As paper industry customers and their customers strive towards more sustainable product lines, Paper Profile as an environmental product declaration has become an increasingly relevant tool for informing purchasing choices.
Paper Profile, which has been around for 20 years, and now used by most paper producers across Europe, is a performance measurement tool for delivering relevant up-to-date environmental data to pulp, paper, and paperboard buyers. As a registered trademark around the world, Paper Profile declares environmental aspects related to pulp, paper and paperboard production including: Product composition and emissions, wood procurement and environmental management.
“Backed by its long history, Paper Profile is seen as a transparent, credible source of information for all our stakeholders interested in the credentials and environmental performance of our paper,” says Elina Skerfe, Senior manager of sustainable processes in Stora Enso Paper Division.
An important tool for customers
Stora Enso Paper Division has Paper Profiles on all the division’s own brands, which are publicly available on Stora Enso Paper’s Sustainability Hub.
“Paper Profile is well known and appreciated by Stora Enso customers, as they can easily compare our products with competitor products using the data provided in one condensed A4 format,” Skerfe explains.
As part of the company’s customer ESG reporting processes, Stora Enso also receives extensive questionnaires requesting environmental product data. “In this context, Paper Profile is one of our tools for customer communications,” says Skerfe, “as it contains a variety of parameters and the most relevant information on the environmental performance of our products.”
A growing network
The Paper Profile initiative, as one of the first ever transparent reporting tools developed for a product, has helped shift the industry towards more open information sharing. And the tool’s expansion over the years to 21 participating European companies can attest to this. Paper Profile has also evolved in line with customer demands, such as the inclusion of information about the chain of custody certifications, or more recently, data on biomass carbon content.
“Paper Profile has successfully consolidated its position as a credible source of information for stakeholders interested in the credentials and environmental performance of paper,” affirms Klaus Barduna, Senior Vice President, Stora Enso Paper Division, and Stora Enso’s representative in the Paper Profile steering committee.
