Community

With a global presence, Stora Enso engages with numerous local communities around the world. By sharing time and materials, the Group aims for increased involvement in the communities and thereby strengthening its impact.

Progress

Our target is to increase the proportion of working hours and in-kind contributions to 70% by 2023, while also increasing the total community investment. During 2022, Stora Enso initiated a number of large cash donations towards humanitarian emergency relief. Three donations were directed towards the Ukraine crisis and one towards the emergency relief following the severe flooding in Pakistan. These relief donations were channelled through UNHCR. The large cash contributions resulted in the share of volunteer work and in-kind contributions decreasing to 41% (42% in 2021). When including joint operations in Brazil and Uruguay, the share was 22% (18%). For more information, see our Annual Report 2022.

Stora Enso has a large presence in the Baltics and Poland, and our employees in these locations have been actively volunteering their time, collecting in-kind donations and providing shelter to refugees. To support this, local management raised the number of annual volunteering hours from 8 to 16 per employee. The total monetary value of the community contribution towards Ukraine across the Group was EUR 0.25 million. Several operating units donated in-kind materials in response to the Ukraine crisis, such as boxes to help transport the food, clothes for the refugees and also cash donations, to local charity organisations to help refugees arriving in neighbouring countries. 

How we work

In many locations, Stora Enso benefits the local economy as a major employer, taxpayer, and partner to local entrepreneurs. We take precautionary and systematic action to mitigate and remedy potential adverse environmental and social impacts on local stakeholders in community development and/or monitoring. These include:

• Due diligence, in which we evaluate the impact that the current or potential business operations may have on local communities and the environment. Community consultations are a key element of this work.
• Third-party certified management systems in place at production units that apply international standards such as ISO 14001, ISO 45001 and ISO 50001.
• Third-party forest management certification for the Group’s own forestry operations and suppliers, such as FSC and PEFC, which also include community considerations.
• When necessary, restructuring processes and the closure of operations are realised in cooperation with the authorities to support communities through related
  changes and to create opportunities for new business initiatives.
• Grievance mechanisms available to communities close to our operations.

Our policies

• Sponsorship and Donations Policy
• Community Investment Guidelines.
• Volunteering Guidelines
• Stora Enso Code
• Business Practice Policy
• Human Rights Policy

Our joint operations have each developed formal procedures for their respective community investment work to reflect Stora Enso’s requirements. 

To ensure that Stora Enso’s production, raw material sourcing, and labour supply remain both sustainable and competitive, we support and work with the communities which we depend on so that they are able to thrive economically, socially, and environmentally. Our operations generate emissions and our tree plantations influence land use in ways that may adversely impact the rights of those communities. Our socio-environmental impacts must be managed responsibly in order to minimise negative impacts, maximise our positive influence, and maintain a constructive community dialogue that ensures our long-term license to operate.