Paraná, March 22, 2022 – On World Water Day, commemorated on March 22, Klabin, Brazil’s largest producer and exporter of papers for packaging and paper packaging, reinforces its commitment by implementing initiatives that conserve this resource that is essential to life on our planet. The Company is highlighting its pioneering adoption of Hydro-Solidarity Forest Management, a strategy based on balancing forestry production with the availability of water, including for neighboring communities, small rural properties and ecological processes, to avoid any significant impacts on microbasins.

Caring about water conservation is something that Klabin has been doing for a long time, especially since the 1980’s, when it started measuring 100% of its water withdrawals on a daily basis to guarantee supply. Since then, it has reduced the specific water use of its Monte Alegre Unit in Paraná state by over 60%.  In addition, from 2017 to 2021, the unit further reduced its use of local water by 11%.  In a comparison of 2021 with 2017, the unit has saved over 4 million m³.

Another good example is the Puma Unit, also located in Paraná, which reduced by nearly 10% its specific water use between 2018 and 2020, when the company launched its Klabin Agenda 2030 that established the Klabin Sustainable Development Goals, or KODS. The Puma Unit also reused 42.2 million liters from its stormwater runoff collection system.  Meanwhile, the Puma II Project, which expanded capacity with two new paper machines, incorporated special technology in the first machine: MP27, which started operations in August 2021, uses less energy and also requires less water resupply in the circuit, making it more sustainable. Its water and effluent volumes also are very low, representing another sustainable advantage of the new machine.

The Lages Unit in Santa Catarina state also reuses stormwater runoff; while the Angatuba unit in São Paulo state is working on a project with the same goal. As such, in 2020 (last public data available), the volume of water recirculated and reused by Klabin corresponded to around 2.2 times the volume of its raw water withdrawals.  In addition to these initiatives, Klabin became the first Brazilian company to obtain three FSC® certifications simultaneously: Biodiversity Conservation (ES1), Carbon Sequestration and Storage (ES2) and Watershed Services (ES3) The recognition was confirmed following an audit conducted by the Institute of Forest and Agricultural Management and Certification (Imaflora) at the Nascentes Farm located in the Serra da Farofa Complex, a Natural Heritage Private Reserve (RPPN) located in Santa Catarina.

The Company has three targets included in the KODS for 2030 related to the topic: 100% of locations where it operates with initiatives to increase regional water security (52% already achieved); 100% of forestry operations under its management with hydro-solidarity management (79.7% already achieved); and 20% reduction in specific consumption of industrial water (18% already achieved).

 “Klabin considers water an essential resource, and it’s impossible to produce pulp and paper without it, so we need to take very good care of this resource. As such, we believe and invest in innovation, research and new technologies, because it is through these actions that we will be able to implement sustainability increasingly in our processes, and in turn protect the environment and the well-being of our communities,” said Júlio Nogueira, Klabin’s Sustainability and Environment Manager.

In addition to the important improvement in indicators, Klabin was the first Latin American company to achieve, in 2021, the “Triple A” of the Carbon Disclosure Project (CDP), which means attaining level “A” in the climate change, water security and forest management programs.