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3M believes science helps create a brighter world for everyone. By unlocking the power of people, ideas, and science to reimagine what's possible, our global team uniquely addresses the opportunities and challenges of our customers, communities, and planet.
One of 3M’s sustainability goals is to assure forest products used in its products, including packaging, comes from sources that protect forests' ecological values and respect the rights of workers and people who live in or may depend on forests for their livelihood.
To achieve this goal, Earthworm Foundation partnered with 3M to create a robust Forest Products Sourcing Policy and associated implementation program that goes beyond legal harvesting and sustainable forestry legislation and incorporates crucial social and environmental expectations for its suppliers.
Earthworm experts work directly with 3M staff in North America, Asia, Europe, and Latin America to assess regional supply chain risks related to forest products sourcing and support the implementation of the 3M global policy. We provide 3M with technical support to better understand how their suppliers manage their own sourcing risks and where to apply due diligence to advance responsible forestry in the value chain. This includes leading global risk assessments, conducting field assessments to verify practices on the ground conforming with 3M's policy, and engaging collaboratively across the supply chain.
3M's engagement with their upstream supply chain leads to greater accountability and transparency, enabling better-informed sourcing decisions. This strategy allows 3M to address systemic issues through comprehensive supplier engagement and sourcing-country assessments. As a result, 3M suppliers are enhancing their own responsible sourcing programs, and others are implementing programs that did not exist previously.
2024 Objectives:
These objectives aim to enhance the transparency of 3M’s supply chain, identify risks, and strengthen 3M's capacity to address and monitor those risks effectively. This not only supports 3M’s readiness for new regulations, such as the European Union Regulation on Deforestation-free Products (EUDR), but also positions 3M to proactively go beyond minimum compliance and take an industry-leading approach connecting their forest-positive commitments with their responsible sourcing journey.
Key Resources
With Earthworm facilitation, 3M strengthened collaboration across value-chain partners in Finland to accelerate better environmental outcomes in their packaging supply chain and, together, explore a roadmap for a transformation project to drive forest positive impacts and address degradation at the regional landscape level.
3M, Tsay Keh Dene Nation, and Earthworm attended the GreenBiz Bloom Conference in October. 3M and Tsay Keh Dene presented on a panel, “Setting Things Right with Rights-Based Conservation,” highlighting the importance of relationship building and sharing how companies can support Indigenous-led landscape initiatives in sourcing regions.
3M expanded the scope of their policy to include all timber-based forest products. The 3M Forest Products Sourcing Policy was published along with the updated supporting Guidance Document and a Responsible Sourcing video message from 3M Leadership. EF supported 3M with data collection of targeted APAC suppliers, led supplier capacity building through Brazil Centre for Social Excellence (CSE) and provided technical expertise to foster Canadian supplier engagement. Field visits were conducted in Chile, Finland, Sweden, and the Southeast USA to develop relationships with key suppliers and stakeholders
Tsay Keh Dene Nation hosted 3M sourcing leaders on their core territory to celebrate the establishment of the Wədzih Yiné’ (Caribou Song) Indigenous Protected & Conserved Area. The Nation also commissioned a High Conservation Value assessment focused on Chuyaza, a 24,716 hectare area of cultural and ecological significance with 3M support.
3M, alongside Earthworm Members Nestlé and Mars, hosted a webinar for suppliers sourcing from British Colombia to build knowledge on relevant issues, including First Nations’ right to FPIC and protection of High Conservation Values (HCVs) such as caribou and Intact Forest Landscapes (IFLs).
Earthworm facilitated a High Conservation Value (HCV) assessor training with the Tsay Keh Dene First Nation and Chu Cho Environmental to strengthen indigenous forest management capacity, supported by 3M.
3M co-hosted, and several of its Brazilian suppliers participated in a Centre for Social Excellence (CSE) training series on Free, Prior, and Informed Consent (FPIC) implementation, a right enshrined in the United Nations Declaration on the Rights of Indigenous Peoples.
3M published an updated Pulp and Paper Sourcing Policy, demonstrating a commitment to continuous improvement.
3M co-hosted a responsible paper summit to engage major pulp and paper suppliers with other Earthworm Foundation members in Shanghai, China.
3M met with caribou scientists and First Nations in the Canadian Boreal. Lessons from the trip were immediately applied to sourcing decisions and supplier engagements.
3M published a revised Pulp and Paper Sourcing Policy.
Forests are under increasing pressure from human activity, resulting in forest loss and degradation. The forest product industry can contribute to these pressures but is also an essential part of the solution to keep forests thriving and restore forest values.
Since 2014, Earthworm experts have partnered with 3M to enhance and implement the 3M Forest Products Sourcing Policy. This involves developing robust global due diligence tools and collaborating with 3M staff across North America, Asia, Europe, and Latin America to assess regional supply chain risks and engage suppliers. Together, 3M and Earthworm engage with forest industry actors, stakeholders, and local communities to improve responsible sourcing outcomes and implement projects addressing the most urgent risks on the ground through feet in the field.
