Scientists Confirm Burning Biofuels is Not Carbon Neutral

Many in the paper industry have been touting their business as environmentally friendly because they assert that they use a carbon neutral source of energy: residuals from forest harvest and the byproducts of pulp production, particularly black liquor.

However, as many environmental organizations have been quick to point out, burning biomass is far from carbon neutral as it immediately releases carbon from land-based stores to the atmosphere. And of course burning land-based stores of carbon, whether they be locked in fossil fuels below ground or in biomass above ground, is precisely the major cause of climate change.

While environmental organizations have been making this rather commonsense point for some time, an October article in Science has confirmed this glaring accounting error. As reported in the New York Times, "The accounting error even gives the impression that clearing the world’s forests, which absorb and thereby diminish heat-trapping carbon dioxide, is good for the climate, the scientists write." They also state the critical fact quite succinctly, "If an existing stand of forest land is cleared for fuel, its ability to absorb carbon dioxide is lost, and the net balance of the gas in the atmosphere goes up."

And Princeton University, who led the study, had this to say in their report:

"Tim Searchinger, a research scholar in the Princeton Environmental Institute and a fellow with the German Marshall Fund of the United States, is lead author of the study. Michael Oppenheimer, director of the Program in Science, Technology and Environmental Policy and professor of geosciences and international affairs in the Wilson School of Public and International Affairs, is a co-author.

In the study, "Fixing a Critical Climate Accounting Error," the authors contend that across-the-board exemption of carbon dioxide (CO₂) emissions from bioenergy -- the use of plant materials known as biomass for the production of renewable fuels -- is improper in greenhouse gas regulations if emissions due to land-use changes also are not included. This, they assert, erroneously treats all uses of bioenergy as carbon-neutral, renewable energy regardless of the source of the biomass, and could create strong economic incentives for large-scale land conversion as countries around the world tighten carbon caps."

To read the full article from Princeton University, click here.

Mohawk Quits over Climate Bill, and US House Closing Black Liquor Loopholes in the Health Care Bill

Lots of action today for the paper industry in an emerging storyline of how it will fit into the new, low-carbon economy, and who will lead.

First, news that Mohawk Fine Papers is quitting the US Chamber of Commerce over its radical position against the cap and trade climate bills working through Congress. See article here.

Second, there is news in the story of the "Son of Black Liquor" tax loophole in the 2008 Farm Bill. (Read about it in the blog: Dead Tree Edition) Representative Van Hollen (D-Maryland) has apparently had his recently introduced stand alone legislation (H.R. 3895) inserted into the Manager's Amendment to the health care bill that will hit the floor at the end of this week.

The estimated $24 billion in tax credit savings could be used to offset costs of the health care bill, Van Hollen said.

"In addition to supporting homegrown renewable energy, it is my hope that this legislation will be added to the manager's amendment for the House health care reform package making its way to the floor this week so that the savings generated by these improvements can help pay for health care for all Americans," said Representative Van Hollen in a statement.

Fashion Industry to Protect Indonesia’s Rainforests - New Commitments from Gucci, Tiffany and H&M

Rainforest Action Network (RAN) has been successfully urging the fashion world to more closely examine their paper supply chains and to sever any connection with paper suppliers like Asia Pulp and Paper who are actively destroying Indonesia’s rainforests.

Gucci Group has decided to eliminate all paper made from Indonesian rainforests and plantations and by controversial suppliers like Asia Pulp and Paper. The move is a first step in implementing an industry-leading paper policy and a continuation of the Gucci Group’s interest in stemming climate change, about twenty percent of which stems from forest loss.

Gucci Group’s new policy puts them at the front of a growing list of major companies, including Tiffany & Co., H&M Group, Staples and Unisource who are taking concrete action to clean their supply chains of rainforest paper and severing relationships with companies who continue to destroy rainforests in Indonesia or elsewhere.

“Standing rainforests are not a luxury, they’re a necessity if the world wants to stop climate change,” said Mimma Viglezio, Executive VP Global Communications at the Group. “Our actions are lowering our own carbon footprint, but we hope that they will also raise awareness inside the fashion industry that it’s possible for our industry to make a difference for rainforests and for the climate.”

