Seeing the Forest: The Complex Realities Behind Environmental Paper Procurement

You know the drill: “Buy recycled paper.” For well over a decade, that advice has remained near the top of the list of “simple things you can do” for companies seeking to be greener -- or, at least, to project a greener image.

And yet while markets for greener papers continue to grow, companies, government agencies, and others continue to struggle to create -- and maintain -- environmental paper programs. And, along the way, there’s evidence that the approach even the most well-intentioned companies take toward environmental paper procurement may not even be effective from a sustainability perspective.

That's the gist of the lead story this month in The Green Business Letter, my monthly newsletter. An excerpt:

Metafore's Kristin Bonner explains that there’s a lot more to environmentally preferable paper than simply protecting forests, but that most paper policies focus solely or principally on the forest floor. “When you create policies that are just related to the forest management aspects of forest products, you’re ignoring many of the other impacts,” she says. “And because most interest groups that are putting pressure on companies are concerned about forests, the resulting policies relate primarily to forest management. That’s not a business-like approach. I don’t think most companies look at their other raw materials that way.”

When it comes to the environmental aspects of paper (or wood, for that matter), the forest is just the beginning. There are also issues related to labor, community and human well-being, manufacturing methods, and the health of all natural systems. From an environmental issues perspective, the production of paper (and wood products) relates not just to forestry management, but also to climate change, air and water emissions, natural resource depletion, biodiversity, solid waste management, and other issues. Says Bonner: “We realize that for companies to be successful they have to take a full life-cycle perspective on this, or it’s just not going to work.”

Also in this month's issue: A new report on how companies work with government and civil society to address water problems around the world . . . JPMorganChase becomes the latest major financial institution to embrace sustainability . . . The 25 largest green-power purchasers in the U.S. . . . . And some thoughts on the confluence of some recent changes taking place in the business world.