Assessment: State of Lenzing’s influence and dependencies on biodiversity and ecosystems

The Lenzing Group uses two different types of forestry for its wood sourcing, depending on the global region: sustainable and multi-functional forest management is applied in the Northern hemisphere by Lenzing’s wood and pulp suppliers in Europe and North America. Plantation forestry with high sustainability standards is conducted mainly in the Southern hemisphere by Lenzing’s pulp supplier in South Africa and by the new pulp plant in Brazil.

Biodiversity and ecosystem status monitoring in the Lenzing Group are performed in the global regions via two different approaches.

In Europe, biodiversity is monitored at a national level according to the Forest Europe Criteria. Results are published regularly in the European overview^39,40. Recent reports paint a mixed picture of success and issues still to be resolved. The measures to be taken are better understood thanks to intensive research activities.

For the Brazil operations, a long-standing monitoring program on plantation levels is conducted by Lenzing’s joint venture partner Dexco (formerly Duratex), which began in the 1970s with the establishment of the first plantations. LD Celulose, Lenzing’s Brazilian legal entity, continues this program at its managed plantations. Data is gathered every six months to cover seasonal variations, and reported annually. Pulp suppliers apply their own monitoring schemes.

Attempts to quantify impacts from land use on biodiversity usually consist of two components: the quantity of land (forest) area used, and the intensity of use. The estimation of land area used for Lenzing’s wood sourcing is part of the initiated “Biodiversity concept” project. Variations in data availability and data quality can arise depending on the forest type, the land ownership, the sourcing area and the supply chain position (wood or pulp sourcing to Lenzing).