The Gucci Group’s move commits some of fashion’s most famous brands, including Yves Saint Laurent, Alexander McQueen, Stella McCartney and Balenciaga to perhaps the luxury industry’s strongest paper policy. With its new policy, the Gucci Group has pledged to reduce the amount of paper it uses, eliminate fiber from high conservation value forests, and only to purchase recycled products or those certified by the Forest Stewardship Council by December 2010. With this policy, they are ensuring that all paper categories used by the group, from copy paper to shopping bags, do not come from endangered forests like those in Indonesia.

“The Gucci Group’s actions and commitments confirm its place as an industry leader,” said Lafcadio Cortesi, RAN’s Forest Campaign Director. “This move sets a bar for others in fashion and retail and demonstrates the foresight our society needs for our children and grandchildren to have standing rainforests and a stable climate.”

Worldwide, the degradation and destruction of tropical rainforests is responsible for twenty percent of all annual greenhouse emissions. The carbon emissions resulting from Indonesia’s rapid deforestation account for around eight percent of global emissions: more than the combined emissions from all the cars, planes, trucks, buses and trains in United States. This huge carbon footprint from forest destruction has made non-industrialized Indonesia the third-largest global greenhouse gas emitter, behind only the U.S. and China.

New "Carbon Canopy" Brings Groups Together for U.S. Southern Forests

A newly announced group of diverse stakeholders say their work to build credibility within US forest carbon market will create incentives to protect, restore and conserve forests while providing sources of paper and wood products from forests managed to a high environmental standard.

Staples, and one-time foe Dogwood Alliance are teaming up with other conservation groups, wood products companies and landowners to announce a new, comprehensive project that will protect forests, combat climate change and help develop sources of paper and wood products certified to the high standards of the Forest Stewardship Council (FSC).

The Carbon Canopy is focused on forests in the Southern US, the largest paper and wood-producing region in the world where 90% of the forests are privately owned. Combined with the loss of forests to development, logging practices such as large scale clearcutting and the conversion of natural forests to plantations has created concerns about the long-term health of the region’s forests.As a first step to addressing these concerns, the Carbon Canopy will develop a pioneering project that will be based on rigorous environmental standards to determine how the emerging US forest carbon market can be credibly leveraged to pay private landowners to expand carbon stores in working forests in the South. The ultimate goal is to create financial incentives for landowners to increase forest conservation and restoration efforts, and to certify management practices to the high standards of Forest Stewardship Council (FSC). Through the pilot project the Carbon Canopy will “test” how southern forest landowners might benefit financially from expanding forest conservation and restoration on the ground in a working forest certified to the high standards of FSC certification.

The pilot project will be focused on increasing the abundance of older, more mature natural forests through select logging and thinning. In addition to expanding carbon sequestration the management practices will ensure the protection of water quality and biodiversity. The initial project will meet the rigorous carbon accounting standards of the Voluntary Carbon Standard (VSC) and the Climate Action Reserve (CAR) and the management practices will meet the high standards of FSC certification. Staples and Interface, have offered to pay the pilot project landowner(s) for increases in carbon stored and sequestered as a result of improved forest management practices on the ground. Pacific Forest Trust will manage the development of the pilot project.

“Never before have we seen this kind of collaboration in the South between forest industry, large US corporations, landowners and environmental groups to find real solutions” stated Danna Smith, Executive Director of the Dogwood Alliance.

“This project is a continuation of the important work that we began with Dogwood Alliance years ago to effect change and responsibly preserve and cultivate the forests of the US,” said Mark Buckley, vice president of environmental affairs of Staples Inc. “We are excited to be a part of a project focused on the longevity of our forests, one that will benefit the stewards of the land, positively impact future generations and support local and regional economies by creating products originating from forests managed to a high environmental standard.”

Carbon Canopy partners include: Staples, Dogwood Alliance, Columbia Forest Products, Pacific Forest Trust, FSC US, Rainforest Alliance, Green Press Initiative, Domtar, The Home Depot, Environmental Defense, Interface, The Forestland Group and The Keystone Center.

