Biodiversity and ecosystem improvement: targets and actions

To respond to the pressures on nature by taking positive action, the Science Based Targets for Nature initiative introduced the Action Framework with five key types of actions: “Avoid – Reduce – Restore and Regenerate – Transform” in its Initial Guidance for Business (2020)⁴¹. This scheme was also adopted by the Textile Exchange Biodiversity Benchmark.

The AR³T framework of Science-based targets for nature (SBTN 2020)^a

Targets

In the presentation of Lenzing’s biodiversity and ecosystem related targets and measures at this point in time, the AR³T framework is considered a useful sorting scheme. That said, the development of a comprehensive and systematic approach to biodiversity and ecosystems is planned for the Lenzing Group, in line with Sustainability target 8 (see table “SBTN’s framework for action and Lenzing’s approach”).

Several targets have been derived from the Sustainability strategy and the sCore TEN strategy, containing elements that positively influence biodiversity and ecosystem services or nature’s contributions to people.

Actions

Avoid: biodiversity due diligence via sustainable sourcing

Wood and dissolving wood pulp are Lenzing’s most important raw materials. The Lenzing Group assumes responsibility by focusing on sustainable sourcing. Lenzing only sources wood and dissolving wood pulp from semi-natural forests and plantations (as defined by the Food and Agriculture Organization of the United Nations⁴²). Moreover, it does not source materials from natural or ancient and endangered forests.

Lenzing Group’s Wood and Pulp Policy

In its Wood and Pulp Policy⁴³, Lenzing is committed to procuring wood and dissolving wood pulp exclusively from non-controversial sources. In order to protect the world’s remaining ancient and endangered forests as well as the biodiversity and ecosystems’ integrity within these forests, Lenzing is committed to avoiding the use of wood and pulp containing wood sourced from regions such as the Canadian and Russian Boreal Forests, Coastal Temperate Rainforests, tropical forests and peatlands of Indonesia, the Amazon and West Africa.

Regular risk assessments, audits, on-site visits, and independent third-party certification of sustainable forest management programs ensure compliance with the policy and Lenzing’s commitment to no-deforestation.

Forest certificates

Lenzing’s wood procurement management system ensures that all wood is sourced from legal and sustainably managed sources. Lenzing demonstrates that wood sourcing complies with its high standards through verification based on FSC^® and PEFC certification systems. All wood and dissolving wood pulp used by the Lenzing Group is either certified by FSC^® and PEFC or controlled in line with these standards (figure “Certification status in the Lenzing Group 2021” in the “Raw material security” chapter).

The forest certificates held by the Lenzing Group cover general criteria for biodiversity and forest ecosystem protection according to international standards. Additional criteria can be found in the national standards which vary between countries. For example, the percentage of area set aside for conservation varies between countries and even regions within countries.

For details on wood and pulp certification, see the “Raw material security” chapter.

CanopyStyle Initiative

Lenzing collaborates with the NGO Canopy and many brands and retailers involved in the CanopyStyle initiative. The recent CanopyStyle verification audit was conducted in 2019, and the final audit report was published in the second half of 2020; it confirmed Lenzing is at low risk of sourcing from ancient and endangered forests. In the latest Hot Button Report (2021) from Canopy, Lenzing was again awarded a “dark green shirt”, which represents the best performance category.

Due diligence system in wood and pulp procurement

Regardless of whether the wood used comes from certified or controlled sources, Lenzing wants its stakeholders to be assured that it originates from sustainable sources. Thus, Lenzing uses a due diligence system based on the FSC^® Controlled Wood requirements⁴⁴ to check that 100 percent of the purchased wood and pulp complies with national legislation and Lenzing’s Wood Sourcing Policy.

For more details, please see the “Wood and Pulp” focus paper.

Reduce: via circular economy approaches and climate targets

The aim here is to use fewer inputs from natural resources, and to minimize the impact of greenhouse gas emissions and pollution.

Resource use

Lenzing is committed to the cascading use of wood. This means that different qualities of wood are utilized for different applications in a hierarchy of their value. Lenzing uses of timber generated from small trees through thinning and from parts of large trees that are unsuitable for high-grade products, such as furniture or construction. Wood chips that are a by-product of saw mills are also used.

Lenzing’s biorefinery processes produce dissolving pulp as the main product, as well as several co-products and renewable energy. This results in 100 % utilization of the wood without any waste. More value can be created from fewer natural resources. For details, see the “Responsible production” focus paper.

