.app-navigation__wrapper--for-seo { display: block !important; }

Salient human rights issues

In collaboration with an external expert, we have identified the most severe human rights issues that we may be involved in through our operations and business relationships.

Focusing our human rights work

UPM ‘s salient issues include occupational health and safety (OHS), land rights and community engagement, terms and conditions of work, forced labor and children's rights.

We continuously assess our impacts on people, acknowledging that they evolve as our business changes and our approach to due diligence develops. The saliency of our impacts is assessed based on their severity and likelihood of occurrence. We determine severity by considering the scope (number of people affected), scale (seriousness of the impact) and irremediability (ease of setting things right) of the impact.

We pay special attention to the rights of vulnerable groups, such as young workers, migrant workers, women, indigenous peoples, and temporary and contractor workers.

Our saliency assessment guides us to prioritize our actions and resources effectively, acknowledging that not all impacts can be addressed at once. This assessment also contributes to UPM’s double materiality assessment and sustainability reporting.

Safe and healthy working environment

Despite the numerous measures implemented to safeguard against injuries and accidents at our mills and forestry operations, the risk for severe accidents and fatalities persists.

Ensuring the right to a safe and healthy work environment is a top priority for us. We are committed to the safety of all our employees, visitors, contractors and anyone affected by our operations. Safety is integrated into our operations, organizational culture and management systems.

We have a company-wide safety management system supplemented by safety standards, rules, global safety reporting and training programs. In the event of an accident, we take adequate remedy measures.

We also aim to ensure that our suppliers' working conditions are safe. The UPM Supplier and Third-Party Code requires our suppliers to provide a safe and healthy work environment for their employees. Suppliers' employees are encouraged to report any misconduct or concerns through the UPM Report Misconduct channel. Occupational safety is a focus area in almost all our supplier audits, especially in high-risk countries.

Land rights and community engagement

Local communities may experience negative impacts due to land acquisitions that disrupt traditional land use and livelihoods. We adhere to community engagement practices embedded in forest certification requirements, including Free, Prior, and Informed Consent (FPIC), where applicable.

We are committed to respecting and promoting the land tenure and resource rights of individuals and communities, including indigenous peoples. Similar standards are required from our suppliers through the UPM Supplier and Third-Party Code.

We aim to maintain respectful and mutually beneficial relationships with local communities within UPM's sphere of influence. We recognize the importance of dialogue and a consistent approach to community consultation and social monitoring. We provide and promote access to grievance channels.

Decent work

We are committed to promoting decent work across our value chain. However, in global and multi-tier supply chains, there is a risk of unfair terms and conditions of work.

Contractors play a significant role in our operations, particularly in maintenance, construction sites, and forestry activities. Promoting decent work and preventing labor exploitation in subcontracting chains is especially important for our strategic investment projects.

Through the UPM Supplier and Third-Party Code, we expect our suppliers and contractors to provide adequate wages and respect local laws and applicable industry standards on working time and compensation, freedom of association, and the right to collective bargaining.

We conduct systematic supplier risk assessments to identify high-risk suppliers. Our risk mitigation measures include supplier assessments, audits, and corrective actions where necessary.

We also participate in collaborative forums such as Together for Sustainability (TfS) and the UN Global Compact (UNGC) Labor and Decent Work program, to share insights and best practices for promoting decent work.

Voice your concerns

All stakeholders play a crucial role in maintaining our standards of integrity. One of the most important contributions is to report knowledge or suspicion of unethical behavior.

Report misconduct

No forced labor in any form

We have identified forced labor as a salient human rights risk in some of our contracted services and global supply chains. We recognize that migrants and temporary workers are particularly vulnerable groups. We do not use or tolerate forced labor in any form in our operations or supply chains.

Zero tolerance of forced labor is one of the fundamental principles of our Supplier and Third-Party Code. We prioritize supplier assessments and audits in high-risk countries and contexts, and continuously cooperate with our suppliers. We also train our sourcing professionals continuously to identify and mitigate labor exploitation and forced labor related risks.

We respect and support children’s rights
in our global supply chains

We respect children’s rights and have zero tolerance for child labor. Our Code of Conduct and the complementing policies ensure that our businesses do not employ anyone under the legal working age. Thanks to our strict legal compliance and robust company policies, processes and practices, we don’t consider child labor or the exploitative or harmful employment of young workers to be a risk in our own operations.

We continuously engage with our suppliers to identify and mitigate risks related to child labor. The UPM Supplier and Third-Party Code requires our suppliers to respect children's rights and not use or tolerate child labor. Additionally, we expect our suppliers to implement special protections for young workers (those over the legal minimum working age but under 18).

Beyond direct employment, children may still be impacted by their caregivers’ poor working conditions. Long hours, low wages, and forced labor can negatively affect caregivers' ability to support their children properly.

We are committed to paying living wages
to all employees globally

Ensuring living wages is one of the most effective ways to prevent child labor. When parents earn enough to cover their families' basic needs, there is no economic pressure for children to contribute to household income.

We are committed to paying living wages to all employees globally. We have also joined the UN Global Compact Forward Faster Initiative, which advocates for fair wages in our own operations and supply chains.

Learn more about our social performance

We disclose a comprehensive amount of information about our environmental, social, and governance performance in our Annual Report 2024. The report complies with the EU Corporate Sustainability Reporting Directive (CSRD) and the European Sustainability Reporting Standards (ESRS).

Read more in our Sustainability Statement.