The European pulp and paper industry today concluded its thirteenth European Paper Week reporting on achievements of the last two years with their 5th Sustainability Report and looking at what the future holds in their 2050 roadmap for a low-carbon bio-economy.
The three-day event brought together over 330 people from the pulp and paper industry, related organisations as well as different European institutions and provided a high-level platform for discussion.
At a moment when the European Commission is working on a Communication about the upcoming bio-economy, CEPI (Confederation of European Paper Industries) organised a densely packed Annual Meeting, presenting the newly launched “2050 Roadmap for a low-carbon bio-economy” to Connie Hedegaard, European Commissioner of Climate action and her cabinet. ”You are the first energy-intensive industry to follow up on the Commission’s call to produce sector-specific, bottom-up roadmaps to complement the vision we presented in March in our Roadmap to a competitive low-carbon economy in 2050. […] Most importantly, your roadmap presents a vision of a thriving European bio-economic sector that reaps the opportunities that the low carbon economy will bring, while at the same time addressing its challenges. In short it presents a vision that your industry will be part of the solution“, commented Connie Hedegaard.
A panel involving CEOs of the European paper industry, exchanged views about their 2050 visions and debated the transformation to a low-carbon economy. ”The forest fibre industry, drawing as it does largely on EU raw materials, will have a central role to play in the bio-economy, where the focus will be on sustainable, renewable and recyclable raw materials creating the highest possible added value”, stated Berry Wiersum, CEPI Chairman and CEO of Sappi Fine Paper Europe.
The key plenary event also saw contributions from Pavel Misiga, Head of Unit at the European Commission, DG Environment; replacing Karl Falkenberg, Director at DG Enterprise.
“The European paper industry continues to excel in sustainability matters and we have achieved relative decoupling of our environmental impacts from production. Recycling has increased and certification of wood used in our mills has risen to a new level. We have further reduced CO2 emissions, and the percentage of companies with environmental management systems is at an all time high of 90%”, said Teresa Presas, CEPI Director General in her presentation addressing the freshly published 2011 Sustainability Report.
A youth panel concluded the annual event of the European paper industry; the panel discussed the results of a recent survey analysing paper use of digital natives (16-26 year old) in Europe. CEPI found that young people live in a digital world, where paper is key. Young Europeans are digitally connected and prefer to use digital technology for photos and bank statements, but they see paper as more emotional and trusted choice when it comes to love notes, birthday cards, contracts and diplomas.
European Paper Week - the networking event of the year within the pulp and paper industry - took place in Brussels from 15-17 November. This year the event also included several interactive seminars on a wide range of topics such as forest certification, recycling, packaging, research and sustainability.
