On Thursday 15 August, an environmental incident was discovered at a Stora Enso harvesting site in Kainuu, Finland, and the incident is being investigated as an aggravated nature conservation offence. Forestry machinery has crossed a river where there is a population of the highly endangered freshwater pearl mussel. Stora Enso takes the matter extremely seriously. The authorities and the company have strict responsibility requirements and comprehensive guidelines for the consideration of freshwater pearl mussel in harvesting operations. Stora Enso is cooperating with the police and other authorities to find out what happened at Hukkajoki. As a result of this and our own investigation, our guidelines and procedures will be refined to ensure that everyone involved in harvesting in valuable natural areas is aware of them in the future. This applies both to Stora Enso employees and to our partners, such as contractors and forest owners.

UPM commits to the United Nations Global Compact’s Business Ambition for 1.5°C, joining leading companies in a promise to pursue science-based measures to limit global temperature rise to 1.5°C. UPM will strive to mitigate climate change and drive value creation through innovating novel products, committing to a 65% CO2 emission reduction and by practicing sustainable forestry. The 1.5°C ambition is a response to increasing concern about the severe consequences of a failure to stop global warming. UPM is among the first global forest industry companies making this commitment. “UPM has a unique opportunity to make a positive impact and contribute to mitigating climate change by tangible actions. We innovate climate-positive products and turn them into growing businesses. At the same time, we limit risks from climate mitigation policies and physical impacts of changing climate. This is important for the long-term value of the company,” says Jussi Pesonen, President and CEO of UPM.

The Sustainable Forestry Initiative Inc. (SFI) announced 10 SFI Community Grants featuring collaboration between 40 partner organizations. This commitment to local communities helps SFI achieve its mission of advancing sustainability through forest-focused collaborations that: *provide educators with tools to showcase green career pathways with students *incorporate Indigenous knowledge into forest management planning and education curriculum *build youth engagement in outdoor education and conservation projects *create better building solutions using sustainably sourced mass timber *provide tools to family landowners about bird conservation *showcase research on new and safer logging techniques. click read more below for details