Jerry Schwartz
Senior Director, Energy & Environmental Policy
AF&PA members continue to reduce greenhouse gas emissions in
their facilities through their commitment to energy efficiency. By
generating and using renewable, carbon neutral biomass energy,
our members meet over 65 percent of the onsite energy demand in
their pulp and paper mills. Their purchased energy efficiency has
improved by over 8 percent and they will make even greater progress through AF&PA’s Better Practices, Better Planet 2020 initiative.
The industry’s products and carefully managed forests store approximately 10 percent of annual U.S. carbon dioxide emissions and thus play a pivotal role in reducing climate change impacts.
Privately-owned forests supply 91 percent of the wood harvested in the U.S. If trees were not regularly harvested to manufacture paper and wood products, those forestlands would likely be sold or used for other purposes – such as development and agriculture – which would not include the consistent replanting of trees. In fact, there are 20 percent more trees in the U.S. today than there were on the first Earth Day celebration in 1970.