We therefore have the prerequisites to be an industry that is totally in harmony with nature's ecocycles. However, although we have made significant progress in many respects, we can still identify areas where we need to do even better.

Our forests must be managed in a sustainable manner and be at least as rich in the future as they are today - in terms of timber, biodiversity and opportunities for enjoying nature.

Certification
SCA participated in the process of developing a Swedish FSC standard. In January 1999, we received the FSC certificate that affirms that we conduct responsible forest management, maintaining a balance between environmental, social and financial interests.

Biodiversity and recycling
For SCA, the most important environmental goal of forest management is to preserve biodiversity. Our aim is to preserve the life environments for all the animal and plant species that are present in our forests.

Forests with high nature qualities are excluded from forest management. Through ecological landscape planning, we preserve and restore the life environments for vulnerable animals and plants.

Wood fiber from our sustainably managed forests is converted into products that are collected after use via well-developed recovery systems. Recovered paper is used in the production of SC paper in Laakirchen and constitutes 100 percent of the raw material at the paper mill in Aylesford.

We engage in systematic efforts to reduce the impact of our plants on their surroundings. In 1995 we switched to chlorine-free bleaching at the Östrand pulp mill, and today all of our products are produced entirely without the use of chlorine-based chemicals.

Energy is an important constituent and environmental factor in our plants. While the Ortviken mill has a wood-efficient process, this is offset by the large amounts of electrical energy consumed, although much of this energy is recovered as heat.

The Östrand pulp mill is self-sufficient in energy and also produces an energy surplus that is used to supply the nearby Wifsta paper mill with steam and the community of Timrå with district heating. The mills in Laakirchen and Aylesford use efficient combined power and heat systems fueled with natural gas.

SCA is one of Europe's largest supplier of wood fuels, not only for use in its own plants and by other large-scale users but also in the form of processed biofuels for heating of individual homes.