Also Metsä Group and Fortum into cooperation in using carbon dioxide generated as a production side stream in the forest industry

Metsä Group’s goal is to ensure that Finnish forest assets transfer in a more vibrant, diverse and climate resilient condition from one generation and owner to the next. Regenerative forestry means boosting economic growth and natural assets side by side. As the members of Metsä Group’s parent company Metsäliitto Cooperative own around half of private forests in Finland, this goal is significant for all of Finland.

Regenerative forestry aims to improve the state of nature and comprehensively manage ecosystem services, that is, the benefits provided by the natural environment. This involves monitoring the state and development of nature and its services as well as reporting on the impacts observed. The goal is to exhaustively measure the impacts of wood production and create related verification for products and value chains. According to Metsä Group’s goal, the measures taken to strengthen the state of Finnish forest nature from that of today must have measurable and verifiable impacts by 2030 at the latest.

Strengthening biodiversity requires both nature protection and new mainstream management methods in commercial forests. Forest protection divides opinions. Metsä Group believes that additional protection is justified if it is appropriately targeted and if attention is paid to forest owners’ property rights and other legal matters.

“Metsä Group meets forest owners’ and society’s varied needs in the long and short term. In the field of forest management, we’ve been gradually developing environmental matters over several decades. Now is the time for a new significant step. Our regenerative forestry goals include strengthening the state of nature and more comprehensively managing the benefits that nature provides – from carbon sinks to pollinators and berry crops. Wood production is an important part of this extensive scheme, and it must be acceptable according to all sustainability indicators,” says Ilkka Hämälä, Metsä Group’s President and CEO.

The achievement of goals is studied and measured by Metsä Group itself and by external parties. Metsä Group is now preparing its regenerative forestry action plan and indicators. More information about these will be published during 2023.

“Our various stakeholders must be widely involved in this systematic and purposeful work. We need accurate indicators for our goals, and this is one of the areas in which we want to have independent external experts as partners,” says Timo Lehesvirta, Metsä Group’s leading nature expert.

The principles of regenerative forestry are a continuation to Metsä Group’s ecological sustainability programme for safeguarding biodiversity. They will help develop new measures for mainstreaming best forest management practices. As a result, Finnish forests will combat climate change and be more resilient to a warming climate, extreme weather phenomena and risks of damage.

For further information, please contact:

Timo Lehesvirta, Leading nature expert, Metsä Group, tel. +358 400 752 212

Tomi Salo, SVP, Corporate Affairs, Metsä Group, tel. +358 45 875 8911

Metsä Group and Fortum into cooperation in using carbon dioxide generated as a production side stream in the forest industry

Metsä Group and Fortum, leading companies in their industries, have initiated a pre-feasibility study on the recovery of wood-based carbon dioxide generated as a side stream in the forest industry. Wood-based carbon dioxide from pulp mills and other forest industry production units is an interesting but largely underutilised raw material for various chemical industry products that can replace fossil-based materials. Thanks to the advancements made in recovery technology, the outlook for the further processing of wood-based carbon dioxide is better than ever. The pre-feasibility study launched with Fortum, will be completed by the end of 2023.

“Metsä Group already engages in various measures with positive climate impacts. For example, we offer products made from renewable wood to replace fossil based-materials, we are reducing our fossil emissions at our operations and supporting the robust growth and vitality of forests. However, we want to do more. In the coming years, I believe that technological development will enable us to use a significant share of our wood-based carbon dioxide to produce bioproducts that replace fossil materials,” says Ilkka Hämälä, President and CEO of Metsä Group. 

“Fortum has a strong position in clean energy production and as a partner to industry we want to find solutions to reduce carbon dioxide emissions. We aim to drive the development of clean hydrogen in the Nordics, leveraging our strong position in CO2 free energy. The Fortum and Metsä Group pre-feasibility study is a good example of cooperation where different industries serve each other by benefiting from each other’s business expertise. The end result is a carbon neutral product for the customer,” says Simon-Erik Ollus, Executive Vice President,  Generation Division at Fortum.

In addition to the cooperation initiated with Fortum, Metsä Group is involved in various research and cooperation projects developing alternative products from the wood-based carbon dioxide recovered at the mills. Among other things, Metsä Group is exploring alternatives for liquefying carbon dioxide, which could be sold for further processing by market participants such as the P2X operators.”

Metsä Group’s mills annually generate approximately 10 million tonnes of wood-based carbon dioxide as a side stream. With advancements made in the necessary technology, this could generate a new billion euro scale bioproduct business in the future.

For further information, please contact:
Juha Laine, Senior Vice President, Communications, Metsä Group, tel. +358 10 465 4541

Metsä Group www.metsagroup.com

Metsä Group is leading the way in advancing the bioeconomy. We invest in growth, bioproduct development and a fossil free future. The raw material for our products is renewable wood from sustainably managed northern forests. We focus on the growth sectors of the forest industry: wood supply and forest services, wood products, pulp, fresh fibre paperboards, as well as tissue and greaseproof papers.

Metsä Group’s annual sales amount to approximately EUR 7 billion, and we have around 9,500 employees in around 30 countries. Our international Group has its roots in the Finnish forests: our parent company is Metsäliitto Cooperative which is owned by over 90,000 forest owners. 

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