The International Council of Forest and Paper Associations (ICFPA) has just released its biennial Sustainability Progress Report, which highlights progress in seven key areas of sustainability: sustainable forest management; renewable energy; greenhouse gas and sulphur dioxide (SO2) emissions; water use; health and safety; and recycling. The 2021 report also highlights the forest products sector’s global response to the COVID-19 pandemic.
Click to download and read pdf
Currently representing 18 pulp, paper, wood and fibre-based associations in 28 countries, along with many global pulp, paper and wood producers, the ICFPA Sustainability Progress Report shows progress on nearly all of the sector’s performance indicators.
“In the face of the biggest health and economic crisis of our lifetimes, we are reminded that the global forestry sector has the potential to address some of our most urgent social, environmental and economic challenges,” notes ICFPA President Derek Nighbor, who is the president and CEO of the Forest Products Association of Canada. “Forestry workers and forest products are in a unique position to drive our move to a lower-carbon world through sustainable forest management, advancing the forest bioeconomy and recovering more paper and paper-based packaging for recycling,” he says.
Key progress on ICFPA’s sustainability performance indicators include:
52.6% of wood fibre procured in 2019 came from third-party certified sustainably-managed forests, a 41% percent increase from the 2000 baseline year.
Greenhouse gas emission intensity decreased by 21% from the 2004/2005 baseline year.
The energy share of biomass and other renewable fuels increased to 64.9%, a 12% increase since 2004/2005, while total onsite energy intensity was reduced by 3.3%.
SO2 emission intensity from on-site combustion sources decreased by 77% from the 2004/2005 baseline year and 38% from the previous report.
Water use intensity decreased by 12.5% from the baseline year.
Investment in health and safety interventions yielded a 30% reduction in the global recordable incident rate from the 2006/2007 baseline, with the annual number of recordable incidents falling to 2.88 per 100 employees.
59.1% of the paper and paperboard consumed in 2019 was reused by mills to make new products, marking a 12.6% increase in global recycling rates since the year 2000.
Commenting on the report, Jane Molony of the Paper Manufacturers Association of South Africa (PAMSA), a member of the ICFPA Steering Committee says: “As a sector, both globally and locally, we continue to make a positive impact and meaningful progress in areas of sustainability, society and the economy, providing citizens with a renewable resource in the form of sustainably produced wood, cellulose and paper products. Wood in its various forms not only meets essential daily needs, it also provides a raw material for conventional and innovative alternatives for sustainable packaging.”
Also highlighted in the report is the role the forest products industry plays in climate change mitigation, through a four-pronged approach: preserving and optimising carbon sequestration in forests and forest-based products; reducing greenhouse gas emissions through energy-efficient operations; avoiding emissions by substituting fossil fuels in several industries; and using carbon-neutral biomass energy in manufacturing processes.
Progress in these areas is measured using metrics listed above, including: GHG emission intensity; percentage gains in bioenergy and renewable fuel use; total on-site energy intensity; and SO2 emissions intensity – and all of these are shown moving in the right direction.
The 2021 ICFPA Sustainability Progress Report also includes the 2021 International Finalists for the prestigious ICFPA Blue Sky Young Researchers and Innovation Award. The theme for the 2020-2021 Blue Sky Awards was: Boosting the Forest Bioeconomy: Nature-Based Solutions Toward a Lower Carbon Economy.
Finalist Francine Ceccon Claro from Brazil developed a low cost wound dressing manufactured using nanofibrillated wood cellulose membranes, which is less expensive than bacterial cellulose membranes used in traditional dressings, while offering the same effectiveness.
Another young finalist, Jesús Rodríguez from Chilé, developed FLEXbio, a biodegradable and compostable bioplastic derived from Radiata pine sawdust, a wood by-product generated by logging companies that discard it in large quantities, where it piles up in company yards creating fire risks along with soil and groundwater contamination problems.
In this issue of MechChem Africa, we have Chris Braybrooke talking about how Veolia has embraced the UN’s sustainable development goals (SDGs); SRK’s Avril Owens talking about planning and harmonising sustainability efforts across Africa; Zest WEG’s Fanie Steyn talking about the energy efficiency advantages of WEG IE4 super premium efficiency motors; and our Innovative Engineering story for this month is about a new bioplastic production plant in Finland that will be using waste residues from soy-based food production as feedstock.
Sustainability and circular economy principles are now a survival imperative, not just for life on our planet, but for the businesses and industries that we humans depend on. Ultimately, embracing them is essential to ensure that our industries and lifestyles remain sustainable.
