The European pulp and paper industry fully supports the EU objective to reach climate neutrality by 2050. We provide an ever-increasing range of solutions for today’s and tomorrow’s needs of our customers, other industries, and society at large. Our renewable and recyclable wood-based fibre solutions are made in Europe predominantly from European sustainably growing forests and recycled in Europe.
Building on our position as world champions in recycling, we are set to increase recycling even further to boost the circular economy. We have already achieved over 39% reduction of carbon emissions from 2005 to date: a leading performance amongst industrial sectors! Wood-based products store CO2 and substitute fossil-based and
fossil-intensive materials and energy. A study commissioned by Cepi shows that forests and forest-basedproducts had an overall positive climate effect of -806 million tonnes (net) of carbon dioxide equivalent in 2020. This corresponds to 20% of all fossil emissions in the European Union! To continue doing so,
political support will be critical.
The discussion on the upcoming 2040 European climate target is an opportunity for policymakers to everage our sector’s contribution – with sustainable forest management, decarbonised production, and product substitution – to reaching climate neutrality by 2050. This position paper outlines the European
paper industry’s stance on key aspects to consider when reflecting on the EU’s emission reduction target for 2040.
The whole document is available here.