Climate change

Our teams are passionate about harvesting the power in and beyond trees for decarbonisation and CoCreating solutions with partners who share our ambition. Papierholz Austria is one of those partners.

Kirkniemi Mill in Finland took a big leap forward in 2022 on the journey to decarbonisation by installing the equipment required to receive, store and handle biomass to power its multi-fuel boiler. During 2023 the mill should be able to finally exit coal and instead become powered by renewable bioenergy. 

The steam boilers that Sappi needs for paper production are increasingly part of the solution to climate change. Instead of relying on fossil fuels like gas, Maastricht Mill has installed an electronic or ‘e-boiler’ so that wind and solar can become part of the energy mix.

With new state-of-the-art technology, boiler 11 at Gratkorn Mill is shifting from a coal boiler to a multi-fuel boiler in two phases. The goal is to finally use only sustainable and renewable fuels.

Sappi’s international Revolving Credit Facility (RCF) of EUR 515 million benefits from our newly developed Sustainable Financing Framework. This is more proof of our sustainability promise and contributions to the circular economy.

The Science Based Targets initiative (SBTi) has approved our target to reduce carbon emissions 41.5% per ton of product by 2030, as well as our commitment that 44% of our suppliers by spend have science-based targets by 2026.

Working forests are vital to fighting climate change and Sappi is well-positioned to make a difference.

Talking to Tyrone Hawkes, Sappi Southern Africa’s Vice President for Strategy and Business Development about Ngodwana Energy, a 25 MW biomass energy plant at Ngodwana Mill in which Sappi Southern Africa holds a 30% stake. The plant, which came on stream in March 2022, uses biomass recovered from surrounding plantations and screened waste material from the mill production process.

Climate change has exacerbated the potential for forest fires. At Sappi, we practise sustainable forestry with fire risk management systems in place to ensure forestlands remain forested in South Africa and everywhere we operate.

We talk to Wynand De Swardt about our transition to solar-powered heating at our Ngodwana nursery in South Africa.