BOSTON, MA,
July 20, 2009
(PRNewswire) -
As part of its commitment to operating sustainably, today Sappi Fine Paper North America announced that it has joined the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency's (EPA) SmartWay(SM) Transport Partnership and re-qualified its Cloquet Mill with the Center for Resource Solutions as a certified Green-e® Energy organization for 2009-2010. In addition, Sappi also has announced its emissions data, which has been calculated in accordance with the Greenhouse Gas Protocol. These best practices are just some of the many initiatives that Sappi Fine Paper North America has adopted as part of its commitment to sustainability and to reducing its impact on the environment.
The SmartWay(SM) Transport Partnership is an innovative collaboration between the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) and companies that provide and hire freight delivery services, and is designed to increase energy efficiency while significantly reducing greenhouse gases and air pollution. Sappi Fine Paper North America qualified as a certified shipper within the Partnership, after submitting an environmental assessment of its freight operations to the EPA and committing to improving its performance within three years while tracking progress on an annual basis.
As a SmartWay(SM) partner, Sappi Fine Paper North America will contribute to the SmartWay(SM) Transport Partnership's goal to cut carbon dioxide emissions by 33 to 66 million metric tons, and nitrogen oxide emissions by up to 200,000 tons per year, by 2012. This is comparable to removing up to 12 million cars from the road each year. Carbon dioxide is the most common greenhouse gas, and nitrogen oxide is an air pollutant that contributes to smog.
Sappi Fine Paper North America also re-qualified its Cloquet Mill in Minnesota this year with the Center for Resource Solutions as a Green-e® Energy organization. Green-e® is the nation's leading, independent, third party certification and verification program by Green-e Marketplace for renewable energy in the U.S., ensuring that strict environmental and consumer protection standards are met. Under the Green-e® certification, 100% percent of the electricity used to manufacture the following products at the Cloquet Mill is certified renewable energy generated onsite by Sappi: McCoy sheets and digital; LOE; Opus sheets and digital; Flo sheets and digital; and Opus web with 30% post-consumer waste .
"Sappi Fine Paper North America is proud of its industry leading environmental position and is dedicated to continuous improvement, which includes securing third party environmental qualifications such as our new certification with SmartWay(SM) Transport and renewed certification status as a Green-e® Energy organization," said Jennifer Miller, Executive Vice President of Marketing and Communications, Sappi Fine Paper North America.
More than 90% of electricity used currently by Sappi's coated fine paper mills in Cloquet, Minn. and Skowhegan, Maine, is generated on site, primarily from renewable resources. As a result, in 2008, Sappi had a lower carbon footprint than the industry average-- 83% of the total energy for these two mills came from renewable sources compared to the industry average of 64% use of energy from renewable sources, as reported by AF&PA in 2006. Furthermore, through a series of environmental initiatives, Sappi Fine Paper North America has reduced its CO2 emissions from fossil fuels by 27% from 2004 to 2008. Sappi's emissions reduction has not only already met but has exceeded a proposed legislative target of greenhouse gas reductions of 17% by 2020 from 2005 levels (as set forth in the American Clean Energy and Security Act (H.R. 2454), recently passed by the U.S. House of Representatives and headed to the U.S. Senate).
In addition, Sappi Fine Paper North America has also conducted a comprehensive analysis of its operations in accordance with the Greenhouse Gas Protocol, the most widely used international accounting tool for government and businesses to measure and manage greenhouse gas emissions. This analysis shows that the Cloquet Mill emits 0.20 tons of CO2 per ton of product (pulp and paper) and the Somerset Mill emits 0.47 tons of CO2 per ton of paper. The results reflect emissions from the mill and those associated with purchased power.
"We encourage our customers to survey their supply chain and ask for the greenhouse gas emissions data, as the data will reveal that Sappi Fine Paper North America has one of the lowest carbon footprints among coated free sheet manufacturers in North America," Laura Thompson, Ph.D., Director of Sustainability and Technical Marketing, Sappi Fine Paper North America.