Recycling fibers and textiles reduces the input of virgin raw materials such as wood. Well-developed technologies can also reduce the consumption of other inputs such as chemicals and energy. This is true for Lenzing products made with recycled materials, e.g. via the REFIBRA™ or Eco Cycle technology, both of which have lower carbon footprints than fibers conventionally produced from virgin material. For details, see the “Circularity & resources: Commercial-scale recycling technologies” chapter.

Climate targets

Climate change and biodiversity can be viewed as two sides of the same coin. Climate change drives biodiversity loss, while the loss of biodiversity accelerates climate change. In the same way, healthy ecosystems can also contribute to regulating the climate. For instance, wood as a natural and renewable raw material plays an important role in replacing fossil-based products and helps mitigate climate change through carbon sinks in forests and wood products. For more information on the climate effects of and on wood and pulp sourcing, see the “Climate & energy” chapter – especially “Avoided emissions”, and the “Wood and Pulp” focus paper. Thanks to its climate strategy and science-based targets in line with the Paris Agreement and UN SDG 13, Lenzing is on the road to reducing CO₂ emissions. For more details, see the “Climate & energy” chapter.

Lenzing contributed content and reviews to the SBTi Roadmap to zero Apparel Guidance in 2021⁴⁵.

Pollution prevention

In accordance with the strategic focus area “Greening the value chain”, the Lenzing Group has targets and programs in place to reduce emissions affecting water and air. For example, closed loop water and chemical cycles are implemented. Lenzing follows the Changing Markets roadmap for the man made fibers industry. All sites have been assessed through the ZDHC scheme.

Restore: forest conservation and restoration

Lenzing supports conservation solutions in other regions not related to its own supply chain, such as afforestation in Albania and the USA. Additionally, Lenzing is also engaged to address protection of ancient and endangered forests in Canada (Broadback Forest Quebec, Vancouver Island) and Indonesia (Leuser Ecosystem) on political level.

Reforestation – OneTreePlanted

Lenzing supported the ‘Earth Day Campaign’ 2019, including the restoration of the Yosemite National Park in California, USA. With the support of this initiative, One Tree Planted was able to plant 115,000 trees in total across more than 354 hectares (875 acres). On behalf of Lenzing 16,141 trees were rooted into the earth, which replaces some of the area destroyed during the California wildfires. This not only restored the land, but also positively impacted wildlife habitat and protected species. The area will serve as a community recreation area with no consumptive activities, hence further protecting and reducing the risk of land erosion problems such as landslides, flooding and fire risks. In 2020 and 2021, the support for One Tree Planted continued. The social media marketing campaign “Make it feel right” for the TENCEL™ brand is connected to funding for OneTreePlanted. In the reporting year, for each pledge made on social media, a tree was donated, thus contributing to reforestation.

In 2020, some 10,000 trees were planted. In 2021, 33,025 trees were planted, mainly in California and Colorado, and in Haiti. This amounts to a total of 59,166 trees since 2019. In the reporting year, Lenzing earned the Tree Badge Award for participating in the Million Tree Challenge with nine other organizations that support tree planting.

Biodiversity in Lenzing’s own plantations in Brazil

Plantation forestry can reduce deforestation pressure on natural (primary) forest areas by providing wood at very high yields per unit area as an alternative to sourcing it from natural forests. FSC^® certification entails management criteria to protect biodiversity⁴⁶, as determined in detail in the national standards. Management practices include a certain percentage of reserved conservation areas.

In the joint venture project with Dexco (formerly Duratex) in Brazil, wood will be sourced from FSC^®-certified plantations of over 44,000 hectares. The managed area belongs to the Cerrado biome and is located around 800 kilometers from the Amazon region. LD Celulose’s forests are in areas that have been converted to agriculture several decades ago. Large areas nearby are generally used for planting soy and coffee or grazing livestock. The trees are mainly eucalyptus species, with a small proportion of pine recently phased out. A breeding and clone selections program is continuing to improve the yield and robustness of the trees. LD Celulose does not use genetically modified organisms (GMOs). These plantations operate fully in accordance with the guidelines and high standards of Lenzing for sourcing wood and pulp. During the planning, the intense utilization of wood resources and the potential negative effects on bio­diversity were part of the risk analysis. In order to avoid these risks, LD Celulose work with conservation programs and also follow the FSC^® standards.

