Responsible Virgin Fibre - Environmental Paper Network

Earth Day Food-for-Thought: Development Funds Dissolving into Pulp

Today is the 50th anniversary of Earth Day, a symbolic date celebrated around the world to show support for environmental action. But this year is different. 2020 carried high expectations in the fight against climate change, but people were caught by surprise by the COVID-19 pandemic. Our ways of life are disrupted, millions are locked […]

Canopy’s EcoPaper Database Updated and Expanded for 2020

More and more companies are searching for products that support the solutions to the climate and biodiversity crisis, including in their paper and packaging. To support their success and the marketplace of Next Generation Solutions, Canopy has released the updated EcoPaper Database for 2020. Bigger, better and easier-to-use than ever, the EcoPaper Database features more […]

The end of the misguided Amazar pulp mill project?

Kiu Hung International Holdings Limited has announced the decision of its Board of Directors that it will not proceed with the project. Of the many pulp and paper capacity expansions around the world, few were are as misguided and as threatening to native and intact forests as the Amazar Pulp and Saw Mill (APSM, also […]

Complaint Challenges Certification of Djarum Group Company by Forest Stewardship Council

On December 4, 2019, Yayasan Auriga Nusantara submitted a complaint to the Forest Stewardship Council (FSC) about PT Bukit Muria Jaya, a paper and packaging processor based in Karawang, West Java, owned by Djarum Group. The complaint indicates that the majority shareholder of PT Bukit Muria Jaya, Mr. Robert Budi Hartono, is a shareholder of two pulpwood plantation […]

The buyers of the Amazar Pulp Mill acknowledged that they misinformed the Hong Kong Stock Exchange

Originally published by Rivers without Boundaries Civil society attempts to prevent the worst environmental and social impacts from Chinese-owned pulp-mill development in Zabaikalsky province scored a new important tactical victory at Hong Kong Stock Exchange. The KHI toy-manufacturing company, which previously claimed that it wants to take over management of the “highly profitable Polaris Company” […]

Massive forest fires and haze in Indonesia create public health and climate crisis

The world’s tropical rainforests and the people who live in them are suffering continued tragedy from forest fires that are driven by the demand for agricultural commodities, including timber for pulp to make viscose, paper and packaging. In Indonesia, massive forest fires have been burning for weeks, and drained peatlands having been smoldering, causing a […]

Tree plantation wildfires in Spain are a warning sign

Temperatures have peaked at record highs in many parts of Europe this week, and the consequences are being felt severely in Europe’s forests. As highlighted in a discussion document published by the EPN earlier this year, there is an increasingly clear link between climate change, large-scale industrial tree plantations and forest fires. In Northern Spain, […]

Uruguayan citizens opposing UPM’s new pulp mill appeal to the Finnish government

In Uruguay, the citizen opposition to a new pulp mill planned by the Finnish paper giant UPM continues to grow. Last Friday, a citizen movement calling itself as the “national coordination of social organisations against UPM”, representing more than 40 organisations and campaigning under #UPM2NO, went to the Consulate of Finland in Uruguay. They handed […]

UPM’s Paso de los Toros mill poses financial and reputational risks

In Uruguay, protests are rising against the installation of UPM’s planned new pulp mill project in Paso de los Toros. There has been strong social criticism on the conditions of the contract that the government signed with UPM, on the expected impacts of the pulp mill as well as on the impacts of the associate […]