About the Environmental Paper Network

Environmental Paper Network (EPN) began in 2001 as an unlikely alliance of organizations with very diverse approaches to a common problem -- the severe impact of the pulp and paper industry on our most pressing environmental challenges including climate change, deforestation, loss of biodiversity, air and water quality, and solid waste. Today, EPN is a network of over 100 organizations working toward the Common Vision for the Transformation of the Paper Industry and a model for collaboration that is being employed by advocates around the world.

EPN is a respected, credible, and influential voice on pulp and paper sustainability issues in North America and its global supply chain, and our network of non-profit organizations is effectively empowering and motivating consumers, corporations, organizations and governments to protect forests, climate, air, water and communities through more sustainable production and consumption of pulp and paper. EPN facilitates a powerful movement of independent organizations, strategically leveraging their collective expertise and resources, to initiate change and environmental improvement in the pulp and paper industry.

EPN's unification of the many environmental organizations working to transform the paper industry has helped to catalyze significant market shifts. Tangible evidence of this shift includes the legal protection of millions of acres of Endangered Forests; significant increases in the number of paper-related certifications and forest acres certified by the Forest Stewardship Council (FSC); the growing number of large companies developing environmental paper policies; the rapidly growing availability of genuine environmental papers to purchasers; decreases in U.S. over-consumption; and increased demand for, and use of, recovered fiber.