As we begin 2026, it is clear that 2025 was not an easy year for forests, communities, or those working to protect them. Yet it was also a year that demonstrated the continued relevance — and necessity — of the Environmental Paper Network (EPN) and Biomass Action Network (BAN) as global alliances working across pulp, paper, and biomass energy sectors to challenge destructive industrial models and advance real climate and biodiversity solutions.
What We Did in 2025
Throughout 2025, we acted across regions, issues, and scales — connecting frontline struggles with international policy debates.
One key milestone was the publication of the revised Do Not Cross: Red Lines in Pulp and Paper, coordinated by EPN’s Pulp Finance Working Group. The revised Red Lines set out clear minimum social and environmental standards for financial institutions active in the pulp and paper sector. They respond to the accelerating overconsumption of paper—especially single-use products, packaging, and pulp for fast fashion—and its role in driving deforestation, plantation expansion, pollution, and land conflict.
The document makes explicit that further expansion of monoculture tree plantations is incompatible with sustainability, and calls on financiers to stop supporting new plantations and new pulp mills, while requiring strong due diligence, full transparency, respect for Indigenous and community rights, and strict protection of natural forests, peatlands, water, and biodiversity. While focused on pulp and paper, the Red Lines also clarify that climate responsibility within the sector includes ending the use of woody biomass for energy beyond true mill residues.
We also deepened our engagement with movements and communities:
- We participated in the Peoples for Forests Global Gathering in France, reinforcing alliances with forest defenders across Europe and beyond.
- Together with Colectivo Viento Sur and Demand Climate Justice, we co-organized a meeting in Chile on false climate solutions, highlighting how biomass and monoculture plantations are being advanced at the expense of real emissions reductions.
- In Brazil, we co-organized a meeting of communities affected by Suzano’s operations in Maranhão, creating space for exchange, visibility, and collective strategy among those living with the social and environmental costs of pulp expansion.
At the global level, we helped to mobilize resistance to industrial biomass by organizing the International Day of Action on Big Biomass, amplifying critical voices from multiple continents and underscoring that biomass is not a climate solution—it is a continuation of extractive practices under a green label.
We also brought these messages into international policy spaces. EPN participated in COP30 in Belém, ensuring that forests, land use, and biomass energy were discussed not as abstract carbon stocks, but as living territories with rights-holders and limits.
In the US, we continue to fight for laws that will reduce the unnecessary consumption of paper products and their impact on forests. We advocated for legislation like the Improving Disclosure for Investors Act of 2025, a bipartisan proposal to modernize investor communications by making electronic delivery the default for required disclosures – a move that would save 830 million pages (over 101,000 trees) from being consumed each year.
Finally, we continued to support practical change by updating the EPN Paper Calculator, giving institutions and organizations an improved tool to reduce paper consumption and shift toward recycled content — an often overlooked but essential climate and forest strategy. Paper Calculator Version 4.1 includes updated data and results to support responsible purchasing, sustainability planning, and paper reduction strategies. Users will see expanded material and fiber categories, updated greenhouse gas emissions factors, improved modeling for recovered fiber and end-of-life pathways, and new reporting outputs.
Troubling Political Context
While this work progressed, the political and regulatory environment worsened. In Europe, the further postponement of the EU Deforestation Regulation (EUDR) — following sustained pressure from industry, including the pulp and paper sector — sent a troubling signal about whose interests are being prioritized. At the same time, the upcoming review of the EU LULUCF Regulation is increasingly framed through the lens of ‘competitiveness’ of forest-based industries such as pulp and paper, rather than safeguarding forest carbon sinks.
More broadly, we are witnessing a systematic relaxation of environmental legislation. In the EU, proposed omnibus laws risk weakening hard-won protections in the name of simplification. In the United States, environmental safeguards are also being rolled back, shrinking civic space and reducing accountability for corporate actors. These trends are not isolated—they reflect a global shift toward deregulation, corporate capture, and prioritizing profit over climate and biodiversity protection.
Looking Ahead to 2026: Acting Smarter in Harder Times
As we move into 2026, we must be honest: conditions for environmental action are deteriorating. Political space is narrowing, industry influence is growing, and narratives around “green growth” and “competitiveness” are being used to justify forest destruction and increased emissions. This reality demands that we act smarter, more strategically, and more efficiently.
For EPN, this means:
- Strengthening collaboration across regions and movements to avoid duplication and amplify impact
- Sharpening our analysis and messaging on pulp and paper and biomass energy impacts, forest governance, and consumption reduction
- Focusing on leverage points — finance, policy reviews, and public narratives — where intervention can still make a difference
- Continuing to center the leadership and knowledge of communities directly affected by pulp, paper, and biomass industrie
The challenges ahead are significant. But so is the strength of our network. EPN was created precisely for moments like this—when coordinated, international, justice-centered action is not optional, but essential. As we enter 2026, we do so with clarity: forests cannot afford more delays, loopholes, or false solutions. And neither can we.