The Paper Consumer’s Guide to Climate Change

December 10, 2007

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Business managers at U.S. firms have more leverage to reduce climate change than they may realize because nearly every firm purchases vast amounts of paper products, according to a new guide co-authored by Metafore and The Gagliardi Group.

The Paper Consumer’s Guide to Climate Change (PDF) describes the role that paper and its forest-based lifecycle play in the absorption and release of greenhouse gases, and shows how paper purchasers can take the initiative to tip the scales toward lower emissions.

“Even in this e-mail era, we still manufacture and use nearly 100 million tons of paper products a year in the United States,” says Carl Gagliardi, president of The Gagliardi Group. “Yet we tend to overlook the opportunity this consumption presents businesspeople, who are really the ones deciding which paper grades get purchased.”

“By developing a four-step guide, our aim is to show that a new, unique take on a carbon footprint can be an intuitive process; a tried and true method for companies to take measurable action,” said Metafore Senior Analyst Sheldon Zakreski.

The guide explains the science and economics of climate change; shows how managers can cultivate their own “internal compass” to help them independently sift through the often conflicting expertise they hear; identifies the best tools to adopt to account for and lower their paper-based greenhouse gas emissions; and cuts through the clutter about carbon offsets.

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