Resolute Stands with Northern Communities in Their Call for Government Working Group on FSC

MONTREAL, March 24, 2015 /PRNewswire/ - Resolute Forest Products Inc. (NYSE: RFP) (TSX: RFP) today announced its strong endorsement of the Alliance forêt boréale call for a working group to address recent issues regarding some Forest Stewardship Council^® (FSC^®) certificates in the Province of Quebec.

Earlier today, Alliance forêt boréale held a press conference in Saguenay, Quebec, and issued a press release calling on the Government of Quebec to form a working group comprised of regional and provincial government officials and FSC representatives to better understand all aspects of FSC certification and the path to restoring recently suspended regional FSC certificates, as well as to address ongoing misinformation spread by certain activist groups.

As one of the largest holders of FSC sustainable forest management certificates in North America and as a supporter of the FSC standard, Resolute strongly supports this initiative and requests that industry also have the opportunity to participate in the process. Alliance forêt boréale unites the communities and current and retired forestry sector workers in the Saguenay–Lac-Saint-Jean region to promote development linked to the sustainable management of the boreal forest. Alliance forêt boréale today stated their strong belief that the Quebec government should undertake a socio-economic evaluation of any additional constraint to forest management in the region.

"A sustainable approach and sustainable outcomes require a range of interested and constructive stakeholders to collaborate, carefully balancing environmental, social and economic considerations," stated Richard Garneau, Resolute's president and chief executive officer. "The initiation of such a process by Alliance forêt boréale is an important step forward, especially in light of the very real impact recent events have had on workers in the region and the prosperity of northern communities, which rely heavily on the health of the forest products industry."    

About Resolute Forest Products
Resolute Forest Products is a global leader in the forest products industry with a diverse range of products, including newsprint, specialty papers, market pulp and wood products. The company owns or operates some 40 pulp and paper mills and wood products facilities in the United States, Canada and South Korea, and power generation assets in Canada. Marketing its products in close to 80 countries, Resolute has third-party certified 100% of its managed woodlands to at least one of three internationally recognized sustainable forest management standards. The shares of Resolute Forest Products trade under the stock symbol RFP on both the New York Stock Exchange and the Toronto Stock Exchange.

Resolute and other member companies of the Forest Products Association of Canada, as well as a number of environmental organizations, are partners in the Canadian Boreal Forest Agreement. The group works to identify solutions to conservation issues that meet the goal of balancing equally the three pillars of sustainability linked to human activities:  environmental, social and economic.

Resolute is proud to be ranked by Corporate Knights as one of Canada's Best 50 Corporate Citizens for 2014. In addition, the company and Richard Garneau, president and chief executive officer, have been named to Canada's Clean50. And in January 2015, Resolute was awarded The New Economy magazine's global Clean Tech Award for best forestry and paper solutions.

SOURCE Resolute Forest Products Inc.

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