WWF´s assessment on the environmental footprint of paper brands focuses on the most important impacts related to human and ecosystem health and vitality. These are combined to a “one size fits all” tool applicable for rating all paper grades and pulp.
The method has been developed and fine-tuned in consultation with scientists, paper producers, NGOs and paper buyers. The goal was to keep complexity to a minimum and to make the method user friendly, while maintaining meaningful results which are representative indicators of the environmental performance of paper brands and pulp.
Maximum achievable 100 points in WWF´s rating of key environmental impacts are given for:
The maximum 5 stars on forests are given to products that achieve 34 – 40 points.
The maximum 5 stars on forests are given to products that achieve 41 – 50 points (Adding to the 30 points above, the star rating assigns 20 points for responsible fibre input)
The maximum 5 stars on water are given to products that achieve 18 – 20 points.
For each brand rated on “Check your Paper” the overall points achieved, the star ratings on forest, water and climate as well as a more detailed environmental profile of scores per section can be accessed publicly on checkyourpaper.panda.org.
The method has been developed and fine-tuned in consultation with scientists, paper producers, NGOs and paper buyers. The goal was to keep complexity to a minimum and to make the method user friendly, while maintaining meaningful results which are representative indicators of the environmental performance of paper brands and pulp.
Maximum achievable 100 points in WWF´s rating of key environmental impacts are given for:
- Fibre sourcing: 40 points
- Climate impact: 30 points
- Water impact: 20 points
- Environmental Management systems: 10 points
40 points on responsible fibre sourcing
The maximum 40 achievable points in this section can be gained by a product which contains 100% virgin fibre product carrying a credible certification such as FSC (10 points for legality, 10 points for controlled sources and 20 points for credible certification) or by a product which contains 100% post consumer recycled fibre. Pre-consumer recycled paper products achieve 20 points.The maximum 5 stars on forests are given to products that achieve 34 – 40 points.
30 points on climate impact
The maximum 30 achievable points in this section can be gained by minimizing fossil CO2 emissions from manufacturing (20 points) and waste to landfill (10 points).The maximum 5 stars on forests are given to products that achieve 41 – 50 points (Adding to the 30 points above, the star rating assigns 20 points for responsible fibre input)
20 points on water impact
The maximum 20 achievable points in this section can be gained by minimizing pollution from bleaching(10 points) and by minimizing organic water pollutants (10 points).The maximum 5 stars on water are given to products that achieve 18 – 20 points.
For each brand rated on “Check your Paper” the overall points achieved, the star ratings on forest, water and climate as well as a more detailed environmental profile of scores per section can be accessed publicly on checkyourpaper.panda.org.
