Suzano, Brazil’s leading eucalyptus pulp producer and a global benchmark in the manufacture of bioproducts developed from eucalyptus, has revised one of its 14 long-term goals, collectively known as ‘Commitments to Renewing Life’. Suzano’s goal to remove 40 million tons of carbon from the air by 2030 has been brought forward by five years to 2025.

With this revision, Suzano reinforces its capacity to make an even more positive contribution to the planet's climate by achieving net carbon removals from the atmosphere at a faster pace than previously expected. The new five-year target will be supported by the expansion of Suzano’s forest covering which will involve both an uplift in commercial planting operations and setting aside new designated conservation areas that were previously anthropized. Alongside these improvements, Suzano will maintain its focus on reducing carbon emissions across its own operations and supply chain and will continue to improve its forest management to avoid losses in its operations, maximise productivity and increase carbon removal, the company said in a press release.

In parallel, the company remains committed to and engaged in discussing new methodologies for reporting carbon emissions and removals as well as for setting targets linked to climate change, such as the Science Based Targets Initiative and the GHG protocol guidance on land use. For the purposes of measuring its carbon removal, Suzano considers its standing forest base only, with all harvested wood excluded from the calculation.

“Revising the target from 2030 to 2025 reinforces our commitment to capturing carbon from the atmosphere and underlines our belief that addressing climate change must be a priority. Decarbonizing the world economy is a matter that requires serious attention and is of utmost importance to current and future generations,” Walter Schalka, CEO of Suzano said in a statement.

Suzano maintains that in order for concrete targets for reducing carbon emissions to be achieved in the long-term, governments, companies and society must set and meet short- and medium-term targets. Suzano has been participating in a series of events and meetings with other companies, Brazilian government representatives and global leaders to address the topics that will be discussed at the United Nations Climate Change Conference (COP26), which will be attended by Suzano representatives.