APP Commits to 18% Cut in Energy, Water by 2015

A group of 77 paper businesses including Asia Pulp & Paper have signed an initiative committing themselves to energy-saving and emission-reduction targets set by the Chinese central government.

The targets – based on the Chinese government’s 12th Five Year Plan year plan that runs from 2011 to 2015 – include reducing the industry’s average comprehensive energy consumption and average water consumption per ton of pulp or paper by 18 percent by 2015.

Emissions of chemical oxygen demand need to be reduced by 10 percent and the percentage of the industry’s energy consumption sourced from bio-energy should rise to 20 percent by 2015, the agreement says. APP did not reveal the baseline that future reductions would be measured against.

The agreement was put forward by the China Paper Association at the 2nd Annual Forum on the Chinese Paper Industry’s Green Development.

In September last year, APP published new sustainability commitments for its Chinese operations, but without announcing specific numeric targets.

APP’s Paper Contract with China 2011 manifesto builds upon its first Paper Contract from 2008. At that time, APP called on all industry players to collaborate to pursue growth in a more sustainable manner.

The company was a prime target of Greenpeace campaigning last year, with the environmental group accusing APP pulpwood suppliers of clearing some of Indonesia’s most ecologically important forests. After the campaign launched, Lego and Hasbro dropped APP as a packaging supplier  and Mattel put a freeze on purchases from APP.