Sappi focuses on partnerships for greater sustainability.
The African proverb: “Sticks in a bundle are unbreakable” best sums up Sappi’s approach to its support for the United Nation’s Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs) and in particular SDG17, Partnership for the Goals.
Sappi has made the SDGs an integral part of our business and have partnered with several other collaborative efforts to lend our support to the global groundswell for greater sustainability by all responsible companies.
With climate change continuing to impact businesses and reshape societies, we believe that as a company we are ideally placed to use the full potential of each tree we harvest by building a biobased circular economy in South Africa.
Our bioproducts are sustainable alternatives extracted from woodfibre to reduce the need for fossil-based materials used in everyday products for the customers we serve, the communities where we operate, and the planet we all call home. It’s an opportunity we’re embracing with a spirit of eco-effective ingenuity that’s unique to Sappi.
To do this sustainably, Sappi has identified nine priority SDGs where we believe we can make the biggest impact. In 2020 we committed to setting science-based decarbonisation targets through the Science Based Targets initiative (SBTi), a collaboration between the CDP, the United Nations Global Compact (UNGC), World Resources Institute (WRI) and the World Wide Fund for Nature (WWF). Our five-year target for Sappi SA is a 20% reduction from our FY19 baseline.
As a signatory of the UN Global Compact (UNGC) since 2008, we have joined the call to step up for this Decade of Action and will, using our global impact, work together with governments, civil society, businesses and society to achieve ambitious action for sustainable development.
More recently, Sappi joined the CBA (Circular Bioeconomy Alliance), a movement that places nature at the heart of the global circular bioeconomy, established by His Royal Highness the Prince of Wales under his Sustainable Markets Initiative in 2020.
The Alliance aims to accelerate the transition to a circular bioeconomy that is climate neutral, inclusive and prospers in harmony with nature, by providing knowledge-informed support and a learning and networking platform. It connects the dots between investors, companies, local communities, governmental and non-governmental organisations to advance the circular bioeconomy – while also restoring biodiversity.
While Sappi is already engaged in, and has been contributing to many partnerships and collaborations, we continue to work actively with others to scale our ambition in pursuit of achieving the Sustainable Development Goals by 2030.
FOR MORE INFO:
Read more about Sappi’s Sustainability journey in our Corporate Citizenship Report.