Arauco achieves carbon neutrality, says it's the first forestry company to do so
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Arauco says it is the first forest products company to achieve carbon neutrality. This means the company is removing more carbon from the atmosphere than it is emitting.
 
“We are very proud to announce that after long work that we have been doing for decades, today we have real results that are aligned with what the world needs," says Arauco Human Resources and Sustainability VP Charles Kimber. "Climate change is without a doubt one of the most serious problems being faced by our planet."
 
The company says the effort was sustained by two complementary paths: efficiencies at an operational level that allow the company to reduce greenhouse gas emissions, and at the same time an increase in CO2 captures by the native forest, forest plantations, and carbon stored in forestry products.
 
Arauco says it plans to reduce its emissions further by incentivizing suppliers to reduce their own footprints, continuing to replace fossil fuels, and increasing its reuse of byproducts.
 
Arauco is a global manufacturer of forest products, including composite panels, premium plywood, millwork, lumber and wood pulp. The company recently closed a couple of its MDF plants due to the COVID-19 pandemic: one in Eugene, Oregon on May 1 and one in Bennettsville, South Carolina on May 18.
 
The company also made news last year with the acquisition of MDF moulding and millwork producer Prime-Line Inc., the ending of particleboard production at its St. Stephen, New Brunswick facility, which also produces MDF panels, and the opening of a $450 million particleboard operation in Grayling, Michigan, featuring North America’s largest-capacity, continuous single-line particleboard press, two thermally fused laminate (TFL) lines and a large stocking warehouse for just-in-time delivery. In February 2019, Arauco also closed on a deal to purchase two Masisa mills in Mexico.

 

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Robert Dalheim

Robert Dalheim is an editor at the Woodworking Network. Along with publishing online news articles, he writes feature stories for the FDMC print publication. He can be reached at [email protected].