Climate impact
Combatting global warming is the critical issue of our time. Billerud has an important role to play by working to reduce our carbon footprint throughout our value chain and by offering sustainable packaging solutions that enable our customers to reduce their carbon footprint as well.
Climate targets
Our ambitious climate targets and the development of high-performance, recyclable materials based on renewable fresh fiber, help us contribute to reducing global warming.
Billerud's efforts are mainly related to significantly cutting emissions from our own operations as well as indirect emissions from purchased energy, transportation and the purchase of goods and services.
Read about our sustainability targets and yearly results on this page.
Updating our science-based targets
In 2023, we revised our scope 1-3 calculations* (base year 2022) to cover both Region North America and Region Europe. This change follows the completion of the integration of Verso, a US-based company acquired by Billerud in 2022.
We have updated our greenhouse gas emission reduction targets and will continue to develop roadmaps using 2022 as the new baseline year. The targets were submitted and approved by the Science Based Targets initiative (SBTi) in November 2024.
Efforts towards fossil-free operations
Although Billerud is largely fossil fuel-free, particularly in our European operations, we are committed to eliminating the remaining emissions through several investments and actions. Our long-term goal is to achieve a carbon footprint at our North American mills that is best-in-class within the region and to narrow the gap with our European Operations. These efforts include investments in energy efficiency, improvements to bark-handling systems, and the adoption of tail tiles for energy. Efforts are currently underway to also substitute fossil fuel with biofuel.
For our European mills, the ongoing program to improve fiber efficiency and overall mill operational efficiency will also contribute to reduced emissions. Within the next years, Gruvön will become our first fossil-free mill.
In our efforts to reduce the greenhouse gas emissions related to purchased energy, we also purchase CO2e Emission Free Energy Credits (EFECs) for our North American mills. In 2024, 100% of our purchased electricity in North America was covered by EFECs, which led to a reduction of emissions from fossil fuels.
For more information on how we work to reduce our emissions in Region Europe and Region North America, read the Annual and Sustainability Report 2024.
Supply chain collaboration
It is vital that we also reduce our indirect emissions. This requires extensive cooperation with suppliers and other partners. One focus will be to work together with our suppliers to reduce emissions from chemicals by, for example, finding substitutes with lower environmental impact. It will be important for the work going forward to urge our suppliers to reduce their emissions by setting ambitious emissions targets. It is also crucial to support them with basic knowledge on climate change mitigation as we have identified that while some suppliers are advanced in the work to reduce their CO2e emissions, others have just begun.
Transport is another area of focus, and we actively encourage the transition to a fossil fuel-free fleet by continuing to choose more sustainable modes of transport and monitoring developments in technology and fuel, railway expansion and the electrification of roads. For more information on how we work to reduce our emissions in Region Europe and Region North America, read the Annual and Sustainability Report 2024.
The climate impact of our products
Our customers require climate change leadership from us to be a long-term partner, and they ask for products with a low CO2e footprint. Therefore, having a low climate impact is essential for Billerud to attract and retain customer, and are vital aspects to ensure profitability.
To make it easy for our customers to assess the environmental performance of our products, and compare with conventional alternatives, we conduct and publish life cycle assessments and environmental product declarations of our products.
Read more about our life cycle assessments and environmental product declarations here.
Carbon Capture and Storage
Regardless of where the carbon dioxide emissions originate, we will do our very best to reduce them. We aim to develop solutions that reduce biogenic carbon dioxide emissions in addition to fossil carbon dioxide emissions. One promising technology is Bioenergy Carbon Capture and Storage (Bio-CCS).
We are investigating the possibilities within the field of Bio-CCS and we hope to contribute to increased knowledge in general and our own expertise. Billerud has one ongoing project that involves using the residues that arise in our process to capture carbon dioxide from flue gas from the chimneys. After the capture of carbon, the storage possibilities for now are offshore. This project investigates the possibility to store the captured carbon in the rock. A suitable type of bed rock has been discovered directly beneath the site of Karlsborg mill. The same geographical circumstances occur at several pulp and paper sites in Sweden, so if this is a possible technical solution it would really make a difference.
Read more about how Bio-CCS works
*Scope 1 and 2: Direct emissions from own operations and indirect emissions from purchased energy and heat.
Scope 3: Indirect emissions from all areas covered by scope 3.1-3.15, with the exception of scope 3.8, 3.11, 3.13 and 3.14, that have been deemed N/A for Billerud.