Obama Executive Order Mandates Recycled Paper to Cut Greenhouse Gas Emissions

President Obama has issued an Executive Order directing the federal government to act as hundreds of leading corporations and other governments are and to review and reduce its own greenhouse gas emissions throughout its operational footprint. The action, if implemented effectively, could result in much greater efficiency and cost savings to taxpayers and stimulation on environmental innovation and green jobs in the marketplace.

The statement from the White House says that Executive Order 13423, "sets sustainability goals for Federal agencies and focuses on making improvements in their environmental, energy and economic performance. The Executive Order requires Federal agencies to set a 2020 greenhouse gas emissions reduction target within 90 days; increase energy efficiency; reduce fleet petroleum consumption; conserve water; reduce waste; support sustainable communities; and leverage Federal purchasing power to promote environmentally-responsible products and technologies."

The direction clearly points to a review of paper use efficiency, to lower emissions and financial costs to the taxpayers. Also included explicitly in those "environmentally responsible products and technologies" is post-consumer recycled paper, and meeting agency defined minimum post-consumer recycled content.

Of course, as many readers may know, these minimums should already be the standard, as President Clinton first issued an Executive Order in his term which specifically created recycled paper content minimums for federal purchases. It is commonly held opinion that Clinton's Order is not currently enforced, nor has been for some time, and needs better oversight to achieve its results, and Government Accounting Office reports have suggested as much.

It is critical that the Steering Committee set up by this new Executive Order from the Obama Administration be an effective body, with transparency and authority to make this program successful. Secondly, it will be critical that the EPA consider increasing its minimum recycled content goals for some paper products, in response to a marketplace that has changed a great deal in the last decade.

Boosting recycled content purchasing would send strong signals to the marketplaces, particularly when occurring in conjunction with a corporate wave of responsible paper purchasing policies forecasting an increase in demand for recycled content. These market forces are creating jobs and rewarding green innovation move the U.S. economy into the 21st Century. Investment in a network of smaller, efficient recycled paper mills near urban centers to collect waster paper from these teeming "papersheds" will create green jobs and significantly reduce the worst environmental impacts of overconsumption of paper from natural forests.

Subscribe to the Paper Planet (see sidebar) to stay up to date on how this Executive Order is implemented and enforced.

Download the Executive Order HERE

What's In Your Eagle Ridge Paper?

CONSUMER ALERT: A U.S. consumer awareness alert from the Paper Planet for everyone who buys paper.

Buyer beware, Eagle Ridge Paper is a new marketing and distribution strategy by notorious forest and paper company Asia Pulp and Paper (APP) to sell to the U.S. market.

You see, in the past decade, APP has been a disaster for international investors, been caught carrying out illegal logging in China, been blamed for a large portion of the forest fires that put Indonesia under the curse of a debilitating haze, been wiping out habitat for elephants and tigers and orangutans to the verge of extinction, violated agreements with large, mainstream environmental organizations including, FSC, WWF, and Rainforest Alliance, and lost contracts with big US corporate customers including Walmart, Office Depot, Staples, UniSource, Woolworths, FedEx Office and more to come soon. My sincere apologies for the run-on sentence, but there's a long, bad track record to cite, so blame Asia Pulp and Paper for my poor grammar too! APP has been doing lots of damage control, even trying to co-opt their Wikipedia entry, and taking out full page ads, but it seems the money could be better spent.

The Wall Street Journal recently quoted Mark Buckley of Staples in the following manner:

"We decided engagement was not possible anymore," Mr. Buckley said. "We haven't seen any indication that APP has been making any positive strides" to protect the environment. Remaining a customer of APP was "at great peril to our brand," he added.

Further questions arise around compliance with the new amendments to the Lacey Act, which regulates importation into the U.S. of illegal plant derived products (such as paper from trees). It will increase transparency and focus law enforcement efforts by requiring importers to declare the species, country of origin, and other related information. Can you buy this uncertified paper, from a region rampant with illegal logging, and be sure you are in compliance with the new law? For large corporate purchasers it is something you must look into or else face penalties which can be large if you are not able to demonstrate your due diligence. Learn about this Act and get advice from Environmental Investigation Agency.

Please look into some of this information, and consult with your trusted conservation contacts. See if the practices of this company are aligned with your own values and corporate responsibility plan. Can you really afford the risk of doing business on this problematic paper? If companies like Wal-Mart and Staples chose not too associate their brand with this paper, should you?

