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limate issues are a key part of UPM’s corporate responsibility,
and the company has determinedly attempted to reduce its
emissions in the long term.
“In addition to traditional methods, we have developed
new innovations, such as wood-based renewable biofuels that will reduce
greenhouse gas emissions from trac,” says
Päivi Salpakivi-Salomaa
,
Vice President, UPMEnvironment.
Some 67% of the fuels used by UPMare biomass-based and 78% of the
electricity produced by UPM is CO
2
-neutral. In the past decade, UPMhas
investedmore than EUR 1 billion in the production of biomass-based energy
and heat.
Furthermore, UPMhas continued to improve the energy eciency
of its mills, which has decreased the consumption of electricity per tonne
of paper produced by 20% in the past 10 years. UPMuses the best available
technology at all of its production facilities.
This approach has been deemed successful in, for example, the Climate
Performance Leadership index published by the international non-profit
organisation CDP. UPMwas the only paper and forest industry company
to reach the full 100 points on the A list of the index in 2014.
CDP’s CEO
Paul Simpson
praises UPM for its exemplary work in
fighting climate change. Companies that do well in the index have proven
that they are capable of responding to the challenges that the ever-growing
responsibility for the environment brings about.
“Pioneering companies are those that actively invest in reducing
emissions and openly communicate information about their environmental
issues. The investments are also profitable from a financial viewpoint,”
he says.
The A list of the CDP index includes a total of 187 companies. Corporate
data has been compiled based on a request by 767 investors. The funds
managed by this group amount to more than one third of all the investment
capital in the world.
A PIONEER IN
CLIMATE ISSUES
emission reductions needed to meet the
political goals. National economies will
not grow either if they are not attractive
enough to businesses.
“Emissions trading will in addition
to bringing carbon costs to industry
also increase electricity prices. The
European Commission has made a
list of carbon and electricity-intensive
sectors that are susceptible to carbon
leakage so that they can be compen-
sated at the national level. The list
includes the manufacture of paper,
paperboard, cardboard andmechanical
wood pulp, for example.”
Innovations are necessary
Mensink points out that emissions
cannot be reduced by using the
currently available methods only. New
kinds of solutions and technologies that
are currently not in use are needed.
“CEPI has been promoting new
innovation funds for a long time. The
funds are to support breakthrough
technologies that will be more eective
in reducing emissions than current
methods. This issue was recently added
to the EU climate and energy package.”
When ratifying the 2030 package,
the EU agreed on the NER400 fund to
support innovations and investments
which aim at reducing emissions.
In order to create the fund, the
European Investment Bank will sell
400million emission allowances and
allocate the funds to projects. The
supported projects will be selected
based on applications.
New to the agreement is that the
fund will specifically aim to support
the industries covered by the emission
trading system.