E S G
All the wood fibre we use is traceable All parties involved in the processing of wood and pulp in our value chain comply with the requirements of the PEFC and FSC chains of custody. The wood fibre we use is therefore traceable. In addition to sustainable forest sites, we choose our partners responsibly.
PEFC/02–31–92 FSC®-C001580
Customer
Paperboard, pulp and high-yield pulp mills
Wood supply and forest services
Forest owners
Forest certification and our Chain of Custody system give our customers the opportunity to tell their own clients about a product’s sustaina- bility. Certification and traceability ensure that the wood used in a product comes from sustainably managed forests.
The pulp used in paperboard production is manufactured in Metsä Board’s own high-yield pulp and pulp mills or its associated company Metsä Fibre’s pulp mills. These mills purchase all their wood from Metsä Group’s wood supply. The mills record the volume, origin and certification of the wood they purchase, and ensure through cal- culations that the volume of certi- fied products they sell corresponds with the volume of inbound certified wood. The certification details are shown in the orders and the related documents.
All wood can be traced with the help of maps, the details entered in data systems, and various documents. Metsä Group’s wood supply calcu- lates the share of certified wood and sells a corresponding volume of certified wood to the mills. We also require a sustainable origin from non-certified wood, and the wood always meets at least the require- ments of PEFC Controlled Sources and FSC Controlled Wood.
Most of the wood we use comes from PEFC or FSC-certified North- ern European forests. The forest owners have agreed to the require- ments of forest certification. Metsä Group and external auditors verify the sustainable forest management by auditing harvesting sites, for example.
For our customers to be able to purchase certified paperboard or pulp, both the forests and the Chain of Custody must be certified. Forest certifications define strict criteria for the ecological, social and economic sustainability of forest management. The requirements pertain, among other things, to the safeguarding of the forests’ biodiversity, maintaining the forests’ growth, and securing the rights of Indigenous peoples. Forest certification requires an external third party to audit the certified forest areas and regularly implemented measures. According to Metsä Group’s policy, requirements concerning biodiversity, the environment and social responsibility as well as statutory requirements are also followed in uncertified forests so that the criteria set for controlled wood are met. Our Chain of Custody is annually assessed through internal and third-party audits. The audits cover Metsä Group’s business operations from the forest to the end product. The audits monitor the operations of the wood suppliers and harvesting contractors as well as the traceability of the wood fibre within our own processes. The auditing covers a range of aspects related to environmental
and social responsibility, such as the wood’s legal origin, the secur- ing of Indigenous people’s rights, safety at work, and traceability and calculation practices, which should accord with certification standards. This allows us to ensure the wood’s sustainable origin and the share of certified wood used in our production. If deviations are observed in the audits, we implement the corrective measures immediately. In 2022, our wood use totalled 8.3 million cubic metres (8.3 million m 3 ). The volume includes the wood used in Metsä Board’s own production of pulp and high-yield pulp as well as the wood used in the pulp purchased from Metsä Fibre. Of the wood used by Metsä Board, 12% came from the sawmill industry’s side streams, woodchips. Of all the wood fibre we used, 83% (83) came from certified forests and 17% (17) was controlled wood. All the wood fibre we use meets the requirements of the PEFC and FSC chains of custody. The availability of certified wood fibre is limited – around 11% of the world’s forests are certified. The war that Russia started in Ukraine in February 2022 has reduced the volume of certified wood
38
Powered by FlippingBook