UPM Pulp Matters 2024

PULP PORTFOLIO

The new UPM Pulp Sustainability Handbook answers the ‘Big Questions’ about forest use, carbon emissions, how we work in the places we operate, and what we are doing to deal with a whole range of sustainability- related issues.

HOW DID YOU COME UP WITH THE ‘BIG QUESTIONS’? The Big Questions in the handbook are about stepping back from just telling customers what we do, and instead thinking more from a customer’s perspective. The questions are drawn from this, through the many interactions we have with them, and also help to shape our sustainability focus and priorities. Our customers also want to have conversations with their own customers, to help them understand what’s going on in our forests and plantations, and why forest-related industries are critical to meeting emissions reduction goals globally. We wanted to put things in clearer terms: “Shouldn’t we be saving trees, not cutting them down?” is a great example. They’re questions the person on the street might ask. HOW CAN UPM’S CUSTOMERS MAKE USE OF THE HANDBOOK? While it began as an internal tool, the handbook has now been put online to provide a comprehensive snapshot so readers can dip in and out, depending on what they might need. A lot of detailed data is provided through other means to customers – the handbook is more about sharing key talking points and facts about all sorts of topics that fit under sustainability. We will add new stories to our handbook and update and evolve it continuously in the future.

WHERE DID THE IDEA FOR THE HANDBOOK COME FROM? The main idea was to get a better grip on the sustainability story for UPM Pulp’s business, rather than just the UPM Group’s overview. We wanted a way of talking about UPM Pulp to our customers in a clearer way that directly relates to their business. For example, if we made a great investment to reduce carbon emissions in a UPM paper businesses, this is fantastic for our own targets, but it won’t help our pulp customer’s emissions profile. The other element was about what sustainability means for us – the scale and number of issues is huge, so we wanted to bring it together coherently in one place. The handbook helps understand how everything fits together and how we track our progress. WHAT IS THE ROLE OF PULP IN THE TRANSITION BEYOND FOSSILS? Pulp plays a huge part in our modern-day world – it’s in so many aspects of daily life, whether that’s in our tissue and hygiene products, the magazines we read, or in the online retailer’s packaging – it’s everywhere. In terms of transitioning beyond fossil fuels, we need alternatives. You might associate fossils with transport, heating and manufacturing – but they are also ubiquitous in many end products, such as plastics, synthetic fillers and rubbers. If we want to reduce or eliminate these fossil-based materials, we need something else. Pulp is one alternative for multiple applications. And while recycled and alternative fibres have a big role to play, the virgin tree fibres that we use are an available and critical source for creating the products we all rely on. It can seem counterintuitive to talk about cutting down trees as being a solution to climate change, but if you’re moving beyond fossils, then biomass and renewables have a huge part to play – and that’s where we see our role.

Q&A UPM Pulp Sustainability Handbook

Scan the QR code to read the handbook online:

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PULP MATTERS 2024