Forest-based industries have a significant role in promoting sustainable development. Well-managed forests play an essential role in natural carbon and water cycles, biodiversity and wellbeing of local communities.
Safeguarding forests for future generations
With sustainable forestry we can multiply benefits from forests
We are both a major forest owner and a purchaser of wood. Our land use and forestry planning are based on the comprehensive evaluation and preservation of ecosystem services. With sustainable forest management we can safeguard and increase multiple benefits that forests provide.
Our long-term view ensures that we plant more trees than we harvest. We plant at least one new tree to replace each one we harvest, which totals 55 million new saplings every year.
We have company-level commitments and rules in place for our wood sourcing, and we adhere to internationally accepted principles of sustainable forestry. We apply credible, third-party verified schemes such as forest certification to ensure full traceability and continuous improvement.
Our promises
- The forests and plantations owned by UPM are 100% certified, or in the process of being certified if the site is new.
- All the fibre we use will be 100% certified by 2030.
- We know the origin of our wood, and our supply chain is 100% chain of custody certified.
- We do not harvest wood from tropical rainforests or plantations that were formerly rainforests.
- We do not harvest wood from areas where the rights of indigenous people are threatened.
- Our wood sourcing and forestry does not cause deforestation.
Responsibility starts from the forest
We source wood from our own forests, from private forest owners and from b-to-b partners such as governments and other forest industry companies. We monitor and verify the origin of all raw materials in our wood supply chains. Our suppliers are required to comply with responsible business practices specified under the UPM Supplier and Third Party Code and our company policies and rules. Specific criteria for wood sourcing are defined in the UPM requirements for wood suppliers.
Forest certification is a great tool for promoting sustainable forestry. We use and promote recognised forest certification schemes such as FSC and PEFC. We use certified chain of custody and controlled wood systems verified by independent external auditors to ensure that our wood is 100% responsibly sourced. Our target is to increase the use of certified wood so that all sourced wood will be certified by 2030. To reach this target we participate actively in the development of standards as well as offering forest certification to forest owners according to their needs.
All UPM-owned forests are certified, or in the process of being certified if the site is new. In Finland, they are certified by the PEFC™ and by the FSC®, and in the USA (Minnesota) by the Sustainable Forestry Initiative (SFI), which is endorsed by the PEFC. Our eucalyptus plantations in Uruguay are certified by both the FSC and the PEFC. In addition, we manage our own FSC group certificates in Finland and Uruguay, which private forest owners are welcome to join. We are responsible for ensuring that the forests covered in the certificate are managed with the applied standards. Independent third-party auditors verify that our operations meet the standard requirements.
Our planning and management tools are based on the Geographic Information System (GIS), a geo-referenced database covering natural resources such as forests and water. All essential data and information are stored in the system, including information about existing statutory protection areas, habitats of high biodiversity and other sensitive areas. The GIS is continuously updated after harvesting or when we acquire new information on threatened species, important biotopes or protection areas.
Our policies and commitments
As defined in the UPM Code of Conduct and the Responsibility Statement, we aim to create long-term profitable business ethically and responsibly, supporting economic, social and environmental sustainability. We are committed to forestry practices based on internationally accepted principles of sustainable forest management. These include the forest certification schemes and certified chain of custody systems that we use to verify the responsible origins of our wood. We respect and comply with local legislation and statutory regulations in every country in which we are active. Social licence is a key element of sustainable forestry. We engage in a continuous dialogue with our local stakeholders and respect their needs and rights. We do not cause deforestation.
Everyone who works in our wood sourcing and forestry chain must be familiar with the UPM Code of Conduct and certification schemes. This also applies to our contractors and their employees. UPM has its own e-learning platform helping employees to complete the requisite courses.
Our forests and plantations
Our forests in Finland and the USA are open to the local community. We see them as providing limitless potential for new bioeconomy innovations and wood supply for our mills.
