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Forests are under pressure from human activity that results in forest loss and degradation. The pulp and paper industry can be one of these pressures, but it can also be what keeps them standing.
To name a few key sources, trees from around the world—Brazil, the United States, Russia, and Sweden—feed global demand for paper-based materials. Most of us don’t buy newspapers anymore. Still, global demand for paper-based products is increasing due to the growth in the global population, packaging for e-commerce orders, and using paper as an alternative to plastic.
Intense management of these wood sources often creates unsustainable pressure. For example, as demand grows, we have seen tropical forests cleared for monoculture plantations and intact boreal forest landscapes become increasingly fragmented. On the other hand, some countries see their forest lands increase due to a thriving forestry sector. As long as these forests are managed in a way that preserves their ecological capacity, this can be good news for wildlife and the climate.
Recycled content is an important component of the pulp and paper industry and is one way to meet growing demand without increasing pressures on forests. However, the way paper is used faces its own human rights challenges. In many places, the informal nature of the collection process leads to extremely difficult work conditions for those involved, including low pay, no insurance safety net and an often dangerous work environment.
Earthworm Foundation is guiding a coalition of leading industry players to promote the value of forests as a source of economic, social and ecological wealth.
With members such as Nestlé, Mars, Inc. and 3M, we work to expand the definition of quality pulp and paper products. Through responsible sourcing policies, we see a path that encourages optimal economic and logistical quality and social and environmental quality of the fibre produced and utilised. We help member businesses set appropriate and measurable objectives. We then map their supply chains to identify priority areas of harvest and suppliers for projects and engagement, respectively. In partnership with our members, we work to cultivate demand for responsible products while tackling core problems such as forest loss and degradation.
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Since our inception in 1999, Earthworm Foundation's mission has been to foster sustainable practices across various sectors.
We have been working with companies and members over the last decade to support the implementation of their Responsible Sourcing Policies for Pulp and Paper and other Production Forest products. The traceability exercises we do for our members and partners indicate that virgin fibre can originate from over 50 countries of harvest and recovered/recycled fibre from even more countries of collection. We, therefore, developed the Country Prioritisation Matrix (CPM) to help companies assess the risks in these supply chains and provide a means to focus on the suppliers and topics that need the most attention.
Help our members prioritise resources for assessing and mitigating risks in their supply chains from high-priority origins.
Support Key Performance Indicator (KPI) calculations against their Responsible Sourcing commitments.
Support reporting expectations against the Consumer Goods Forum (CGF) Deforestation and Conversion Free (DCF). disclosure requirements and those of the Carbon Disclosure Project (CDP).
This tool has evolved over the years to better support our members and their changing policy commitments to drive supply chain improvements. The Country Prioritisation Matrix (CPM) now provides opportunities for downstream brands and retailers to focus on key themes within the pulp and paper industry, which are:
In 2023, Earthworm collaborated with the Consumer Goods Forum (CGF) to integrate our Country Prioritisation Matrix (CPM) into the Pulp and Paper Packaging (PPP) group and guidance, aligning collective action. Positive feedback from members prompted us to make the CPM publicly available in 2024 to further drive collective action on key issues.
Our annually updated Country Prioritisation Matrix (CPM) uses open-source indicators and expert inputs. We aim to improve this CPM continually by incorporating new data as it becomes available, such as EUDR country benchmarking. We're expanding this approach from Production Forests to other raw materials such as palm oil, cacao, and soy.
Download the Country Prioritisation Matrix (CPM) below.
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For more information on our CPM, please contact Alaistair Herd a.herd@earthworm.org or Robin Hobkirk r.hobkirk@earthworm.org.
