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Five years ago it was ‘outsourcing’, today the watchword for global corporations is ‘carbon neutral’. As a result, many paper mills, merchants and printers are rapidly climbing on board the carbon footprint bandwagon, offering a range of products and services to their blue chip clientele.

This has led to the first wave of carbon neutral paper grades hitting the market, with more expected to follow. The print and paper industry has had to prepare for the introduction of those new products with part of these preparations meaning time and money is being invested in measuring their carbon footprint.

As part of this push, this month, Europe’s paper manufacturing federation, CEPI, launched a carbon footprint framework that enables a company to evaluate its CO2 omissions. Most companies will already be aware of what a carbon footprint is – the measure of the greenhouse gas emissions, such as carbon dioxide, that are attributable to a product or service. However, with CEPI’s framework comes the potential for a standardised approach to the calculation across the industry in Europe.

But what, or who, is driving this change? The term carbon neutral could be misleading, as surely it is impossible to offset absolutely all emissions right through from raw material to consumer. Equally, just because a mill is carbon neutral, the same cannot be said of all the paper that it produces. Confusion surrounds what the term actually means and where to draw the line – and that’s before you even start to debate issues such as how to accurately calculate and best offset the emissions.

With regards a paper product, its carbon footprint is likely to include factors such as energy use, logistics and sourcing raw materials. What can’t be cut out at each stage of the supply chain needs to be offset by investing in projects that reduce emissions in some other way. It’s this combination of reduction and offsetting that makes the product carbon neutral. Paper merchant Robert Horne worked closely with manufacturers, such as Aconda, and the Carbon Neutral Company before it unveiled what it claims is the UK’s first carbon neutral papers, part of its Revive range, this July.

The firm’s environmental manager, Tim Barker, says that to be considered a credible player in this area; “carbon offsetting should only be undertaken as part of a broader plan to reduce the underlying emissions and offsetting projects should be chosen carefully.” A lot of mills, he adds, are likely to have a positive story to tell as they currently use very efficient combined heat and power units, fuelled by renewable energy sources, such as biomass instead of fossil fuels.

Yet, Barker says a lot more work needs to be done before the mills can be assessed as carbon neutral operations.

Environmental and financial
Premier Paper is another merchant going down the carbon neutral route. It recently became the first UK paper merchant to become carbon neutral. Premier Paper Group CSR manager Paddy Byrne believes there are two main driving forces behind mills seeking carbon neutrality. As high energy users, mills are also potentially high CO2 emitters, and Byrne argues that with the cost of energy increasing, carbon neutrality makes business sense, from an environmental and a financial point of view. “In achieving carbon neutrality, mills not only improve their immediate environment and present a more acceptable product to the market, but also, with the right energy investments, help guarantee a more secure future for their business,” he explains.

The second driving force behind the push towards carbon neutrality is coming from the customers of printers, according to Byrne. “Large corporate groups, NGOs and local authorities are being asked: ‘are you carbon neutral?’ There­fore, the pressure is being passed from end user to printer, to paper merchant and on to the mill.” After the mill achieves carbon neutrality, the next step is to make the paper neutral too. “The larger mills are moving towards carbon neutrality. However, a number of smaller, specialised mills are also moving towards neutral status, as many of these mills pride themselves on their environmental credentials.”

However, at present, Curtis Fine Papers managing director Keith Chapman believes that very few mills are carbon neutral. He adds that those who claim carbon neutrality mostly achieve this through carbon offsets, rather than the purchase of ‘green energy’ generated by wind power or other non-fossil fuels. “If a mill is using only green energy sources, it is carbon neutral. If it relies on carbon offsetting, the paper produced has been responsible for carbon emissions to the atmosphere, which have been ‘cancelled out’ by tree planting or other offset activity.” He says that as with many green arguments, “it is a matter of reading the small print.”

Others, such as M-real development manager Kimmo Lahti-Nuuttila, argue that scientists and the government are driving change concerning CO2 efficiency, and that carbon neutrality discussions are largely created by consultants, who earn money by selling offsets. These mixed messages are causing confusion. As one paper merchant puts it, some mills are just not clear as to whether they should produce carbon neutral paper or be a carbon neutral company. “I have spoken to two manufacturers that say they can make carbon neutral paper. Neither is sure if this claim is based on just carbon neutral manufacturing or a product that is still carbon neutral when it reaches the merchant. Even if you manufacture carbon neutral paper, as soon as you then move the product, you create a further carbon footprint. So, who is responsible for the additional carbon: the mill, merchant or printer?”

As Premier Paper’s Byrne points out: “For a product to be neutral, the entire footprint must be calculated. This means all of the carbon emitted throughout the supply chain.” So, while the mill may be neutral, if it has not calculated the emissions used in transportation, the paper will lose its carbon neutral status. “However, even if this [transportation impact] has been calculated, the merchant would also have to be carbon neutral and would have to include the carbon incurred in the delivery of that paper to the end customer.”

Efficiency over neutrality
M-real’s Lahti-Nuuttila believes that CO2 efficiency, rather than carbon neutrality, is the real definer.
“Some mills may have the possibility to achieve carbon neutrality by producing all their energy with non-fossil energy sources,” says Lahti-Nuuttila. “However, some mills may try to show carbon neutrality by subcontracting their energy production and thereby excluding operations that produce CO2 emissions from their figures. CO2 efficiency can be improved, but actual neutrality will not be possible for most operations in this world, and paper mills are no exception.”

While arguments such as this will rumble on, the industry needs to achieve a level of resolution, because carbon issues will become increasingly important for those buying paper. As Robert Horne’s Barker cautions: “Mills that don’t work to understand their carbon footprint, and reduce it, risk their products being excluded from customers’ considerations.”

It is evident that all links in the supply chain need to communicate with one another to establish a common framework, and many are pinning their hopes on CEPI’s new initiative. If this fails, then the mills could face a gloomy outlook. “As the anti-carbon emissions lobby continues to grow, the paper mills that persist in ignoring the pressure from the environmentalists and, more importantly, their customers, will find themselves being left behind in an already difficult marketplace,” warns Premier Paper’s Byrne.

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CASE STUDY: DALUM PAPIR
Danish paper producer Dalum Papir, which was recently bought by Arjowiggins, operates one of the most environmentally friendly mills in the world, thanks to its 45MW biofuel boiler. Coupled with other green improvements, Dalum claims that it now has the world’s lowest CO2 emissions and energy consumption for the production of fine paper.

The firm also claims that by using its Cyclus 100% recycled paper, the end user can reduce their paper consumption’s environmental impact. It promises CO2 emissions reductions of 90%, energy consumption savings of 60% and reduced discharge into water sources of 100%.

Managing director Henrik Kaa Andersen explains: “This project is state of the art and will contribute to Dalum Papir’s competitiveness for years to come. We are proud that we have been able to develop the project internally and manage it through to operational start-up in record time.

“Dalum Papir stands as the most environment­ally friendly fine paper firm in the world. This is highly prized by our customers, and will ensure continued growth in demand for our products.”