1. What is Finland’s attitude to forest use?
When we talk about forest use, we’re also talking about legislation. In Finland, valuable forest nature sites are protected under the Nature Conservation Act and the Forest Act. Deforestation has been prohibited since the very first Forest Act took effect in 1886.
“This reflects the important role forests play in our country. Finland is also serious about curbing climate change and is striving to eliminate fossil emissions and boost the carbon sequestration of forests,” says Tomi Salo, Metsä Group’s SVP, Corporate Affairs.
Finland does not suffer from deforestation resulting from forestry.
“Finland is the most forested country in Europe in relation to its surface area. Forest growth exceeds forest use every year.”
Efforts are also continuously made to afforest new areas.
2. Can I be sure that Metsä Board’s paperboard will not cause deforestation?
“Forestry doesn’t cause deforestation in Metsä Group’s procurement areas. We are owned by the nearly 100,000 Finnish forest owners of Metsäliitto Cooperative, and we get the majority of our wood from them. The origin of the wood procured by Metsä Group, which Metsä Board uses as its raw material, is fully traceable.
All the countries – Finland, Sweden and the Baltic countries – we procure wood from require forests to be renewed after harvesting.”
3. How is forest biodiversity taken care of in Metsä’s wood supply?
“Sustainable forestry focuses on the diversity of forest nature and safeguards water bodies.
Metsä Group provides forest owners with forest management services, helping to ensure sustainable forest use. Metsä Group’ wants to advance sustainable forestry and forest certification through its actions. One of the most important goals of Metsä Group’s Ecological sustainability programme is to protect biodiversity in forest nature. For example, starting from 1 June 2022, Metsä Group has a general practice in Finland of leaving large aspen and other rarely occurring broadleaved trees in the forests to protect biodiversity.
On top of that, forest certification schemes require, for instance, that waterbodies are lined with buffer zones, and retention trees are used to increase the amount of decaying wood, and thus biodiversity, in the forest.”
4. Why is wood such an excellent raw material?
“The greatest benefit of wood products lies in their ability to reduce the need to use fossil-based solutions. They store carbon for as long as they remain in use. In the case of wooden structures, this can be more than a century.
Recycling can help increase the life-cycle and carbon storage of fibre-based products such as paperboard. By using wood-based packaging, we protect the world’s water bodies and water ecosystems from plastics and micro plastics.
Another environmental benefit comes from safeguarding the ability of forests to sequester and store carbon.”
