CMPC leads the world ranking in forest sustainability

The company was chosen as the first in its category in a prestigious ranking that measures the sustainable performance of thousands of companies in different industries and countries around the world.

The prestigious annual global Dow Jones Sustainability Index (DJSI) for the year 2023 has ranked CMPC as the most sustainable company in the world in the Paper & Forest Products, which looks at forestry and paper companies globally.

The DJSI is one of the most recognized indicators for assessing the sustainable performance of companies listed at the global level. It gives an environmental, social and economic overview of many industries in the world economy.

CMPC took first place in the sector ranking after two consecutive years in second place in the same category. It also holds a leading position in DJSI Chile, which it has been part of for seven years and the Pacific Alliance Index (MILA), in which it has been included for five years as well as the Emerging Markets Index, which it has been a member of for the past three years.

This milestone is the culmination of an elaborate strategic plan and years of hard work by the company’s various teams that have set ambitious goals for 2030 that are aligned with global community relations, labor relations, inclusion, environmental, education and occupational standards.

Regarding the achievement, CMPC CEO Francisco Ruiz-Tagle said, “The direct activity of our company’s operations with local communities, territories and natural resources gives rise to a range of impacts. That’s why all of the decisions and actions we take at CMPC are measured against the yardstick of sustainability, which is one of the most meaningful pillars of our 2030 business strategy.” Ruiz-Tagle added, “Being the most sustainable forestry and paper company in the world is undoubtedly a source of pride. This is thanks to the work of every CMPC team who’ve all adopted a vision of a better planet and a more natural world as their own. But our work doesn’t end there. We have hundreds more challenges to go. The fight against climate change and building fairer regions in Chile with a better quality of life for everyone are some of the urgent challenges we must address.”

The executive’s words reflect the company’s goal of being an industry leader in sustainability and a change agent in the territories where it operates. To this end, it has committed to serve as an engine of community development, to measure impacts and prioritize initiatives that generate change, in addition to facing the strategic challenges of the industry, and promoting participation and positioning in the territories.

Change Agent

In the social sphere, in 2021 the company updated its Community Relationship Framework that seeks to develop opportunities to create shared value and position itself as a change agent in territorial development. Under this guideline, the company has implemented dozens of projects, each one methodologically evaluated to analyze its real impact. In 2022 it was determined that all the initiatives led by the company by 2024 must incorporate such an assessment with the aim of making their results and impacts measurable.

Thus, the company is executing a series of large-scale projects with the goal of aiding in the development of the communities where it operates. This applies to the CMPC Duoc UC Campus in Nacimiento in the Biobío Region, an educational institution for the dual training of young people from the region who want to study a technical-professional career.

In the case of entrepreneurship, in 2022 the company added another project to the Fibra Local project in Temuco that plans to foment new business ventures near its forestry and industrial operations. This led to the inauguration of the Primeros Pueblos store in Santiago, offering creations from more than 26 organizations from towns in the Biobío and Araucanía Regions. The purpose of the shop is to boost entrepreneurs’ sales and bring people closer to the traditions and culture of rural communities in southern Chile under fair trade rules.

Bosque Vivo is another company program in the social realm. The project opens up the company’s premises to the communities so they can organize a variety of sports and outdoor activities while promoting the care of ecosystem services. Bosque Vivo currently has three parks: Pumalal in Temuco, Lastarria in Loncoche and Junquillar in Angol.

It is the proximity to rural territories that has made the company highly aware of the needs of the people residing there. For this reason, together with Desafío Levantemos Chile [the Support Chile Challenge], in 2020 CMPC launched Desafío Agua para Chile [Water for Chile Challenge], an initiative that seeks to provide many communities with potable and irrigation water, improved and/or repaired wells and RPAs (Rural Drinking Water Systems). To date, the project has given more than 8,000 people in different areas of Biobío and La Araucanía access to this resource.

There are several more in addition to the initiatives mentioned above such as the Community Pantry, a free “supermarket” for the elderly in Puente Alto, development programs to strengthen local suppliers, and permanent relations with 398 indigenous communities of the Mapuche people, among many more.

A more natural world

In terms of the environment, CMPC has raised the standards on environmentally-friendly operations, becoming a benchmark in the region and the world. In fact, the company is the only Latin American member of the World Business Council for Sustainable Development (WBCSD), and its general manager is the first and only Latin American to hold a position on the organization’s board of directors.

In an unprecedented event for a forestry company and paper producer, this year CMPC presented its Nature, Conservation and Biodiversity Strategy, a roadmap whose objective is to highlight the value of the company’s conservation areas along with their importance for having sustainable forestry operations.

Thus, more than 95% of its forest assets have been certified as sustainably managed and more than 90% of the energy used by its operations comes from renewable sources.

The company has also prioritized the issuance of green debt since 2017. The figure stands at USD 3.4 trillion, totaling 58% of its financing.

CMPC’s commitment to these matters is also reflected in its greenhouse gas emissions (GHG) reduction goals. The company expects to reduce direct and indirect GHG emissions by 50% by 2030 and scope 3 GHG emissions – those that are not owned or controlled by the company – by 37.5% by 2035. To achieve these goals, CMPC underwent the validation of Science Based Targets (SBTi), a certification that ensures that the actions the company is implementing to achieve these targets are truly based on science.

At the same time, the multinational is working to become a zero-waste company, reduce its industrial water use and increase its land area under conservation from 350,000 to 450,000 hectares.

These initiatives are just a few examples among dozens of measures the multinational has executed in the pursuit of its sustainability strategy for years, making it a leader along with other global companies that participate in the DJSI such as Microsoft, Alphabet Inc (Google) in the global index; Femsa, SQM, Walmart Mexico and Grupo Financiero Banorte in the Pacific Alliance (MILA); or Itaú Unibanco in the case of the Emerging Markets index.