Environmental Paper Network

🌲 Is this the future we want for our forests? We need YOU to act! Replacing plastic with single-use paper is not a solution! 🗓️ On November 22, the European Parliament will vote on the Packaging and Packaging Waste Regulation (#PPWR), and there’s a real danger that some of the most impactful measures will be removed or weakened because of the pressure from the #packaging industry & companies like McDonald’s and Coca-Cola. 🔎 In particular, the Regulation would ban unnecessary #throwaway packaging in dine-in restaurants & set targets for #reuse in different sectors! To stop paper-based packaging from destroying forests, the European Parliament must adopt the Regulation! 📢 Would you like to spread our message? Make sure to share this video & send an email to your country’s Members of the European Parliament! Click here to find out how! 👇 https://lnkd.in/e7pNVqSx

EPN is hiring! Do you want to join our amazing team? EPN International is looking for a new Finance Working Group Coordinator. As the Finance WG Coordinator, you will be in charge of two working groups: one focusing on campaigns targeting pulp finance and the other one on biomass bioenergy finance. The successful candidate will: 👉 design and deliver the working group strategy, work plans and reporting; 👉 coordinate joint activities; 👉 facilitate working group meetings; 👉 engage with financiers of pulp and biomass related industries; 👉 identify opportunities for finance related work in the broader EPN strategy;  Apply until September 15th:  https://lnkd.in/d8VxS2xk

Today, EPN International launched Pulp Fiction, a report that portrays the dystopian origin of the paper produced by Suzano, one of the world’s largest producers of eucalyptus pulp. ✅ Land-grabbing ✅ Ecosystem degradation ✅ Water scarcity ✅ Chemical poisoning Suzano’s sustainability statements are confronted with concrete cases of conflicts with leaders of indigenous communities. An example is the story of Antônio Sapezeiro, a Quilombola leader who was arrested by military police after being attacked by a private guard dog. Link to the report in the first comment.

The U.S. paper industry claims that it does not contribute to deforestation. However, U.S. agencies are urging the EU to delay its new deforestation law, arguing that compliance presents "critical challenges" for the US paper industry. We must see the request for what it is, and ensure that the EUDR enters fully into force on December 30th, 2024. Our latest for Fern NGO's Forest Watch news: https://lnkd.in/epeh8egv

EPN will present a webinar on June 28, 2024, on pulpwood industrial plantations in Colombia and the risk of transgenic trees. Sergio Baffoni will speak about the pulp and paper industry and industrial tree plantation expansion in Columbia, which is driven by pulping expansion associated with increasing demand for “sustainable” single-use paper packaging. He will outline the threats these plantations pose to the people and the environment and the risks for indigenous and local communities caused by the introduction of genetically engineered trees.   The webinar will be broadcast by National Indigenous Radio (link in the first comment). Time:  9:00 AM San Francisco  11:00 AM Bogotà   12: PM Santiago, Asuncion, Asheville, 1:00 PM  Montevideo Brasilia, 6:00 PM CEST

📰❗️Just released: new briefing is required reading as countries are formulating their new round of climate commitments. Co-firing biomass with coal is *not* abatement! We can’t burn our way out of the climate crisis. This new briefing from the Biomass Action Network draws attention to the unacceptable acceleration of burning wood with coal. National Determined Contributions (NDC 3.0) that are being prepared this week at UN Climate Change must not include co-firing as abatement! Read our new briefing here: https://t.co/AL3WpS3hvh

🌎 Today is International Day of Biodiversity! Do you know the vital role our forests play worldwide for biodiversity? Forests are home to 80% of the world’s terrestrial biodiversity. Rainforests alone are home to nearly half of all land animals and plants despite covering only 6% of the Earth’s land. So, when it comes to the health of our ecosystems and their biodiversity, we need to talk about the health of our forests. And their health is not going so great:  🤯 Between 1990 and 2020, 420 million hectares of forests have been lost - an area equivalent to the entire EU  😱 Since 2000, we’ve also seen Intact Forest Landscapes shrink globally by 12%, an area 2x as big as Chile And yes, this relates to wood extraction, which is too often used for wasteful purposes, such as biomass burning or single-use paper packaging. It’s important to debunk their claims that pulp producers are growing so-called ‘forests’. This couldn’t be further from the truth! ❌ Pulpwood plantations are precisely that: plantations. They are more often than not monocultures of a single, high-yield species (such as the eucalyptus), replacing thousands of hectares of real forests from Brazil to Sweden, from Indonesia to Chile. These monocultures destroy precisely the needed biodiversity that we celebrate today! In contrast, forests are themselves vibrant ecosystems, full of diverse, native species, both animal and plants, so often endangered. Let’s protect it! Protect forests = Protect biodiversity 🌳🤝🌏 #BiodiversityDay #InternationalDayofBiodiversity #Biodiversity #BiodiversityCrisis #Forests #Rainforests

💀🌲 Killed by cardboard packaging! Indeed, that’s both the title of the most recent Greenpeace Sweden report and the reality of Swedish old-growth forests. 📝 This report was published today and it denounces the devastating impacts that e-commerce packaging has on centuries-old (!!) forests in Sweden. The final product? Your Amazon package. This reports is yet another proof that paper packaging doesn’t come from “well-managed forests” in Europe. They decimate ecosystems! Centuries-old European forests – central to Europe’s fight against the climate crisis – are being turned into throw-away packaging and sold across Europe. ❌ Don’t kill old-growth forests for paper packaging! 🤓 Full Report here: https://lnkd.in/dNSBRn6t 🔁 Share this message to spread the word of the deforestation caused by throw-away e-commerce packaging on century-old forests #Sweden #Sveridge #Packaging #Cardboard #MakeThrowAwayGoAway #OldGrowthForest #SwedishForest #Greenpeace

So the packaging and packaging waste directive turned out as the likes of McDonald's and the European Paper Packaging Alliance (EPPA) hoped - in that it promotes single-use paper (and paper-plastic) packaging. This graphic from Squire Patton Boggs (Thomas Delille and Valerio Giovannini) of the changes now in place show how far things were watered down from the early proposals (bans on single-use when dining in (to encourage reuse) and the like). A win for science the EPPA has said. It's a hatchet job, according to the Environmental Paper Network. An investigation on undue influence by packaging lobbyists is underway. POLITICO broke the story (having also been happy to take McDonald’s dollars and publish sponsored content from the fast food chain that spread what campaigners and academics have suggested is misinformation). Watch. This. Space. Sergio Baffoni DeSmog Chris Sherrington Michael Lenaghan

🍹 Do paper straws annoy you? Then, why use them at all? The plastic and paper packaging industries have been amazing in marketing all sorts of unnecessary packaging and accessories for our food and drinks, such as the straw. They make us believe we truly need it in order to truly flavor our favorite drink. But guess what: whether made out of plastic or paper, straws pollute our environment! ☠️ 🥤 In particular, paper straws include the 'forever chemicals' PFAs, which are dangerous for your health! Luckily, one of the few victories of the european packaging regulation (PPWR) is precisely the ban on these chemicals, protecting your health and the environment. Until PPWR goes into effect, remember: do you really need extra ingredients in your drink? Refuse paper straws - and enjoy your drink! 🍷