| Sappi Global

Sustainability makes sound business sense. We depend on our stakeholders to help us create long-term business value and on natural resources for our commercial viability. Accordingly, we have a strong business case for responsible corporate citizenship.

Engaging with stakeholders is the basis of our licence to trade. To build a sustainable business, we have to understand our stakeholders’ concerns, expectations and priorities and engage with them on an ongoing basis through a structured, inclusive, transparent process.

We use natural resources like woodfibre and water to create products that support society’s needs. To ensure the ongoing viability of these resources, we strive to achieve the highest standards of environmental performance.

Responsible corporate citizenship not only enhances our reputation, it also helps promote financial success in the following ways: Engaging with stakeholders helps to increase employee motivation and productivity, and enhances customer satisfaction and community relations, while environmental initiatives drive direct savings in energy and materials.

2018 Sappi Group Sustainability Report (pdf, 16077kb)

2017 Sappi Europe Sustainability Report (pdf, 9683kb)

2017 Sappi North America Sustainability Report (pdf, 3547kb)

2017 Sappi Southern Africa Sustainability Report (pdf, 7604kb)

Browse our interactive 2017 Sappi Group Sustainability Report

(The interactive 2018 Sappi Group Sustainability Report will be available early in 2019.)

If we are to succeed in realising our vision, we recognise that we have to be agile enough to respond not just to changes in the business landscape, but also to the evolving needs of our people and the communities in which our operations are situated.

Valli Moosa, Chairman of the Social, Ethics, Transformation and Sustainability Committee

I am pleased to be able to say that our drive to work as One Sappi is bearing fruit, enabling us to better respond to market dynamics and geo-political challenges. It is clear to me that our value statement ‘At Sappi we do business with integrity and courage, making smart decisions which we execute with speed’, is guiding people towards the right behaviour and is providing the foundation for further growth.

Steve Binnie, Chief Executive Officer, Sappi Limited

Sappi Skills Centres in Southern Africa

Learn more about our skills development initiatives for unemployed youth in South Africa.

Focusing on sustainability only makes business sense if doing so adds value. As our Sustainability Charter commitments help us extract strategic value, we view them as a business imperative and a way of honing our competitive advantage. Meeting our Charter commitments is essential to our sustainability as an organisation, but so, too, is balancing these commitments. The issues that affect us and our stakeholders are constantly evolving and shifting in importance. Being sensitive to these developments means balancing and adjusting our energies and capital expenditure in terms of the commitments while maintaining our core values of Integrity, Courage, Smartness and Speed.

Our global commitments

We hold ourselves accountable to global sustainability best practice standards by transparently measuring, monitoring and communicating our economic, social and environmental performance.

Economic responsibility

Our ability to deliver value creation for our shareholders by focusing on improved profitability, strategic positioning and debt reduction lies at the heart of our commitment to sustainability.

Social responsibility

Active corporate citizenship programmes relevant to the needs of the communities where we operate ensure that we promote socio-economic development within these communities.