{"id":8355,"date":"2016-11-03T13:52:24","date_gmt":"2016-11-03T17:52:24","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/digital.hbs.edu\/platform-rctom\/submission\/international-paper-corporate-responsibility-and-protecting-raw-materials\/"},"modified":"2016-11-03T13:52:24","modified_gmt":"2016-11-03T17:52:24","slug":"international-paper-corporate-responsibility-and-raw-materials","status":"publish","type":"hck-submission","link":"https:\/\/d3.harvard.edu\/platform-rctom\/submission\/international-paper-corporate-responsibility-and-raw-materials\/","title":{"rendered":"International Paper \u2013 Corporate Responsibility and Raw Materials"},"content":{"rendered":"

International Paper (NYSE: IP) is the largest paper and packaging company in the world with revenues of over $22.4B (2015) and a current market capitalization of 17.8B.\u00a0 The three primary markets of International Paper are Industrial Packaging, Consumer Packaging, and Printing Papers.\u00a0 Given both their global footprint of manufacturing operations and their consumption of natural resources, sustainability has become a key focus area for International Paper and other companies in the paper industry over the last decade.<\/p>\n

In 2011, International Paper announced that they were setting two key sustainability goals: a 20% reduction in absolute greenhouse gas emissions by 2020 and a 15% reduction in energy consumption by 2020.\u00a0 According to the company, this was going to be achieved by \u201cincreasing manufacturing efficiencies, exploring new technologies, and engaging our employees to find innovative solutions in its operations.\u201d[i]<\/a>\u00a0 Over the next three years, the company made significant investments in their facilities and changes to their operations to work towards these goals.\u00a0 International Paper released a Sustainability Overview in 2014 that highlighted some of these projects, which included: switching a South Carolina mill from using fuel oil to a cleaner natural gas in their production process (reduced greenhouse gas emissions by 30% on certain production lines) and capital investments in a Louisiana corrugator facility (reduced annual greenhouse gas emissions by 20,000 tonnes per year).[ii]<\/a> \u00a0In total, these projects and others have allowed International Paper to report that their greenhouse gas emissions are down 8.3% from the 2011 benchmark, which puts them almost halfway to their 2020 goal in only three years.[iii]<\/a><\/p>\n

Despite these improvements and progress towards there 2020 goals, International Paper still has to make significant progress on their energy and greenhouse gas emissions reduction.\u00a0 This is such a critical mission for them, not only because of their corporate responsibility, but because the impact that greenhouse gases have on their raw material \u2013 forest.\u00a0 Climate change and greenhouse gases have a dramatic impact on the forest ecosystem and supply though changing temperatures and weather patterns.\u00a0 As the supply of these resources is continually reduced by both industry and the environment, International Paper will feel the pressure of increase raw material prices and increased regulation.\u00a0 In order to mitigate these pressures International Paper must continue to focus on the following areas:<\/p>\n