Seeking to reduce our impact

In Europe, although in absolute terms the CO2 fossil emitted by SKG in 2009 showed a drop of 100 Ktonnes compared to 2008, the CO2 emission, volume adjusted, stayed at the same level as the previous year. Overall emission levels were lower because of lower production levels resulting from the global economic downturn.

The same remark applies to Latin America for absolute CO2 emission, while we note a slight increase in CO2 emission when expressed by tonne of paper produced. For this region we noted an increase in 2009 in the share of biogenic CO2 versus fossil CO2.

Trends for fossil CO2 emissions, by both SKG regions, over the past three years are shown in the graphs on page 24.

SKG endorses the emission reduction targets to be defined in the EU ETS Directive post 2012 according to existing EU targets. On a project by project basis, more ambitious reduction targets are formulated by us from time to time if commercially advantageous (see item on solidboard in the Netherlands in the side panel).

Additionally, we progressively take into account CO2 reduction in every investment decision.

SKG was engaged in activities during 2009 that aimed to reduce the carbon footprint of our products. Our Packaging division in the UK was recognised at the end of 2009 by The Carbon Trust for actions to reduce their carbon footprint. The Carbon Trust is a UK government sponsored company supporting organisations moving to a low carbon economy. It was the first multi-site packaging producer award by The Carbon Trust (see page 26).

Transport
In Europe we calculated the CO2 emission for transport of our main raw materials to our mills and converting plants.

This includes transport of wood, recovered papers and market pulp used in our mills to produce paper and board. The transport of raw materials to the second stage of the supply chain (reels of paper, sheet corrugated board, sheet board, plastic films and other items to the converting plants) is also taken into account.

While the calculation of CO2 emission for transport of reels between our own mills and the converting units (representing 74% of supplies) is accurate, we believe we have made a good estimate of emissions for the transport of the remaining reels of paper supplied to our corrugated plants by external parties.

For 2009, CO2 equivalent amounted to 243,000 tonnes and breakdown by mode of transport is reported in the graph on this page. The CO2 emission factors by transport mode are extracted from the European Reference Life Cycle Database version II (ELCD).

Road, measured by volume transported, accounts for half of SKG’s transport mode, while sea represents the second largest mode of transport of our raw materials with a share of 37%.

We have not been able to do a similar exercise for Latin America due to the structure of its supplier base. We have yet to establish the parameters of the journeys to and from our paper mills.