Paper manufacturer UPM and Forest Stewardship Council join in strategic partnership

To stimulate the use of FSC certified paper and to achieve UPM´s strict sustainability goals both parties have decided to join forces. The parties had already been working closely together for a number of years to ensure UPM clients would get paper produced according to FSC norms. With this partnership the cooperation will be extended and the promotion of FSC will get a boost. Read more about this important cooperation in the press release below.

UPM and FSC announce a global strategic partnership

UPM and the Forest Stewardship Council (FSC) announce a global strategic partnership to develop solutions for advancing the uptake of FSC in the market. UPM and FSC signed the partnership agreement on 16 May 2017, during the FSC international members meeting in Karkkila, Finland. The partnership aims at delivering benefits to forest owners through FSC certification and to increase the FSC-certified wood supply.

UPM has actively cooperated with FSC both on international and national level for several years. The company has been involved in developing the FSC certification in order to enhance its applicability to the fragmented private forest ownership in Finland. This work will be strengthened through the newly agreed partnership.

‘We are delighted to formalize our collaboration with UPM. It is vitally important that FSC has a strong relationship with sustainability leaders of the paper and forest products industry to expand the FSC footprint globally. We agree on the importance of FSC for all parties in the value chain from forest owners to consumers. UPM and FSC also share a common understanding of the importance of responsible forestry and the sustainable use of wood in the bioeconomy’, said Kim Carstensen, director general, Forest Stewardship Council.

‘UPM’s customers take a growing interest in the company’s environmental performance and the sustainability of its operations. Third-party verified certificates give them useful information about the responsibility of UPM products’, said Heikki Vappula, EVP, UPM Biorefining.

‘The global partnership is a natural continuation to UPM Biofore strategy and to our valuable cooperation with FSC. FSC certification is an excellent tool for promoting responsible forestry. Our joint target is to extend the use of the FSC system in general as well as to develop UPM forest management and solutions for group certification to expand in the Finnish private smallholder structure’, Vappula continued.

To promote the certification of privately owned forests in Finland, UPM established an FSC group certification scheme in 2012. In 2016, the scheme (FSC C 109750) grew to cover about 300,000 hectares of private forest.

About the FSC
FSC works to take care of our forests and those who rely on them by protecting plant and animal species, Indigenous Peoples rights, forest workers’ safety, and much more. This is achieved through FSC certification, ensuring forests around the world are responsibly managed. FSC was established in 1994, and currently, over 190 million hectares of forest are FSC certified, in over 80 countries worldwide. FSC’s global headquarters are in Bonn, Germany, with a network of national offices in over 30 countries.