Background

International Paper is one of the world’s largest wood products companies, with revenue in 2020 of over US$20 billion and approximately 48,000 employees. It is also one of the most significant purchasers of wood fiber. This means that its sourcing choices can have a profound influence on how forests are managed. The company's current fiber procurement policy is available here.

Science-based climate targets help ensure that corporate climate commitments are ambitious enough to contribute emissions reductions on a level consistent with the global target indicated by climate science. Science-based targets for forests are similarly needed to help ensure that corporate efforts to protect and restore forests are ambitious enough to guarantee that forests continue to provide people, plants, and animals worldwide with the clean air and water, food, and other “services” they need to thrive.

Scope of Work

WWF and International Paper will review the strategies in place to achieve International Paper's 100% sustainably sourced fiber goal by 2030, continue to grow the company's Forest Stewardship Council® group certificate in the United States, and strengthen their internally developed tool for delivering sustainably sourced fiber.

WWF and International Paper are undertaking research and assessments—together with leading academics, NGO thought leaders, and other stakeholders—to create the world’s first regional and global science-based targets for forests as well as the first comprehensive set of guidance on actions to take to sustain the world’s forests. They are contributing to development of targets at the global level while simultaneously piloting bottom-up target development in Brazil’s Atlantic Forest.