Energy & Emissions

Energy

Energy is vital to papermaking and we are proud of our efforts to reduce energy usage. We generate more than 85% of our total mill energy needs from renewable, carbon-neutral biomass residuals rather than fossil fuels. Biomass residuals are the by-products from converting a tree into cellulose pulp.

Emissions

Sylvamo has a responsibility as a public company to steward our footprint within the communities we operate in. It is critical that we measure and disclose emission inventory annually to demonstrate our commitment to climate action. One of our responsible operations targets is to reduce our greenhouse gas (GHG) emissions within the facilities that we own and operate.

Sylvamo has a 2030 GHG absolute reduction goal of 35% with a 2019 baseline year, across all three scopes. To calculate our target, we used the Science Based Target initiative’s (SBTi) calculator and selected the absolute contraction method, under the “well below two degrees Celsius” scenario; this was validated by SBTi in 2023. SBTi validated a “well below 2 degree” absolute reduction target across all 3 scopes in early 2023 and we disclose progress in our annual sustainability performance review report, along with our annual CDP submission.

Our 2023 progress of 20% reduction of total inventory was due to less consumption of raw materials and energy across the fleet. We recently received a limited assurance verification over our Scope 1, 2, and 3 data for the baseline year and the most recent year of data, 2019 and 2023, respectively.

We have also had many internal workshops collaborating with staff groups throughout Sylvamo how best to maneuver the regulatory landscape in the next calendar year, again demonstrating how our governance structure establishes a seamless avenue of communication for all stakeholders involved with Sylvamo’s climate transition plan.

Because Scope 3 GHG emissions account for more than 60% of our total emissions, we will conduct our annual vendor GHG questionnaire to obtain upstream emissions data from suppliers that make up a large percentage of our purchased goods and services footprint. This survey provides insight into innovations and solutions available from our suppliers.

We follow a hybrid methodology to calculate our Scope 3 emissions utilizing the National Council of Air and Stream Improvement (NCASI) Scope 3 Beta calculator; it is based on guidance from the Greenhouse Gas Protocol. This tool includes those categories that have the greatest potential effect on Scope 3 emissions for forest product companies.