Conservation areas

The land under LD Celulose’s management contains a proportion of conservation area dedicated to biodiversity protection according to legal requirements and FSC^® standards. Brazilian environmental law determines the maintenance of Permanent Preservation Areas (APPs) and Legal Reserve (LR) areas. APPs are specific areas of vegetation such as ciliary forests, areas of vegetation adjacent to water courses, and areas of vegetation on slopes. Legal Reserve areas meet the obligation to preserve at least 20 percent of a property in a rural area. At this stage, 14,623 hectares are protected areas (table “Quantitative description of areas managed and influenced by LD Celulose”). In terms of conservation units that are outside the managed areas but close to the LD Celulose planting area, Páu Furado State Park is some 30 kilometers from the plantation. At this distance, the conservation unit is not impacted by LD Celulose’s activities.

LD Celulose’s forestry unit is supervised by ecology and environmental specialists who were also responsible for identifying a High Conservation Value Area (HCVA) in the area managed by LD Celulose containing Pseudopaludicola facureae, a species of frog found only in this region of Minas Gerais. The forestry unit constantly works to identify any areas that need to be classified as HCVA to ensure the protection of animal and plant species. See the “Wood and Pulp” focus paper for more details.

Monitoring

To ensure that our plantation management maintains compliance with the requirements of the Brazilian Forest Code, LD Celulose has a framework of internal and external processes. The internal GIS team collects satellite imagery on an annual basis and evaluates the location, size and status of the Legal Reserve areas (LRs) and APPs on the managed land. The data is also provided to the field teams in the form of maps. Furthermore, periodic field audits by our environmental specialists ensure that the quality of LRs and APPs is maintained.

LD Celulose is aware of the diversity of flora and fauna found in its forest areas. There are ongoing biodiversity monitoring projects where data on local biodiversity and the potential expansion of invasive species is monitored. Dexco started its biodiversity research projects in its managed areas in the 1970s. LD Celulose has continued to monitor fauna and flora in the areas that have remained under its management and those directly influenced by the mill site through partnerships with universities⁴⁷, in addition to internal programs. These programs are carried out annually in the dry and rainy seasons and aim to monitor possible impacts on local biodiversity. The programs are also required by the Brazilian environmental agency. Approximately 204 species of flora and 450 species of fauna were identified in the forest management units of LD Celulose. Among these species, the presence of animals such as the Maned Wolf and the Giant Anteater, which are characteristic of the region, is particularly noteworthy. There have been no significant impacts on biodiversity to date.

Table “Quantitative description of areas managed and influenced by LD Celulose” provides an overview of land use in the area managed by LD Celulose. The productive area which is not currently certified is not yet planted with trees and is expected to be certified in due time.

Measures for biodiversity and ecosystem enhancement

In the responsible management practiced by LD Celulose, techniques are employed that aim to protect biodiversity as well as soil and water quality. Examples of these measures are:

• Minimum cultivation: For soil conservation, LD Celulose uses the minimum cultivation technique, which consists of keeping the remaining plant material at the harvest site to form layers of soil protection and ensure the cycling of nutrients.
• Nutritional recommendation: LD Celulose performs soil analyses to determine the requisite fertilizer recommendation to maintain soil fertility.
• Connectivity: to improve connectivity of the Permanent Preservation Areas and legal reserves, LD Celulose carries out mosaic planting, establishing ecological corridors that aim to connect the fragments of native forest. Such connectivity allows animals and plants to migrate between different conservation areas, and form a sufficiently large connected number of individuals to ensure a stable population. This measure is a voluntary activity beyond the legal and certification related requirements.
• Preservation and monitoring of riparian forests: These forest areas along waterways contribute to the maintenance of water quality and the quantity of water available. This happens because the riparian forests retain sediments and nutrients carried by the rain, preventing water pollution and silting in the water bodies. In the Brazilian legislation, riparian forests are protected as they are considered Permanent Preservation Areas. LD Celulose, in turn, defines all Permanent Preservation Areas in its forest management units and also monitors these riparian forests.

Regenerate: Enhance ecosystem quality in managed forests

Sustainably managed semi-natural forests in Europe and other parts of the Northern hemisphere are multifunctional in that they provide not just timber but also many ecosystem services such as water regulation or protection against natural disasters, while maintaining biodiversity at the same time.

The Lenzing site (Austria) mainly uses beech wood plus small amounts of other hardwoods and spruce, whereas the Paskov plant (Czech Republic) mainly utilizes spruce.

The percentage of broadleaf forest, especially beech, is increasing⁴⁸ in wood-sourcing countries as forests are being returned to a more natural mix of tree species, contributing to climate change resilience. The area devoted to spruce cultivation is decreasing, although stocks are still increasing in all sourcing countries due to low felling rates. The utilization of beech wood to manufacture fibers provides relatively high value creation versus wood use for energy generation, making it an important economic factor for the regeneration of forests with more deciduous species. This transition is also crucial for adapting forest ecosystems in Central Europe to climate change through greater species diversity^49,50.

