VANCOUVER — April 17, 2023 — Today, a plan to save the world’s Ancient and Endangered Forests was given a massive capacity boost, designed to unlock widespread transformation of the paper, packaging, and fashion viscose supply chains. Canopy, a solutions-driven non-profit that has partnered with over 900 global brands, from H&M Group and Zara, to Penguin Random House, Stella McCartney, and LVMH, will receive $60 million in funding from The Audacious Project to catalyze the commercial production of low-carbon and circular solutions across the globe. Such a move will have planetary impacts on the climate and biodiversity.

“The audacious work being done by Canopy is not only transforming carbon-intensive supply chains at a critical juncture for our planet, but with a network of engaged and willing partners, some truly exciting and innovative solutions can now be delivered at scale,” said Anna Verghese, Executive Director at The Audacious Project. “We are excited about the change they will catalyze over the coming years with this surge in support.”

Housed at TED, The Audacious Project is a collaborative funding initiative that drives social impact on a grand scale. Every year, they select a group of bold solutions to the world’s most urgent challenges. This year, Canopy was one of the selectees for its critical work in advancing vital forest-free supply chains.

Canopy will utilize the funds to accelerate the commercial-scale production of low-impact and circular clothing, paper, and packaging solutions that don’t rely on pulp from Ancient and Endangered Forests. These Next Gen Solutions are derived from what is usually landfilled (waste textile, waste food scraps), or burned (agricultural residues), to create new fabrics, paper, pulp, and packaging. Next Gen alternatives have on average 95% to 130% less GHG emissions, 88% to 100% less land use impacts, and 5x lower impact on biodiversity.

By 2033, Canopy’s work will:

• Unlock over 60,000,000 tonnes of low-carbon NextGen fibre production;
• Avoid 1.3 billion tonnes of emissions (almost twice the annual emissions of Germany);
• Divert nearly 800 million tonnes of agricultural residue and waste textiles from being burned or landfilled (equivalent to the weight of 76,000 Eiffel towers); and
• Completely eliminate the use of Ancient and Endangered Forests in the paper, packaging, and fashion viscose supply chains.

“We are very proud to be included in this year’s group of Audacious grantees and believe that Canopy’s creative, collaborative, and transformative work will be key in driving supply chain change at scale and, in turn, provide a reprieve to critical forests that are under current and future threats, within the next decade and beyond,” said Canopy’s Executive Founder and Executive Director Nicole Rycroft.

“We are very glad to see Canopy’s leadership and commitment to find scalable solutions for the industry being recognized. Moving towards more sustainable alternatives for our materials and packaging plays a crucial role in our journey towards circularity. Innovative low-carbon solutions, such as regenerated cellulosic fibers from waste textiles or agricultural residues, are showing the potential to reduce our impact on climate and protect forests, so no Ancient and Endangered Forests are put at risk to make fashion. Together with Canopy and other industry leaders, we want to use our size and scale to continue driving demand for low-carbon material solutions while building scalability faster,” said Leyla Ertur, head of Sustainability H&M Group.

Conserving and restoring forests has been identified as a major part of the solution to the growing climate crisis. Forests are a massive carbon sink, absorbing a net 7.6 billion metric tonnes of CO2 yearly — 1.5 times more carbon than the United States emits annually. Despite this, over five billion trees are cut down yearly for paper, packaging, and fashion fabrics alone, many from the world’s oldest, most carbon- and biodiversity-rich forests.

Posted: April 17, 2023

Source: Canopy

PARSIPPANY, N.J. — April 17, 2023 — Sun Chemical released its thirteenth sustainability report, demonstrating its ongoing commitment to sustainability and social responsibility in all aspects of its business.

As part of Sun Chemical’s ongoing process to achieve its targets to reduce CO2 levels by at least 50 percent by 2030 and becoming net carbon neutral by 2050, the company’s latest sustainability report highlights initiatives and results based on three pillars of its business: operations, products and services, and collaborations. To guide its sustainability practices and roadmaps in each of the three pillars, Sun Chemical follows a strategic framework called the ‘five Rs’ — Reuse, Reduce, Renew, Recycle and Redesign — which supports a circular economy and reductions in carbon footprint.

The operations section of the report shows how Sun Chemical’s recent acquisitions and additional manufacturing facilities affected overall energy and water consumption. The data highlights that despite the acquisitions, the quantities of waste incinerated without energy recovery and landfill waste continued to decrease since the last report.

“Sun Chemical’s ongoing efforts to strive for continuously improving results in waste, water, and energy reduction drive decisions and actions throughout our operations,” said Gary Andrzejewski, corporate vice president, Environmental Affairs, Sun Chemical. “Our focus on decreasing energy usage, which last year included investing in solar arrays and heat recovery systems, is a key sustainable strategy that is especially important as we integrate acquisitions into our operations.”

The products and services section of the report describes Sun Chemical’s sustainable development process which includes the design of products or processes that reduce greenhouse gas emissions related to climate change, conserve virgin resources and/or lower the accumulation of waste compared to conventional products or processes they replace. Some of the featured offerings include:

• Copper-free blue inks for compostable packaging;
• AquaHeat oven-safe renewable inks made with high levels of biorenewable content;
• Sustainability-enabling series of inks and coatings for the narrow-web, label and sleeve market;
• A new water-based coating for sheetfed commercial printing and folding cartons;
• Moisture vapor barrier coatings for paper packaging applications;
• Digital color management solutions that offer a number of sustainability benefits; and
• New functional black pigments that enable easier recycling of black plastics in recycling facilities.

“Sustainability is top-of-mind for many converters and brand owners and they’re looking for products that enable them to achieve sustainability goals,” said Michael Simoni, director, Global Sustainability, Sun Chemical. “Because Sun Chemical’s sustainability efforts in research and product development are rooted in our ‘5Rs’ framework, we develop a wide variety of bio-renewable, compost-compliant and recycle-friendly product lines across our portfolio.”

Collaborations and partnerships play an essential role in Sun Chemical sustainability efforts, especially in shaping the future of a circular economy and strengthening sustainable value chains. To measure the sustainability performance of its suppliers, Sun Chemical utilizes the EcoVadis scoring platform. The report shows that more than 85 percent of Sun Chemical suppliers that participate in the EcoVadis system have achieved a Corporate Social Responsibility score greater than 45/100, Sun Chemical’s acceptable threshold.

Other collaborations featured in the report include:

• the oneBARRIER project with Bobst and other partners to create recycle-ready mono-material ultra-high and high-barrier flexible packaging;
• joining the Circular Plastics Initiative through the Dutch Institute for Sustainable Process Technology; and
• a partnership with United Kingdom-based In2tech to develop a more sustainable approach to electronics manufacturing.

For every sustainability report that is downloaded, Sun Chemical will plant a tree for every sustainability report downloaded through the established nongovernmental organization, One Tree Planted. To download Sun Chemical’s latest sustainability report, visit www.sunchemical.com/sustainability.

Posted: April 17, 2023

Source: Sun Chemical