Domtar Sustainability Report: 35 KPIs Launched

Paper company Domtar has unveiled 35 key performance indicators, including a pledge to cut its scope 1 and 2 CO2 emissions by 8 percent by 2020 based on 2010 levels, in its latest corporate sustainability report.

The company says the KPIs and the sustainability framework surrounding them build on “industry leadership” in forestry certification, good mill-level environmental performance and longstanding collaborations with environmental non-governmental organizations.

Domtar’s new KPIs are split into five categories covering its fiber, environmental impact, products, employees and the communities in which the company operates.

In the fiber category Domtar has committed itself to eventually sourcing 100 percent of its fiber from Forestry Stewardship Council-certified sources. Its 2020 goal is to source 25 percent of its total from such sources. Other KPIs that the company will record, but are not necessarily targets, include the percentage of FSC-controlled wood, the percentage of Sustainable Forestry Initiative fiber, and the overall percentage of ecolabel-certified fiber.

Currently, 89 percent of the total fiber Domtar procures comes from controlled sources, as recognized by World Wildlife Fund’s North American Global Forest & Trade Network. Some 20 percent of that comes from forests that are either certified, or on their way to being certified, by the FSC, the report says.

In 2011, 16 percent of the wood Domtar used was FSC-certified, the same proportion as 2010 and 2 percentage points higher than in 2009. Some 9 percent of the company’s wood in 2011 was SFI-certified, up from 6 percent in 2010. The total amount of Domtar’s wood that was certified by an ecolabel in 2011 was 32 percent, up from 28 percent in 2010. In 2009, 28.5 percent of the company’s wood was certified by an ecolabeling system.

Currently 100 percent of Domtar’s owned and operational forests are certified by both the FSC and SFI. It is in the process of selling off Ontario forests – none of which is certified or currently operational. Of the forests it licenses the use of, 69 percent are FSC-certified and 20 percent are SFI-certified.

In 2011, the company expanded its range of FSC-certified products. Domtar’s EarthChoice product line now includes such specialty products as bandage wraps, popcorn bags, candy wrappers, sugar pouches, and hamburger wrappers.

Between 2010 and 2011 Domtar’s CO2 intensity dropped just under 2 percent, from 642.3 to 630.8 kg of CO2 equivalent per metric ton of production. Since 2002, the company’s carbon intensity has dropped almost 28 percent.