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Water risk management

Using water as a resource comes with inherent risks. We work to minimize the impact of our processes while also preparing for external risks that could affect operations in certain areas.

Our operating environment exposes us to various water-related risks, many of which stem from local conditions, political and economic factors, and global megatrends such as climate change and extreme weather events. Floods, droughts, and poor raw water quality pose risks to our operations, personnel, environment, and local communities.

The first step in managing these risks is carefully assessing the locations where we operate. Our most water-intensive production sites are situated in areas with sufficient water availability.

Almost all our operations have a certified environmental management system. We monitor the quality of our treated effluents to ensure compliance with our environmental permits. On top of that, our most water-intensive operations monitor the quality of the receiving water body to understand our impact on the local aquatic ecosystems.

Water risk management across operations

Our pulp and paper mills have plans to achieve effluent volume and load reduction targets by 2030. Read more about our 2030 sustainability targets here.
We collaborate with environmental experts, researchers, and local authorities. One example of cooperation is flood protection, where we work alongside authorities and regulators to mitigate the severe impacts of flooding.

UPM's main production sites are well located

Extreme weather events such as droughts and floods have the potential to seriously affect water and all systems depending on it.

Pulp and paper production is UPM’s most water-intensive activity. We have used WWF’s Water Risk Filter tool to identify the potential water availability risks in the locations where our pulp and paper mills operate. Based on the basin physical risk assessment carried out with WWF Risk Filter Suite 3.0, all our pulp and paper mills are located in basins with low or very low water availability risk.

UPM Pulp and paper mills and basin physical water availability risk. (Source - WWF Risk Filter Suite 3.0: riskfilter.org)