Most U.S. Forestry Firms Lag In Sustainability Reporting

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MOST U.S. FORESTRY FIRMS LAG IN SUSTAINABILITY REPORTING

Courtesy of
Roberts Environmental Center

CLAREMONT, CA - Of the 11 companies in the forest products and paper sector whose environmental and sustainability reporting were analyzed late last year by the Roberts Environmental Center, UPM-Kymmene (Finland) and Stora Enso (Finland) had the highest overall scores. They were followed closely by Weyerhaeuser (U.S.).

   The remaining companies, all based in America, had notably lower scores. The middling performers include International Paper and Georgia-Pacific, the largest companies in this sector. MeadWestvaco, tiny by comparison, scored better than Georgia-Pacific.

   All materials were scored using the Center's Pacific Sustainability Index which also provides scores for six subcategories of reporting. The highest scores for these all went to went to either UPM-Kymmene or to Stora Enso, reflecting high quality reporting across the board.

   The most reported environmental variables were protection and enhancement of the natural environment, management of raw materials, and environmental costs, followed by emissions. The most reported social topics were lack of discrimination against classes of employees, training and education of employees, and protection of the human environment in and nearby corporate operations.

   These findings are based on the information available on the web sites of all companies in the forest and paper products sector of the 2004 Fortune Global 500 and Fortune 1000 as of May 18, 2005. The Fortune 1000 includes only American firms, so all of the smallest firms in this sample are American.

About the Roberts Environmental Center

The The Roberts Environmental Center, a research institute at Claremont McKenna College, is the leading analyst of corporate environmental and sustainability reporting, with free on-line analysis of more than 600 corporate reports. Students from all five of the Claremont Colleges study and work in the Center and this research is a joint effort among the center's faculty, research associates and students. All analyses are available online with more added weekly.

Faculty and staff at the Center are available on a consulting basis to firms wishing to improve the quality of their environmental and sustainability reporting.

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