Canopy In Davos To Release Report On Transforming The Paper And Textile Industries To Halt Climate And Species Crisis

Plan for transformation lauded by major investors and global brands

International environmental group Canopy today launched a visionary action plan. It describes how to transform the unsustainable global paper packaging and viscose textile industries by removing 50% of the forest fibre from pulp manufacturing and replacing it with Next Generation alternative fibres such as agricultural residues and waste cotton textiles. Doing so will enable 30% of the world’s forests to be conserved by 2030. The report provides a lifeline for averting the climate and biodiversity catastrophe within ten years. The IPCC has listed protection of forests, especially original forests, as critical to a safe world.

The transformation will cost $69B over the next decade to establish mills that can pulp alternative fibres, introduce reduction/efficiency initiatives and plant new well-sited, well-managed fibre supply forests – which in turn enable the restoration of plantations currently sited on high carbon/biodiverse landscapes. To put this scale of investment into context, the manufacturer of Botox sold for $63B in 2018. The Next Generation Action Plan outlines, in pragmatic terms, the steps that need to be taken by industries, by investors and by corporate buyers to safeguard more of the world’s forests. It has been developed in response to the climate crisis and extinction crisis threatening thousands of species worldwide, and has support from key corporate players (see supporting statements below).

“This is an action plan to shift global production of pulp, paper, packaging and viscose textiles out of Ancient and Endangered Forests and help us secure the scale of conservation that’s needed. Our brand partners want these Next Generation Solutions and the technologies are ready,” said Nicole Rycroft, Executive Director of Canopy. “We’re thinking big, because there’s no point to doing anything less. Now is not the time for climate despair, but for transformative action, and ultimately, hope for our forests, climate, and people the world over.”

Maintaining healthy forests will account for one-third of what’s needed to avert the climate crisis and is critical for terrestrial biodiversity. Achieving that will require equal measures of innovation and investment. Eliminating 50% of wood fibre from pulp, paper, packaging and viscose will require:

• 200 agricultural fibre pulp mills;
• 107 recycled pulp for paper mills; and
• 17 recycled cotton garment and/or microbial cellulose fibre dissolving pulp mills.
• 5 million hectares of new forests for fibre planted on lands not prioritized for food production, habitat restoration or carbon storage, and
• 65 million tons of consumption will be reduced through re-use and material-efficient design initiatives

Canopy believes that this ambitious but achievable scenario provides a clear path to helping protect our planet for all life.