Most of us will never visit a tropical Indonesian rainforest. But everyone can spare 47 minutes with some popcorn for a beautifully shot film called GREEN, a new documentary film available free online at: http://greenfilm.free.fr/. Its beauty will move you. Its tracking of the impacts of the supply chain from the Indonesian rainforest to the marketplace will change the way you see the world.

Thanks for taking a closer look, doing so could save you a lot.

Scientists Urge Society to Recognize Boreal as Crucial Store of Carbon

A diverse group of scientific experts on the world's Boreal Forest ecosystem have published an article on ScienceDirect.com titled, Urgent preservation of boreal carbon stocks and biodiversity, which adds gravity to the need to alter human activities in the Boreal Forest to ensure ecosystems are managed lightly and that large areas be left alone altogether. With the boreal a major zone of pulp and paper production, this translates in a practical way for consumers, sustainability officers, and procurement professionals to ask their suppliers good questions and to look closely at what's in your paper.

Here is the abstract:

Containing approximately one-third of all remaining global forests, the boreal ecosystem is a crucial store of carbon and a haven for diverse biological communities. Historically, fire and insects primarily drove the natural dynamics of this biome. However, human-mediated disturbances have increased in these forests during recent years, resulting in extensive forest loss for some regions, whereas others face heavy forest fragmentation or threat of exploitation. Current management practices are not likely to maintain the attendant boreal forest communities, nor are they adequate to mitigate climate change effects. There is an urgent need to preserve existing boreal forests and restore degraded areas if we are to avoid losing this relatively intact biodiversity haven and major global carbon sink.

Here is the link to the full article.

Bloomberg.com says International Paper the Next Monsanto

Bloomberg.com drew attention today to International Paper and their ArborGen partnership to develop genetically engineered trees for industrial plantations. The article touts ArborGen's exceptional prospects as an investment. It practically says "run, don't walk" to buy ArborGen stock. However, the article fails to note significant risk factors, including the immense ecological risks of this "Frankentree" technology and the overwhelming public opposition.

This article is a troublesome sign that genetically engineered trees are a severe threat to native biodiversity today, and no longer something that might come tomorrow. It begins with a chilling statement...

"International Paper Co., the world’s largest pulp and paper maker, plans to remake commercial forests in the same way Monsanto Co. revolutionized farms with genetically modified crops."

International Paper and Arborgen can expect a fight with scientists, citizens and conservation groups though. Over 100 organizations worldwide support a Vision for the paper industry that explicitly excludes genetically engineered trees. They believe that to take such incredible ecological risks, in order to sustain a level of consumption that is unnecessary and wasteful, is reckless and irresponsible. We don't need Frankentrees to meet our needs and have a comfortable life.

Recently, nearly 17,500 public comments were sent to the US Department of Agriculture opposing their recommendation for approval of an ArborGen proposal to plant over a quarter of a million genetically engineered (GE) eucalyptus trees. Only 39 favorable comments were received by the USDA. If allowed, the plantings would take place on 330 acres of land across seven states in the Southern U.S., to supposedly feed future cellulosic ethanol production. All but one of the field trials would be allowed to flower and produce seeds.

While the forecast for ArborGen's share value looks bright, things don't look so good for the forests of the southern U.S. The article goes on to say...

"The papermaker’s main interest in ArborGen is the potential of modified trees such as cold-tolerant eucalyptus to provide a sustainable source of hardwood for pulp, Liebetreu said. That becomes more important as the U.S. starts to make biofuels from timber, which may double harvest pressure in the U.S. South, International Paper said in a June 9 letter to USDA."

The Stop GE Trees Campaign is working to watchdog and organize action on this issue, and encourages you to share this Bloomberg article on your social media networks.

3rd Annual Green Grades Report Card Asks Companies: What's In Your Paper?

Companies active in the multi-billion dollar office supply sector got their report cards today, and while FedEx Office and Office Depot shored up their brands with impressive 'green' grades, companies like PaperlinX and Amazon.com came up short on critical environmental factors, earning less than a 'D' grade in each of the report card's six categories.

