Suzano Highlights ESG Successes and Commitments During Second Annual ESG Call
Suzano, the world's largest hardwood pulp manufacturer, hosted its second annual ESG Call, focusing on its goal of being a "regenerative firm for a regenerative society." The ESG Call for Action highlighted measurable progress and objectives in three key areas of action: climate change, biodiversity, and social development.
On climate change, the French government's and CDP's ACT programme ranked Suzano above its pulp and paper industry peers in nearly every criterion.
Suzano announced its target of removing 40 million tonnes of CO2 from the atmosphere from 2030 to 2025 in 2021, which will be accomplished through improvements to its industrial processes, such as systematically replacing the use of fossil fuels at its industrial plants with biomass, and through the conversion of degraded land.
Suzano launched a goal of lifting 200,000 people out of poverty by 2020 as part of their social obligations. This is especially important given that 10% of the Brazilian population lives in poverty, and 33.1 million Brazilians suffer from hunger.
During the first two years of this poverty project, 11,000 people were lifted out of poverty, and another 34,000 were reached through social services.
This has resulted in an average income increase of 57.5 per cent, culminating in revenue production of US$18 million for these communities by 2021.
Suzano has worked on the biodiversity agenda to develop a governance framework and a thorough action plan based on talks with rural producers and local groups, field investigations, and science-based methodologies.
The company will begin the restoration of natural forests and the deployment of production models with ecological functions in the second semester of 2022.
Reflecting on Suzano’s ESG goals, CEO Walter Schalka said:
“Suzano already leads pioneering projects to develop research-based solutions that tackle climate change, preserve natural landscapes, and permanently lift whole communities out of poverty. However, there is so much more to achieve and we cannot do this alone. Beyond reaching our targets, our mission is to build networks with governments, organisations, and individual citizens to drive forward impactful and lasting change and create a regenerative system for the benefit of society.”
Source: Businesswire
