News

M-real, the manufacturer of packaging board and paper, has launched carbon footprint calculations for all of its products.

Carbon footprint calculations are available for M-real's packaging boards and papers, using the 'ten toes' Carbon Footprint Framework developed by the Confederation of European Paper Industries to allow meaningful comparisons across different products.

M-real's calculations cover the manufacturing processes of pulp, board and paper, the transportation of wood raw material, pulp, and the finished products and emissions from electricity used in manufacture.

Andrew Quartly of M-real UK said: "In initial discussions with customers about carbon footprint calculations we find that they do have questions, such as why there are different levels of emissions from country to country. We can explain this is due to the sources of power available for electricity generation in each country, customers appreciate our easy-to-understand approach when shown the calculation method."

Customers requiring carbon footprint reports for individual M-real products should contact their local sales office.

M-real and its parent group Metsäliitto have also launched a new Climate Programme, targeting investment towards projects that produce immediate positive environmental impacts.

As part of the programme, all M-real production units will have an energy efficiency system in place by the end of 2009.

The programme aims to encourage the responsible use of renewable raw materials, to increase the share of energy production based on waste or wood based fuels, to continuously improve energy efficiency and to continue to pioneer lighter-weight product development with the focus on environmental impact.

Jukka Karppinen, vice-president of environmental affairs at Metsäliitto, said: "As well as our own efforts to help control climate change, we want to provide information that enables our customers to do the same and the product-specific carbon footprint is an excellent example of this."

M-real began investing systematically in energy efficiency in 2006, this has reduced its carbon emissions by 100,000 tonnes a year, it said.