Biodiversity protection has long been an objective of sustainable forest management. For semi-natural forests in Central Europe, forestry laws have been implemented since the 19^th century in order to balance the demand for wood sourcing with nature conservation and the ecosystem services provided by forests. This approach has been at the core of a forester’s job description and an important part of the corresponding training for a long time.

As an overarching political process for the European Union and beyond, the Forest Europe political process was initiated in 1990 by the Ministerial Conference on the Protection of Forests in Europe, which comprises 46 states, to promote sustainable forest management in Europe. A set of indicators grouped into six different criteria was developed to measure the sustainability performance of European forests and set targets for improvement⁵¹. Current efforts focus on climate change adaption⁵², water protection, and biodiversity⁵³. As a major buyer of wood in Europe, the Lenzing Group supports these targets, which aim to ensure the continued and improved function of forests in their ecosystems while maintaining the long-term availability of wood as a raw material. Requirements for intensified biodiversity measures will likely come out of the European Union Biodiversity Strategy and Forestry Strategy in the process of development. Lenzing contributed to the Open Consultation on the Forest Strategy in 2021. Publications on biodiversity in managed versus unmanaged forests in Europe, and the effects of some national strategies have been reviewed in the scientific literature of recent years. The level of species richness varied in the comparisons depending on the region and taxonomic group, but differences were rather small⁵⁴. For an overview of studies from the countries relevant for the Lenzing Group’s wood supply, please see the “Wood and Pulp” focus paper.

As the Lenzing site pulp mill obtains more than 35 percent of its wood from Austrian forests, the state of Austria’s forests is especially important for the sourcing situation. In Austria, forest biodiversity is monitored regularly according to a Biodiversity Index⁵⁵. Recent outcomes are reported in the “Indicators of sustainable forest management 2020”⁵⁶ from the multi-stakeholder organization “Walddialog”, as a contribution to the Forest Europe indicators and targets process. Biodiversity in Austrian forests will be the focus of the upcoming governmental biodiversity strategy from 2020 onwards. As a consequence, an increase in the shares of protected and strictly protected areas is expected. For example, every type of forest defined by ecological science is going to be represented in natural forest protected areas (“Naturwaldreservate”).

One important wood supplier to the Lenzing site (Austria), is the state forest company Österreichische Bundesforste (ÖBf AG, Austrian Federal Forests). Managing 10 percent of the national territory and 15 percent of Austria’s woodland, ÖBf is the largest ecosystem manager, forest managing company and owner of hunting and fishing licenses. Sustainability forms the guiding principle for all ÖBf activities. The ÖBf team for ecological landscape management is developing individual nature conservation plans for each of the 120 ÖBf-forest units for example, in addition to the existing forest management plans⁵⁷. These include specific measures to protect endangered species and increase biodiversity under local conditions, which are integrated into daily forest management work. Furthermore, ÖBf is also cooperating with the NGO umbrella organization Umweltdachverband, for example in a project for “Biodiversity and multifunctional management in forests”. This project’s goal is to establish practical, regionalized guidance for biodiversity and ecosystem regeneration^58,59. The pilot project is being conducted in an important wood sourcing region for Lenzing.

Transform: Stakeholder activities in biodiversity and ecosystems

CDP Forests

The Lenzing Group contributed to the Carbon Disclosure Project (CDP) in the areas of Climate, Forest and Water Security in 2021 and received a triple “A” score. Only 24 companies worldwide have an “A” rating for forests. Through its significant demonstrable actions in these areas, Lenzing has taken a leading position on corporate environmental ambition, action, and transparency. The CDP forest score confirms that the production of Lenzing’s wood-based cellulosic fibers avoid contributing to deforestation, by combining a stringent wood sourcing policy, forest certification, and dedicated commitment to the CanopyStyle Initiative.

Wood K plus

Many Austrian companies, including Lenzing, and scientific bodies have joined forces in the “Kompetenzzentrum Holz”. It is a leading research institute in wood and wood-related renewable resources in Europe. One workstream of Wood K plus for Lenzing is sustainability in wood sourcing. In 2021, the focus shifted to biodiversity, including support for the work for the Textile Exchange Biodiversity Benchmark, and a master’s thesis on the assessment of biodiversity impacts in textile fiber production by LCA methods was commissioned. The results are expected in early 2022.