Download the report card here: http://www.forestethics.org/green-grades-09

Since 2007, environmental groups ForestEthics and Dogwood Alliance have collaborated on the Green Grades office supply report card to inform American consumers and large purchasers of office supply products about which companies' paper practices safeguard the environment and the world’s forests.

"Companies like FedEx Office, Unisource, Office Depot, United Stationers, and Target have used their purchasing power to stop the purchase of paper from some of the world's most destructive companies," said Daniel Hall of ForestEthics. "Unfortunately, companies like Xpedx and Amazon.com continue to fund forest destruction. And while Wal-Mart has made great strides on other environmental factors, they fall short on their paper practices."

This year's grades reflect that more companies recognize the Forest Stewardship Council (FSC) as the most authoritative and credible forest certification system. Several companies are shifting their purchasing toward FSC-certified paper-and away from forest sources certified by the industry-driven Sustainable Forestry Initiative (SFI) certification scheme. SFI's reputation for crafting certifications to fit a destructive industry status quo has increasingly called into question its viability as a symbol of sustainability.

This year's report card also finds the sector moving away from bad actors including International Paper, a company notorious for reckless forest conversion and Endangered Forest logging in the Southern US, and also Asia Pulp & Paper, a company that continuously courts controversy for destroying endangered wildlife habitat and indigenous communities in Indonesia. Additionally, several companies have made efforts to avoid paper sourced from important caribou habitat in the Canadian Boreal Forest, the world's largest terrestrial ecosystem, including forests logged by Abitibi'Bowater.

In a special 'Greenwash' section, paper wholesalers Xpedx and PaperlinX are called out for making boasts about their sustainability positions that are not borne out by the facts, and that mislead customers who are looking to green their businesses, supply chains, and personal consumption.

"When environmental laggards exaggerate or distort claims of being green, they undercut the hard-earned achievements of the companies whose values are demonstrably greener than the rest," said Andrew Goldberg of Dogwood Alliance. "But a number of companies in this report card talk a green game while supporting destructive paper companies like International Paper and hiding behind less than credible certifications like those of the Sustainable Forestry Initiative."

What's In Your Paper....Coffin??

The Ecopod is a revolutionary and beautiful new design in coffins that brings together artisan skills with style, elegance and a respect for the environment.

Made by hand from recycled newspapers and hand finished with paper made from recycled silk and mulberry leaves, the Ecopod is available in a range of colours with screen printed motifs, plain white, or gold.

The Ecopod is suitable for cremation, or burial in woodland sites or traditional cemeteries, and biodegrades naturally over time when placed in the ground.

EcoPod also manufacture the ARKA Acorn Urn for the storage of ashes after cremation and, like the Ecopod, the urns are made from recycled paper, available in a number of colours and fully biodegradable.

Phone Book and Yellow Pages Rage Continues to Grow

A coherent "green rant" from the blog, Inhabitat, on phone book paper...

"Inspiration for this rant landed on doorsteps in my area a few weeks ago, and has been sitting there, becoming increasingly soggy and unsightly ever since. Digging around the internet I found that many other people are also upset about the massive yellow and white phone books forced upon them. Some areas even have four or five phone directory companies distributing books to each residence! Maybe the contract companies hired to drop off the books do not have the resources to consider individual addresses in metropolitan areas like Philadelphia, where I reside, but the litter created globally by the mass amounts of unwanted phone books seems inexcusable. Wanting to know who I could point a finger at, I set out to find the root cause of the issue."

Triple Pundit Offers Good Tips to Get More from Paper Calculator

The best tool out there to quickly calculate the environmental savings of changing your paper choices is the Paper Calculator from Environmental Defense. The tool is used heavily by companies to communicate to everyone from senior management and to consumers the tangible benefit towards environmental goals that looking at what's in your paper can deliver.

Triple Pundit Blog on Monday offered some great advice on how the non-expert person can use the Calculator more easily and get extremely valuable information from it. Check it out....

Invasion of GE Trees - Hightower Commentary

This is commentary from Jim Hightower's radio minute on the invasion of Genetically Engineered trees on their way to the Southern US... click the link to listen or just read the transcript below. Special thanks to The Stop GE Trees campaign for making this happen and getting permission for the repost...

