Fiber sourcing

All the wood fiber we source and use must come from suppliers that are certified according to the Forest Stewardship Council® (FSC®) or Program for the Endorsement of Forest Certification (PEFC™). Our demand is that the fiber at a minimum will always meet the FSC Controlled Wood standard, which means that the origin of the fiber has been verified by an independent third party. FSC is an organization that sets robust and fully transparent standards for responsible forest management that safeguards biodiversity, proper forest conservation and consideration for the people living in and by the forests. Essity participates on a regular basis in stakeholder dialogues concerning forest management, which include other key stakeholders like the environmental organizations WWF and Greenpeace, as well as local stakeholders.

Read our Fresh wood based fiber sourcing policy here

Read more on the outcome of our work with fiber sourcing in our Annual and Sustainability report

In addition to FSC and PEFC forest management and traceability certifications, we always conduct our own risk assessments of fiber suppliers based on our fiber policy. We ask suppliers to respond to detailed questionnaires and to show an approved fiber traceability certification. This gives us the necessary information to do a risk assessment, after which we follow-up with selected suppliers with on-site audits to verify how they work. If there are any deviations we work together with suppliers to correct these.

A few of Essity’s products contain cotton fibers. The volumes are limited, but as cotton production in certain countries could be associated with sustainability risks, Essity’s ambition is that all sourced cotton or material containing cotton fibers should be sustainable. This means that the cotton is certified, organic, recycled or from a low-risk area. Essity is a member of the Better Cotton Initiative (BCI), the largest sustainability program for cotton. BCI is Essity’s preferred program for more sustainable cotton, though other programs are also acknowledged.