Our company forests are strategically important in several ways. They are an important source of wood for our mills, but their role extends far beyond this. Our forests and nurseries – one in Finland, three in Uruguay – play a key role in advancing modern, sustainable forest management practices. Our main research and stakeholder cooperation areas include biodiversity, silvicultural practices, regeneration, tree breeding, ecosystem services and forestry-related social issues. Furthermore, our company forests enable hands-on training of our employees and contractors, as well as serving as a laboratory for R&D projects.
We own a total of about 900 000 hectares of forestry land in Finland, Uruguay and Minnesota, USA. Most of this land is located in Finland, totalling roughly 520,000 hectares, followed by Uruguay (305,000) and the United States (76,000 hectares). We also lease about 160,000 hectares in Uruguay and manage around 1,3 million hectares of private forest.
The majority of our forests are mixed-stand forests with native tree species. Biogeographically, our forests in Finland are semi-natural boreal forests, while those in the USA are semi-natural northern temperate woodlands. Our forests in Uruguay are plantations established on grasslands planted with non-native Eucalyptus tree species. We do not convert natural forests into plantations.
Forestal Oriental (SP), our eucalyptus forestry company in Uruguay, is a centre of excellence for our plantation operations. We have three modern, technologically advanced nurseries in Uruguay with a combined annual production capacity of almost 40 million seedlings. Forestal Oriental owns approximately 305,000 hectares of land, approximately 60% of which is planted with eucalyptus. The rest of the land is protected, used for cattle grazing and forestry-related infrastructure.
We answer these questions very often
The main raw material of UPM’s products is renewable wood originating from forests or plantations, both being an important carbon sink or carbon storage. We are committed to climate positive forestry, meaning that we harvest less than we grow and respectively, ensure that our forests remain carbon sinks
In 2022, the annual carbon sink from our own forests in Finland and in the US and owned and leased plantations in Uruguay has averaged 2.3 million tonnes of CO2 equivalent over the past five years. Our aim is to constantly improve our understanding of carbon and have, for example, initiated a project with the Natural Resources Institute Finland (Luke) to improve soil carbon models for Uruguay.
Our wood-based products and fossil CO2 free energy can replace fossil-based alternatives. At the same time wood-based products store carbon during their lifecycle. We calculate the temporary carbon storage and the substitution effects of our wood-based products. In addition, we report the substitution effects originated from replacing fossil-based energy. These are calculated based on our sales of CO2 free energy in Finland and its Guarantees of Origin.
Our production and operations generate fossil CO2 emissions. We aim to decrease our own emissions by 65% by the year 2030. In 2022, the fossil CO2 emissions totaled to 9,5 million tons, including fossil CO2 emissions from our own operations (Scopes 1 and 2) and indirect emissions caused by our operations, but generated elsewhere (Scope 3). There was a decrease of 11% compared to the previous year. To calculate these emissions, we apply the widely-known Principles of the Greenhouse Gas Protocol. In addition, we have set a target to decrease the fossil CO2 emissions of our supply chain by 30% by the year 2030.
In solving the climate crisis, it is most important to reduce the emissions coming from fossil sources. Majority of global carbon emissions originates from energy production. Emission reduction plays a major role in achieving the company's climate commitment. At the same time we take care of our forests’ ability to bind carbon and replace fossil materials with renewables. Active, timely forest management increases forest growth, and ensures that forests contribute to mitigating the climate change.
We are committed to our forests being a carbon sink in a long term. Forest is a carbon sink when it binds more carbon than releases it. In practice this means that the growth of our forests is more than the amount of harvested and naturally dying trees. When forests are a carbon sink, their carbon storage grows.
Forestry practices that maintain or increase the carbon sink of forests, can be called climate positive. Climate positive forestry means also actions to increase the forest growth and to create new carbon sinks through tree plantations or by reforesting new areas.
As far as we know, UPM is the first global forest industry company to publish this kind of commitment.
The commitment applies to our own forests in Finland and the US and the plantations in Uruguay. We anyhow operate on the same sustainable forestry principles in private forests and provide our best climate positive forestry practices for private forest owners.
