Environmental Pulp and Paper Company Index Russia

Overall aim of the Index

Lay the groundwork for reducing the environmental impact of pulp and paper companies, making the development of forests more efficient, increasing the transparency and environmental and social responsibility or companies’ operations.

The objectives

1. Obtain objective information on the environmental impact of the pulp and paper production, promote information transparency of the pulp and paper industry 
2. Compare the leading companies in the Russian pulp and paper market in the following areas:
   • the environmental impact per one unit of manufactured goods;
   • the degree of transparency and availability of ecologically significant information;
   • tthe quality of environmental policies and management, compliance with best practices and standards;
   • the compliance of company operations with environmental legislation;
   • effective use of forest resources, conservation of environmental values of the forests, including biological diversity, old-growth forests, intact forest landscapes, as well as compliance with the requirements of voluntary forest certification.
3. Capture change in companies’ performance across these indicators between years.

Basic principles

• The index is compiled on the basis of common criteria.
• The methodology is discussed with all stakeholders.
• Due to lack of structured and freely available information about pulp and paper companies’ environmental impact, the index is based on data for the companies’ operations taken from open sources and additional information provided by companies on the request. Next scoring is assumed to be done on the basis of data taken from open sources only.
• The index is prepared by a professional analytical company selected through an open tender.
• The index is updated on regular basis.

Index sections

• The legality and sustainability of raw materials.
  
• Sustainability of production, environmental impact, quality of environmental impact management.
  
• Social responsibility.
  
• Information disclosure, transparency, reporting.
  
• Environmental policy and management.
  

Implementation schedule

• January 2017 – a round table dedicated to the launch of the Index.
  
• January 2017 – further development of the Index concept.
  
• February 2017 – companies’ invitation to participate in Index.
  
• March – October 2017 – completion of the distributed forms by companies.
  
• May – November 2017 – processing of completed forms and discussion of preliminary results with companies.
  
• February 2018 – presentation and publication of the materials.