Verso Paper Corp. has announced the publication of its 2011 Sustainability Report titled "Count on Verso." The report details Verso's progress against its commitment to respect a sustainable balance among environmental, social and economic needs.

"The title of our 2011 report reflects Verso's belief that our company's sustainability commitment carries with it a responsibility to deliver a high level of certainty to everyone we interact with, even in these uncertain times," explains Verso President and CEO Mike Jackson. "Our corporate strategy and disciplined approach to executing it assure our customers and other stakeholders that they can count on Verso to do what we say we will do when it comes to our business, our people and our planet."

2011 Sustainability Report Highlights

• Our excellent safety performance continued in 2011 with a total incidence rate (TIR) of 1.58 and a world-class lost workday incidence rate (LWIR) of 0.20. We believe that zero injuries is achievable and continue to strive toward that goal.
• Our 2011 energy initiatives moved us nearly half the way toward keeping our 2009 Save Energy Now LEADER pledge to reduce energy per unit of production 25 percent by 2019.
• We completed a $45 million renewable energy project at our Quinnesec Mill in Michigan that will deliver 28 megawatts of green energy, an amount equivalent to the electricity used by 21,000 households annually.
• Sixty percent of the energy generated by Verso in 2011 came from renewable, greenhouse gas-neutral biomass.
• 70 percent of the wood fiber Verso used was third-party certified to a credible forest management certification standard and all four Verso mills maintained compliance with the Programme for the Endorsement of Forest Certification (PEFC™ - PwC-PEFC-319) and Forest Stewardship Council™ (FSC^® License Code FSC^®-C019085) chain of custody standards.
• We increased our sale of chain-of-custody certified papers to 33% of total sales, up from 26% in 2010.
• The company completed an innovative, two-year pilot project with several customers and other stakeholders that added 1.4 million certified acres in Maine, an increase of 20 percent.
• Each of Verso's four mills applied for and received ISO 14001:2004 recertification after successfully completing an independent audit of its environmental management system.
• Verso once again had a near perfect environmental compliance record with only one notice of violation. Cited issues were corrected immediately and no fines were assessed.
• Verso's combined employee and company United Way contributions totaled more than $300,000, a 3 percent increase over 2010.

For more information, download a full copy of the Verso 2011 Sustainability Report from the company's website at www.versopaper.com/sustainability.

Source: Verso Paper Corp.