UPM has commissioned carbon calculations of its own and leased forests in Finland, Uruguay and the US. The calculations are based on internationally approved calculation models, and they are executed by Natural Resources Institute Finland (Luke). Results of carbon calculations are published annually as a part of UPM’s Annual Report.
Climate science develops fast. We are actively supporting the work to create more reliable and accurate methods to calculate the carbon impact of forestry together with climate science experts.
When looking at climate impact, it is not reasonable to look at the impact at a level of an individual logging site, but at a wider area. In our case, we look at our forest property.
Crucial to the climate impact is the overall impact of the activity: the ratio of carbon bound to and released from forests. We make sure that on a long term our forests always grow more than the use and natural removal is. By doing so, our forests remain as carbon sink. This means, that an individual logging site may temporarily be a source of carbon.
There are two ways to increase the carbon sequestration:
1) To manage forest so that they grow as efficiently as possible. In practice, this means for example timely seedling stand management and thinning, which release more growth resources for the best trees to grow. Using traditionally breeded tree seed and seedling origins can increase the forest growth by tens of percentages. According to the sustainable forestry principles forests are always regenerated after harvesting and harvesting amounts are maintained on a sustainable level on a long term. If forests are managed as continuous-cover forests, we always secure the growth of new trees.
2) To manage forests to be more resilient to damages. Also in this case, timely, good forest management is the best way to maintain forests health and vitality. When forests are grown as mixed-species forests, they are more diverse and thus more resilient towards different kinds of damages and disturbances that could lead to carbon emissions from the forest (forest fires, windfalls, pests and diseases). In Finland this means increasing the share of broadleaved trees.
No, we do not accept deforestation and UPM’s wood sourcing does not cause deforestation anywhere in the world. We know the origin of the wood we use and are using third-party verified chain-of-custody systems to trace the origin of it. We always make sure, that our whole supply chain operates responsibly, and we do not accept deforestation in any parts of the chain. We always regenerate the forests after harvesting. Wood harvesting as a term should not be confused with deforestation.
Forests are important carbon storages and sinks. When forest grows more than it releases carbon through loggings and naturally decaying wood, it is a carbon sink. Decreasing logging levels would increase the carbon sinks in short term. That would however mean that we would get less wood for the products that we need in our everyday life, and we would have less wood material to replace fossil materials. To reach the climate targets, it is essential to reduce the use of fossils as much as possible.
In sustainable forestry it is always ensured that a new tree will start to grow to replace the harvested one. While this tree grows, it binds the carbon that was removed from the forest with the harvested tree. Standing seedling management and thinning improve forest growth and ability to bind carbon. When trees get older, their growth, and at the same time the ability to bind carbon, slows down and the forest becomes more vulnerable to different kinds of damages and disturbances. With time, unmanaged forests may turn to carbon sources. Good and timely forest management practices ensure that forests remain vital and healthy.
Sustainable harvesting levels are based on national forest inventory data. In Finland the forest harvests and naturally dying wood (together called removals) have been substantially smaller than forest growth since 1970’s. The forest growth has doubled in 50 years, which has meant that we have been able to increase the harvest levels remarkably in Finland over time.
Active forest management increases forest growth, and availability of wood raw material. If demand for wood grows, we should focus on enhancing the forest growth.
Forest area in Europe is increasing, but globally deforestation and illegal loggings are a problem, and must not be accepted. Globally, sustainably established plantations have potential to increase the use of wood.
We constantly develop our ways to work, and the 1.5 degrees climate commitment makes us to pay more attention to the climate impact of our operations. We are developing our operations based on scientific research and utilise new ways to further develop our operations towards climate positivity. As an example, in May 2020 we published our new target to double the number of broad-leaved trees in our forests in Finland. This will have positive impact on climate change adaptation and mitigation as well as biodiversity in our forests. In addition, we offer guidance for the private forest owners to increase the share of broadleaved trees.
