DMA Offers Extensive Environmental Facts & Tools: Setting the Record Straight

December 10, 2009 — As we enter 2010, we are faced with new challenges and opportunities for improving our business, while being ever mindful of our environment and our impact on it. You may be aware that some environmental groups have at times singled out our business community and specific businesses within it in order to further their agendas.

In fact, the DMA and its members place a high priority on self-regulation and environmental stewardship. Forests in North America are managed better today than ever before. In the US, nearly 1.4 billion trees are planted every year – about 4 million per day – exceeding the number harvested and contributing to an overall net growth of forests.

At DMA, we believe that you need to be informed in order to make the proper decisions and to respond to your critics when challenged. We have numerous green tools and resources to assist you with understanding this complex issue and responding appropriately to current (or future) demands from environmental activists. Please visit the DMA Environmental Resource Center at www.the-dma.org/environment to learn more.

In addition, and to help you get started, copied below are DMA mail and environment facts, talking points, tools, and other green resources that we hope prove useful to you. We also suggest that you consult with your printers and paper suppliers, as many have excellent references, resources and scientific reports to help you understand the facts and make the right decisions.

We urge you to review these materials and let us know if you need any additional assistance or facts. Please direct any questions or comments to Serenity Edwards, DMA’s Director of Corporate & Social Responsibility, at 202.861.2445 or sedwards@the-dma.org.

The Direct Marketing Association (DMA) is leading industry-wide efforts to improve the environmental performance and public perception of the marketing community, in line with the “triple bottom line” (financial, environmental and social sustainability).

Below is a summary of recent DMA green initiatives to assist members with understanding environmental issues and taking appropriate steps to improve their environmental footprints in measurable, effective ways, as well as to provide a solid foundation for communicating with policymakers about the effectiveness of self-regulation and responsible marketing.

You may also find useful the following organizations in gathering the facts necessary to make sound, scientific decisions about your environmental policies, rather than making decisions dictated by activist pressure or emotion.

· Representatives from the DMA’s Committee on Environment & Social Responsibility (CESR). Please contact environment@the-dma.org and we will arrange for you to speak to a CESR member.

On many fronts, consumers are increasingly seeking ways to reduce their personal environmental footprint. One way thoughtful consumers can make a difference is to choose and use paper and wood wisely. In some instances this may mean using less of a product. In all cases where wood or paper is the product of choice, all consumers should look for products that come from responsible and sustainable sources. Responsible sources are those that embrace these priorities:

Canadian Forestry Sector and FPAC Members:

Responsible Suppliers of Forest Products

Harvest legally

· FPAC members trace the origin of all fibre used in their operations to provide documented evidence that it comes from legal sources.

2004 independent international study shows that Canada has no issues with illegal logging.[1]

Regenerate promptly

· In Canada, all harvested areas must be regenerated by law.

· Canada plants more than 500 million seedlings every year and has a deforestation rate of virtually zero.

· Canada retains 91% of its original forest area, more than any other country in the world.

Reduce waste and promote paper recovery and recycling

· 87% of Canada’s paper comes from recovered paper and sawmill residues.

· Using process residuals for energy has decreased the material being sent to landfill by 40%.

· FPAC members support programmes that encourage greater recovery of waste paper.

· FPAC members support a commitment to increase Canada’s paper recovery rate to 55% by 2012; in 2007, 58% of all the paper and paper-based packaging consumed in Canada was recycled.

Reduce greenhouse gas emissions

· Waste-based biomass constitutes almost 60% of the total energy used by the forest industry.

· FPAC members have reduced greenhouse gas emissions by 57% below 1990 levels for pulp and paper facilities, while increasing production by 8%, since 1990.

· FPAC members have committed to pursue a carbon-neutral industry by 2015, without the purchase of offset credits.

Be open to public scrutiny

· Canada is home to nearly 40% of the world’s certified forests and has the largest area of third-party independently certified forests in the world.

· Canada is the only country in the world whose national trade association (FPAC) has made third-party verified sustainable forest management certification a condition of membership.

· In 2005, FPAC members committed to the FPAC Sustainability Initiative, a programme that provides a mechanism to report the industry’s environmental, social, and economic performance.

FPAC members are committed to being global leaders in sustainable products and performance.

FPAC members harvest legally and are bound by provincial law to regenerate promptly. FPAC managed lands are 100% third-party certified. FPAC members promote recycling and have not only reduced their greenhouse gas emission by 57% from 1990 levels, but have also made a commitment to pursuing carbon neutrality through the supply chain by 2015.

FPAC members will not rest on their laurels. Much has been accomplished with a number of milestones met; however more needs to be done. The future of the Canadian forest products industry as the leader in environmental stewardship requires diligence and accountability. FPAC members are on the path to growing their business, and the Canadian industry’s share, in the forest products markets.

“Emissions from deforestation are very significant globally. Independent estimates of the annual emissions from deforestation more than 18% of global greenhouse gas emissions.”

”Deforestation accounts for approximately 20 per cent of world annual greenhouse gas emissions and is the largest source of emissions in the developing world. If current rates of deforestation in Brazil and Indonesia alone continue until 2012, they will wipe out nearly 80 per cent of the total emissions savings agreed under the Kyoto Protocol”

“A sustainable forest management strategy, aimed at maintaining or increasing carbon stocks, while producing an annual sustained yield of timber, will generate the largest mitigation benefit”.

Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change (IPCC), Mitigation of Climate Change, 2007

“Several tools have been developed in the context of sustainable forest management, including criteria and indicators, national forest programmes, model forests and certification systems. These tools can also support and provide sound grounds for mitigation of climate change and thus carbon sequestration.”

Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change (IPCC), Mitigation of Climate Change, 2007

“Over the long term, active and sustainable management of forests, including their use as a source of wood products and biofuels, allows the greatest potential for reducing net carbon emissions.”

Integrated Carbon Analysis of Forest Management Practices and Wood Substitution, 2007

“It needs to be said that, in the last 30 years, the forest industry in this country has made a lot of progress in improving practices.” Orillia Packet and Times, 2007

"The environmental movement in Canada is indebted to the Forest Products Association of Canada and its members for leadership on the climate change issue and on the Kyoto file."

Elizabeth May, Executive Director of Sierra Club Canada
September 30, 2005, The Western Star (Corner Brook)

“We are pleased that FPAC is taking such a leadership position on climate change and not waiting for government regulations before taking action. My big hope is that other Canadian sectors will follow suit and rise to the challenge.”

"As I traveled through Canada touring several thousands of acres of forests by foot, plane, and vehicle, visiting mill operations, and talking with timber owners, forest contractors, environmentalists, and other timber and wood-products buyers, I came away with greater appreciation and first-hand knowledge that these companies are doing more than the minimum of what's required and are taking and are taking great pride in advancing forest sustainability in an environmentally sound manner."

“Having an opportunity to see the operations on the ground and talk with the foresters responsible for management and certification of the forests provides a totally different perspective and is so essential to having an understanding of the tremendous effort involved in managing the boreal.”

“I can’t even start to tell you all the positive things that I learned about the boreal forests, of special interest are the dedication and passion of your member companies for the protection and preservation of the natural forests. The things I learned will help me better educate paper consumers in the states about what really is being done for forest protection while meeting the demands for paper and wood products.”

[1] Source: ‘“Illegal’ Logging and Global Wood Markets: The Competitive Impacts on the U.S. Wood Products Industry,’” prepared for the American Forest & Paper Association by Seneca Creek Associates, LLC, November 2004.