Jim Hightower: THE INVASION OF GENETICALLY-ENGINEERED EUCALYPTUS


(Listen to Hightower's commentary)

Here's a great idea: Let's bring into our country a genetically-engineered, non-native tree that is known to be wildly invasive, explosively flammable, and insatiably thirsty for ground water. Then let's clone thousands of these living firecrackers and plant them in forested regions across seven Southern states, allowing them to grow, flower, produce seeds, and spread into native environments.

Yes, this would be irresponsible, dangerous, and stupid - but apparently "Irresponsible, Dangerous, and Stupid" is the unofficial slogan of the U.S. Department Agriculture. In May, with little consideration of the devastating consequences for our native environment, USDA cavalierly rubberstamped a proposal by a profiteering corporation named ArborGen to do all of the above.

Substantially owned by International Paper, ArborGen shipped tissue from Brazilian eucalyptus trees to its New Zealand laboratories, where it was genetically altered to have more cellulose. New Zealand, however, outlaws plantings of genetically-engineered crops, so ArborGen sought out a more corporate-compliant country: Ours. The engineered eucalyptus was waved right into the good ol' USA to be cloned, and it's now awaiting final approval for outdoor release in our land.

This has happened with practically no media coverage or public participation. It is happening solely because a handful of global speculators hope to profit by making ethanol from cellulose-enhanced eucalyptus - never mind that their self-aggrandizement would put America's native forests in danger of irreversible contamination by these destructive, invasive Frankentrees.

This is Jim Hightower saying... Luckily, several scrappy grassroots groups have mobilized to bring common sense and public pressure to bear on USDA. For updates and action items, visit www.nogetrees.org.

Greenpeace and Kimberly-Clark Reach Agreement

Canada's precious Boreal Forest is better conserved today. So are ancient forests around the world.

At a joint news conference in Washington DC, Greenpeace and the Kimberly-Clark Corporation, the world’s largest tissue-product manufacturer, announced an historic agreement that will ensure greater protection and sustainable management of Canada's Boreal Forest. The agreement also will stand out as a model for forest-products companies worldwide.

After five years of relentless campaigning by Greenpeace, which is chronicled in an impressive visual timeline on their website, this is a tremendous victory for the movement to transform the pulp and paper industry.

Congratulations Greenpeace, and kudos to Kimberly-Clark for committing to these significant changes. The success of the discussions between Greenpeace and Kimberly-Clark means a movement away from conflict to a new collaborative relationship to further promote forest conservation, responsible forest management, and the use of recycled fiber for the manufacture of tissue products.

“I am looking forward to working with Kimberly-Clark on the full implementation of this policy. Because of Kimberly-Clark’s size - it uses more than 4.5 million tonnes of fibre and pulp each year to make it products -, this new policy will have a profound effect on the global forest products industry.”-Richard Brooks, Greenpeace

Under the policy Kimberly-Clark has set a goal of ensuring that 100 per cent of the fibre used in its products will be from environmentally responsible sources. It will greatly increase its use of recycled fibre and fibre from forest certified to Forest Stewardship Council standards. By 2011, it will also increase the use of recycled and FSC fibre [from North America sources] to 40 per cent from 29.7 per cent in 2007. By 2012, the company will no longer use pulp from the Boreal Forest unless is it certified to the standards of the Forest Stewardship Council.

The full policy and its annex can be downloaded here

Please join us in thanking Kimberly-Clark for supporting conservation of the Boreal Forest by sending its CEO a congratulations email

Xerox Won't Talk so Greenpeace Shines a Light

Today, the XEROX building in downtown Montreal was declared a forest crime scene by a team of Greenpeace’s volunteers who were drawing attention to the impact of XEROX's paper on intact areas of Canada’s Boreal Forest.

Greenpeace has asked XEROX repeatedly in the past year to take steps to reduce the corporation’s impact on the Boreal Forest. Yet the company still refuses to examine its supply chain, eliminate its controversial sourcing of paper and meet with Greenpeace, according forest campaigners with the organization. Seems like a good time for Xerox to take a hard look

Xerox: it seems like a good time to take a hard look at WhatsInYourPaper.com.

More information on today's events and the campaign here.

Provocative campaign video below....