AF&PA Responds to President Biden’s Leaders Summit on Climate

CONTACT: Tim Ebner

(202) 463-2587, comm@afandpa.org

The American Forest & Paper Association (AF&PA) President and CEO Heidi Brock released the following statement in response to President Joe Biden’s Leaders Summit on Climate held virtually today and tomorrow with world leaders:

“We welcome President Biden’s Leaders Summit on Climate. Paper and wood products manufacturers produce enormous amounts of carbon-beneficial bioenergy, integral to making sustainable products that meet essential needs around the world. Our industry will continue to create jobs and economic opportunities for Americans, especially as we push forward on a U.S. economic recovery effort.

“AF&PA was one of the first U.S. manufacturing industries to adopt a comprehensive, quantifiable set of sustainability goals a decade ago in our Better Practices, Better Planet 2020 initiative. Included in this effort was a goal to reduce greenhouse gas (GHG) emissions, which we cut 23.2 percent by 2018, surpassing our goal. Since the 1990s, we also cut our GHG emissions in half, and looking forward, we will soon release the industry’s new sustainability goals for 2030, including a new ambitious target for further greenhouse gas reductions.

“We urge the Biden Administration to support policies that recognize our industry is one based on a renewable and recyclable resource, that our products are manufactured using renewable bioenergy, and after use, are widely and highly recycled.

“Public policies are most effective when they meet the economic needs, environmental concerns and societal expectations of our diverse communities. Our progress in renewable energy and sustainability goals demonstrates that a balance is both possible and necessary.”