Biodiversity is safeguarded in our daily operations which always include nature management actions such as buffer zones or leaving decaying deadwood in the forest. We protect the valuable key biotopes and habitats and have protected also wider forest areas. By maintaining and improving the biodiversity of our forests we also can adapt to changes and risks that climate change is causing to our forests.
The calculations are executed by the Natural Resources Institute Finland (Luke) which also has experience in conducting greenhouse gas inventories on international level. The Natural Resources Institute Finland is at the forefront of constantly developing the calculation methods.
Calculations are based on best available data. In Finland and Uruguay, the calculations include the carbon balance of both trees and soil. In USA only trees are considered. Protected forests owned and leased by us are included in the calculations.
The annual average carbon sink for the last five-year period is -0.9 (-0.9) million tons CO2 eq in Finland and -1.6 (-2.9) million tons CO2 eq in Uruguay. In the latest calculation annual five-year average resulted carbon source of 0.1 (0.5) million tons CO2 eq in USA. In parentheses the previous five-year average for comparison.
Carbon sinks vary year-by-year due to several parameters, e.g., harvesting levels, damages, age-class distribution, changes in model parameters, etc.
Calculations are based on internationally approved accounting methods. The same methods are also used in international greenhouse gas inventories. The reliability of the output data is on a high level, and the results of the calculations can be considered reliable to describe the level of forests carbon sink, source, and storage. Calculations are constantly developed to further improve the reliability and accuracy of the results.
Biodiversity
Diverse and well-functioning forest ecosystems are productive. Forests provide many benefits – also called ecosystem services. Forests provide wood raw material, habitats for many species, food and recreation. They also sequester carbon from the atmosphere, circulate and purify water and support soil formation, pollination, and nutrient cycling. So, from a business perspective it’s clear why we are interested in biodiversity: our business is based on sustainable use of forests on a long-term. That’s why we want to keep forests healthy and growing for generations to come. It’s a business fundamental.
In our operations forest’s biodiversity is safeguarded through best forest management practices, legal requirements, and forest certification. We safeguard biodiversity by several means: protecting habitats that are critical to biodiversity, ensuring diverse tree species composition and structural variation in the boreal forests, leaving buffer zones around water systems, increasing deadwood, and protecting threatened species. In addition to our everyday actions, we are actively developing new ways to enhance forest biodiversity by carrying out biodiversity projects. As a recent example of ground-breaking initiatives, Natural Resources Institute Finland (Luke) has started testing the impacts of transplanting threatened wood-inhabiting fungi into UPM’s forests in Finland.
Our plantations in Uruguay are located on grasslands that were formerly used for cattle grazing. We do not convert natural forest areas into plantations, and none of our actions result in deforestation. All natural forests in Uruguay are protected. All valuable biodiversity hotspots such as wetlands are protected in the land we manage in Uruguay. All native species living in these areas are protected by law. We engage in successful cooperation with local environmental organisations in Uruguay. This work aims to preserve nature and the diversity of native ecosystems and species. The main purpose of the co-operation is to contribute to the biodiversity and enhance the sustainable use of natural resources in the long term. We work together with organisations such as Vida Silvestre and Aves Uruguay.
Our target is to improve the level of biodiversity in company-owned forests and land in Finland and in Uruguay. Together with external experts we have defined indicators which are used to monitor our progress towards the target. We have nine biodiversity indicators for Finland and three for Uruguay, which are part of our target for net positive impact on biodiversity (NPI). The target is not monitored on a level of a single forest site. The idea is to monitor the total impact on all company forests.
The status of forest nature is monitored by using selected biodiversity indicators for Finland: tree species, forest age, forest structure, protected areas, valuable habitats, habitat restoration, species and habitat projects, deadwood, and indicator development. For Uruguay, the indicators are: 1) developing the nature conservation area network; 2) maintaining and enhancing endemic and threatened species populations in formal conservation areas; 3) controlling and decreasing invasion of exotic woody species populations in conservation areas. We report our progress regularly.
Sustainable future grows in the forests — new Forest Action report compiles UPM’s best practices
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