Strong Commitment Toward Sustainability Continues For Sappi North America in 2019 Sustainability Report

Leading paper and packaging supplier highlights collaborative results in annual report

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Apr 21, 2020, 09:05 ET

BOSTON, April 21, 2020 /PRNewswire/ -- Sappi North America, Inc., a leading producer and supplier of diversified paper, packaging products and dissolving pulp, today released its 2019 Sustainability Report, illustrating the bright future for sustainability within the company. The report provides an overview of the continued progress toward Sappi's sustainability goals, and highlights its long-standing commitment to employee safety standards, innovation and a low carbon footprint across the operation.

"As a diversified and resilient organization navigating through this unprecedented time, our commitment toward sustainability remains intact and at our core," said Mike Haws, President and CEO, Sappi North America. "Our results from 2019 have established a foundation for future investments and growth that will continue to support all of our employees and their local communities, which is needed now more than ever."

Sustainability Achievements

Sappi North America's 2019 results reflect its commitment to improving environmental, social and business performance. Highlights include:

Record-breaking safety performance. Sappi achieved a Lost Time Injury Frequency Rate of 0.25 for the year—the lowest in Sappi North America's history for the second consecutive year.
Over 75% of our total energy needs were met with renewable fuel. This gives us one of the lowest carbon footprints in the industry at just 0.38 tons of CO₂ generated per ton of product made.
Investment in employees. The company provided an average of 105 hours per employee of training across the organization in 2019.
Continued innovation to align with a global sustainability platform. Sappi North America made significant strides in research related to utilizing the full value of trees to create products, while minimizing the impact on the environment.

Sappi North America Looks Ahead to the Next Five-Year Goals and Aligns with UN

"We have achieved much since launching our Vision 2020," said Sandy Taft, Sustainability Director, Sappi North America. "In the years ahead, we expect our progress to accelerate as we align our goals with seven of the United Nations' Sustainable Development Goals most relevant to us. Through that focus, we can make a real difference, using more clean energy to mitigate climate change, working with our partners in the forests and continuing to deliver economic growth in our communities."

To read more of Sappi North America's 2019 Sustainability Report and learn about its sustainability initiatives, please visit: https://www.sappi.com/sustainability-north-america.

About Sappi North America, Inc.

Sappi North America, Inc., headquartered in Boston, is a market leader in converting wood fiber into superior products that customers demand worldwide. The success of our four diversified businesses – high-quality Coated Printing Papers, Dissolving Pulp, Packaging and Specialty Papers and Casting and Release Papers – is driven by strong customer relationships, best-in-class people and advantaged assets, products and services. Our high-quality Coated Printing Papers, including McCoy, Opus, Somerset, and Flo, are the key platform for premium magazines, catalogs, books, direct mail and high-end print advertising. We are a leading manufacturer of Dissolving Pulp with our Verve brand, a sustainable fiber, which is used in a wide range of products, including textile fibers and household goods. We deliver sustainable Packaging and Specialty Papers for luxury packaging and folding carton applications with our single-ply packaging brands, Spectro and Proto, and for the food and label industries with our specialty papers, LusterPrint and LusterCote. We are also one of the world's leading suppliers of Casting and Release Papers with our Ultracast, PolyEx and Classics lines for the automotive, fashion and engineered films industries. Customers rely on Sappi for high technical, operational and market expertise; products and services delivered with consistently high quality and reliability; and, state-of-the-art and cost-competitive assets and innovative spirit.

Sappi North America is a subsidiary of Sappi Limited (JSE), a global company headquartered in Johannesburg, South Africa, with more than 12,000 employees and manufacturing operations on three continents in seven countries and customers in over 150 countries.

SOURCE Sappi North America, Inc.