper work. “WWF´s Environmental Paper Company Index facilitates a better understanding of complex data sets by focusing on the most important parameters and filtering them through an environmental lense.” 

In 2012, the EPCI method was reviewed in cooperation with paper manufacturers from around the world in order to improve its global applicability and relevance. WWF also changed the EPCI to focus on a reference format, presenting collated results per company rather than presenting a comparison matrix. 

“All participating companies will be applauded for being transparent on their environmental performance, which is more important than actual results in this exercise,” says Neyroumande. “The new reference rather than comparison format of the EPCI will hopefully make it attractive for more producers to take part.”

Deadline for participating is 30th of June 2013.

Companies that have not been invited but would like to participate can contact the WWF International Paper Team at This email address is being protected from spambots. You need JavaScript enabled to view it.

WWF welcomed the announcement by the Sinar Mas Group’s Asia Pulp & Paper (APP) stopped clearing Indonesia’s tropical forests and peatlands to allow an assessment of their conservation and carbon values. But the conservation organization urged paper buyers to wait for confirmation of the claims through independent monitoring by civil society before doing business with APP.

“APP today committed to most of WWF’s calls. If the company follows through on this, it could be great news for Indonesia’s forests, biodiversity and citizens,” said Nazir Foead, Conservation Director of WWF-Indonesia. 

“Unfortunately, APP has a long history of making commitments to WWF, customers and other stakeholders that it has failed to live up to. We hope this time the company does what it promised. WWF plans to independently monitor APP’s wood sourcing and forestry activities for compliance with its commitments and regularly update stakeholders on the findings,” Foead added.

APP runs two of the world’s largest pulp mills on Sumatra, where it produces the pulp for the toilet paper, tissue, copy paper and packaging that it sells worldwide. The company and its wood suppliers are responsible for clearing more than 2 million hectares of rain forest on the island since beginning operations in 1984, an analysis by the NGO coalition Eyes on the Forest found. 

“WWF hopes that APP’s new commitments will do more than just stop its own bulldozers, including protecting the natural forests in its concessions from all illegal activities and mitigating the long-term negative impacts its practices have had on all the peat lands, forests, biodiversity and local people in Sumatra and Borneo for which these commitments have come too late,” Foead added. 

“WWF has long called on responsible businesses to avoid sourcing from APP and until there is truly independent confirmation that APP has stopped draining peat soils and pulping tropical forests with high conservation value, we continue to urge paper buyers to adopt a wait for proof stance,” said Aditya Bayunanda, GFTN and pulp & paper manager of WWF Indonesia.

Mr Teguh Widjaya, the patriarch of the family’s pulp and paper business, oversaw the announcement today that no member of his APP group operating in Indonesia or China will accept any tropical timber felled in Indonesia after 31 January 2013 until company consultants have completed a full “high conservation value” and a “high carbon stock” assessment of their forest concessions. 

However, the company inserted a loophole in the commitment saying that for an indefinite period of time APP mills would accept trees felled before 31 January.

As a sign of good faith and the first demonstrable milestone, WWF calls on APP to have moved the supply of already-cut tropical timber its suppliers cleared before the self-imposed 31 January 2013 moratorium by 5 May 2013, the due date of its next quarterly forest policy report.

A fully implemented moratorium on pulping forests with high conservation and high carbon value would have a profound impact on Indonesia’s biodiversity, as well as on Indonesia’s carbon emissions. WWF urges all of the country’s pulp producers to stop using tropical forests.

WWF has launched a new voluntary rating tool for paper companies to report on their global ecological footprint. The Paper Company Environmental Index assesses key environmental criteria, such as use of recycled fibre or fibre coming from well-managed forests, energy use and CO2 emissions, water consumption and water pollution.

Five globally significant fine paper manufacturers — Domtar from North America, M-real, Stora Enso and UPM from Europe and Mondi Group from South Africa/Europe — have been the first to voluntarily disclose their environmental profiles on WWF´s new online Paper Company Index. Results and profiles can be found www.panda.org/PaperCompanyIndex. “WWF applauds these companies for their leadership and transparency,” says Harri Karjalainen, WWF’s Pulp and Paper Programme Manager. “They are the vanguard of a more sustainable paper industry.”

“Other fine paper and tissue companies, particularly those in North and South America and Asia, are invited to follow suit and show their boards of directors, business partners, shareholders, investors, paper buyers and communities what they have done to reduce their global ecological footprint,” says Karjalainen. “We hope this new online tool can promote some healthy competition within the paper industry. Who can achieve the lightest footprint?”

One of the participating companies, Mondi Group CEO, David Hathorn says: "We are pleased to have been part of the inaugural WWF Paper Company Environmental Index which assessed the efficient use of resources and environmental care. We hope that the index will attract many global paper companies as it provides an opportunity for participating companies to present progress made with reducing their environmental footprint.”

Fine papers have everyday uses including copier/printer paper, book paper, envelopes, forms, writing pads, high-quality magazines and brochures, catalogues and annual reports.

WWF has launched the Paper Company Environmental Index at a time when total paper consumption is expected to increase from today’s 400 million tons to 450-500 million tons by 20201 leaving an unacceptably large ecological footprint on the planet if the industry does not make significant improvements. Irresponsible pulpwood harvesting and expanding pulpwood plantations have the potential to threaten fragile ecosystems and create social concerns if not carried out responsibly. The pulp and paper industry is among the world’s largest users of energy and emitters of greenhouse gases, and a significant source of water pollution and landfill waste.

The Paper Company Environmental Index covers impacts on forest ecosystems from fibre sourcing (35% of the maximum 100 points), emissions from manufacturing process such as water pollution and greenhouse gas emissions (35%), and corporate transparency (30%). The criteria apply to both policy and production, thus measuring each company´s targets and actual performance. The index also includes companies’ own operations as well as the supply chain; for example, market pulp bought for production of the end product.

The pulp and paper industry’s expansion is driven largely by emerging economies, in particular in Asia. Many global pulp and paper companies are moving their production to the Southern Hemisphere due to lower production costs. Pulpwood from the South is travelling longer distances to North American and European paper mills; approximately 80% of market pulp crosses an international border and 40% crosses an ocean to reach its market.