Sustainable Growth

As the private sector adopts climate disclosure standards established by the Task Force on Climate-Related Financial Disclosures (TCFD), the oil and gas industry faces increasing pressure from its investors to disclose how it is managing climate risk, including emissions of methane from oil and gas.

This year, the Ray C. Anderson Center for Sustainable Business at the Georgia Tech Scheller College of Business celebrates its fifth anniversary. It launched in 2013 as the Center for Business Strategies for Sustainability with funding from the Ray C. Anderson Foundation and others, and in January 2015 the Ray C. Anderson Foundation made a $5 million commitment. It was then renamed for Ray C. Anderson.

In terms of total consumption of energy, pulp and paper is third among industrial sectors; only the refi ning and chemical industries consume more. However, environmental impact is affected not just by the amount of energy consumed, but also by the type of energy. On average, US pulp and paper mills derive nearly two-thirds of their energy needs from renewable sources that are considered carbon neutral. Sappi’s mills derive nearly 80 percent of their energy from renewable resources.

With increasing recognition of the imperative for companies and investors to transform their business models in order to generate sustainable returns while achieving the Paris Agreement and Sustainable Development Goals, there’s greater need for a “transformation blueprint.” Responding to this need, Reporting 3.0 is rolling out the Transformation Journey Program (TJP), based on our Transformation Journey Blueprint, in Workshop Series in Europe and North America. The Workshop Series, which focus on Sustainable Finance, will be hosted by ING in Amsterdam, John Hancock / Manulife in Boston, and McMaster University in Toronto between November 2018 and May 2019.

Every year, the SFI Implementation Committees pool and distribute resources, contributing hundreds of thousands of dollars to various organizations in support of conservation, research and education. Since 1995, SFI participants have collectively contributed over $1.6 billion to conservation efforts. Our wood procurement group for the Cloquet Mill supports numerous conservation projects through direct funding and in-kind resources, as well as through the collaborative efforts of the SFI Implementation Committees in Michigan, Wisconsin and Minnesota.

Plastic pollution in the world’s oceans is one of the biggest threats to our environment and impacts more than 600 marine species. Discarded trash, mostly comprised of single-use plastic, accumulates in five ocean garbage patches, the largest of which is the Great Pacific Garbage Patch located between Hawaii and California.

The Digi Dhan team set up Digi Dhan, meaning digital money, in partnership with the NASSCOM Foundation, a non-profit organisation dedicated to using technology for good.

As the world’s largest food and beverage company, Nestlé is committed to preserving resources for future generations. It aims to do so by reducing water use across its operations, using sustainably managed and renewable resources, and achieving its goal of zero waste. Ecolab’s Nalco Water business helped a Nestlé milk production plant in southeastern Brazil reduce energy use, water consumption and CO2 emissions.

AccountAbility is pleased to release a practical guidance document highlighting the key changes made to the AA1000 AccountAbility Principles (AA1000AP, 2018), as well as an overview of alignment with commonly used sustainability-related reporting standards and frameworks. The document serves to support both organisational users and assurance providers in effectively working with the AA1000AP (2018).

Sappi utilizes numerous systems and other tools for providing information on our sustainability performance.