“All three of our pulp mills are best in class in terms of low CO₂ emissions, among the top five lowest pulp mill emitters in the world. Our mills now emit just one tenth of CO₂ equivalents compared to 30 years ago, thanks to a string of step-by-step investments, from removing fossil fuels in lime kilns to switching chemicals to lower-impact alternatives and reducing our diesel consumption.

“Eight of the world’s top 10 lowest emitters during 2024 were Swedish, followed by the Finns, so it’s very much a Nordic lead,” Omholt says. “Still, we want to do more. That’s a challenge when we’re already at such a low level, but not impossible. How will we get there?

“Our scope 1 emissions are currently around 80,000 tpy of CO₂ equivalents. To reach 40,000 tpy, we have four main focus areas:

• phasing out fossil fuels completely from the production process (we’re already there for day-to-day operations);
• reducing fossil carbon from chemicals used in our production;
• electrification of heavy machinery in pulp mills and sawmills, including switching over all forklifts to electric ones by 2030;
• investing in two new time-chartered (TC) vessels (TC vessels are included in our Scope 1).

“Most of our pulp is delivered within Europe and mainly by our three TC vessels. Two new vessels in 2028 will reduce sea freight emissions significantly and this is what gives me cause to believe we can reach our Scope 1 and 2 targets for 2030. The new vessels are larger and prepared for future use of biofuels, together reducing the emissions from pulp freight to our customers.

“The challenge is scope 3 and here our focus is on the production and transport of pulpwood and chemicals, land transport of pulp and sea freight worldwide.

“Just last month we started transporting sawmill chips by fully electric truck from the sawmills to the pulp mills, reducing emissions from land transport. It’s an example of one of the many small steps we need to take within scope 3. We’ll keep pushing.”