Softwood security for a sustainable future
Sweden’s forest industry has agreed to the goal of a 20 percent increase in forest growth by 2050, which is in line with Södra’s own targets and underlines the security of supply which Södra offers its pulp customers for the long term.
The Swedish Forest Agency set the target to help tackle the effects of climate change and boost the economy, especially in rural areas.
“Effective and advanced forest management is an investment for the future,” said Södra’s Chief Forester Göran Örlander. “Based on the individual goals of private forest owners for their forest, we will now work in various ways to implement the proposed actions.”
“An initiative such as this serves to emphasise a very important aspect of our relationship with forest owners,” added Vice President of Södra Cell International Henrik Wettergren. “The extra felling necessitated by the bark beetle outbreak can make it seem that plentiful pulpwood is a given. But when these quantities have worked through the system, our members’ commitment to grow their forests sustainably and keep us supplied with high quality raw material will be greatly to our customers’ advantage, particularly with an anticipated annual demand increase for softwood pulp of 2-3% for the foreseeable future.”
Apart from security of supply, stronger forest growth will help Södra tackle the challenges of climate change through increased CO₂ binding and by contributing to a higher share of renewable products on the market.
“Our carbon footprint is also part of our customers’ carbon footprint,” said Wettergren. “Also, biodiversity matters more and more to stakeholders throughout the value chain and it is an essential aspect of the forest growth plan. The Swedish authorities set high standards which our members tend to exceed.”
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Subjects: Pulp
