UPM Annual Report 2024

WE ARE UPM

GOVERNANCE

ACCOUNTS AND PERFORMANCE

Our strategy

Our businesses

Sustainability

OUR COMMITMENTS Biodiversity programmes

ACTIONS FOR ENVIRONMENT

Net-positive impact on forest biodiversity (NPI)

The first forest biodiversity programmes was launched in 1998. Currently we have two biodi versity related programme: the Forest Action Programme with biodiversity as one focus area (since 2022) and the Stream Water Programme (since 2016).

Enhancing biodiversity

We are committed to enhancing biodiversity in our forests in Finland and the USA and in our plantations and land areas in Uruguay. Progress against our NPI target is monitored with specific key performance indicators.

Our main impacts on biodiversity result from forest and land management and wood sourcing, as well as from stream water dams and production sites.

OUR PRIORITIES Healthy and resilient forests

Mitigating negative impacts in production

We maintain healthy forests and plantation areas that are vital for business, resilient to cli mate change, and support diverse habitats and species and thriving ecosystems. Certification plays a crucial role in managing biodiversity in our own forests and other wood sources. Habitat restoration and monitoring We take actions to restore habitats, develop sustainable forestry and hydropower generation practices, and improve monitoring and meas urement of biodiversity impacts, both in our own forests and in hydropower generation. We collaborate with various scientific and profes sional organisations such as Natural Resources Institute Finland. We are active in dismantling migration barriers in stream water and test new ways to restore fish stocks across Finland.

Biodiversity is essential for maintaining healthy forest growth and ensuring that forests adapt to the changing climate. We recognise the vital role biodiversity plays in the health and sustainability of our forests and plantations.

UPM’s operations at its production sites also have an impact on the local environ ment and waterbodies, which is why our commitments and priorities for enhancing biodiversity are considered holistically in all our operations.

We use best available techniques in production to minimise harmful emissions from produc tion sites, improve water and soil quality and enhance local biodiversity. Biodiversity as part of financing and management remuneration We have linked part of our financing to enhanc ing biodiversity and included biodiversity as a measure in UPM’s management remuneration. We have integrated the requirements of the Taskforce on Nature-related Financial Disclo sures (TNFD) into our reporting. Sustainability Statement, ESRS E4 Biodiversity and ecosystems on page 189 Sustainable forestry on page 50

CASE STUDY

ACTIONS IN 2024 • Participation in SBTN pilot (on the right) • Stream restoration continued in Finland • New forest habitat programme launched in Finland (page 51) • eDNA pilot in Finland and Uruguay (on the right)

COLLABORATION CONTINUED WITH THE SCIENCE BASED TARGETS NETWORK (SBTN) In 2023–2024, we participated in SBTN’s Initial Target Validation Pilot to test methods for setting targets to enhance biodiversity. Initially, the whole UPM portfolio was in scope, but we narrowed it to wood sourcing, forest and plantation management in Finland, Uruguay and the US, as well as water use in our production units. In addition to our own data, we used information from the authorities and researchers, and tools like the WWF Risk Filters. The SBTN methodology provided new insights into data availability and tools. For our own operations and wood sourcing, good-quality data exists, but for the rest of the supply chain, we currently lack sufficient data to measure our impact on biodiversity. We have tools to gather primary data on carbon emissions from suppliers, and similar tools have the potential to be used in the future to gather biodiversity-related primary data. We already have metrics for setting and following up our biodiversity targets. Participating in the pilot helped us reflect on our initiatives and insights how to develop our targets.

CASE STUDY

VALUE FROM eDNA RESEARCH

tools tailored to northern habitats. Part of this project will be implement ed on our land in Finland as part of our stream water programme to evaluate the positive impact of barrier removal on biodiversity. We have also started an eDNA pilot in Uruguay with the Instituto de Inves tigaciones Biológicas Clemente Estable in 2024 to study aquatic biota in a selected protected area. According to the prelim inary results, 24 additional fish species were detected, including one entirely new species. The pilot will continue in 2025, and the results indicate that eDNA methodolo gy works as expected.

There are certain indicators to follow up on the biodiversity development, but more exact methodologies and tools are continu ously being explored. We have been actively screening opportunities for eDNA research for several years. In 2024, we joined a three-year biodi versity project, “NORTHDIVeRSITY,” led by Natural Resources Institute Finland, Umeå University and the University of Oulu as project partners. To gain a better understanding of altered ecosystems and biodiversity, the project will develop envi ronmental eDNA monitoring methods and

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UPM ANNUAL REPORT 2024

UPM ANNUAL REPORT 2024