Suzano protecting our water
For us at Suzano, protecting the water renewal cycle is essential not only for our production process, but also for safeguarding life on the planet. Therefore, one of our Commitments to Renewing Life (as we call our long-term goals related to people and the planet) is to protect our water. This includes conducting research and implementing projects and initiatives to increase water availability in the areas where we operate and reduce water consumption in our operations. This article highlights the water-related efforts implemented by Suzano, the world’s largest producer of hardwood pulp.?
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Suzano’s forestry base in Brazil totals more than 2.6 million hectares, of which we conserve approximately 40%. In other words, around 1 million hectares are made up of native forests, which also serve as the basis for the conservation of water resources, including areas around springs, hilltops and river and stream banks. In addition, in the last 10 years, we have set aside more than 37,000 hectares for ecological restoration in areas that are important for conservation and environmental protection, enhancing important ecosystem services, such as water supply and purification. In 2020, Suzano’s Ecological Restoration Program was considered by the UN to be one of the 15 most transformative projects in Brazil in terms of global economic, social and environmental sustainability.?
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In our forestry operations, water use has an itinerant and seasonal profile. Our eucalyptus seedlings only need to be watered in the first days of planting. After that, Suzano’s forestry production relies primarily on rain—water is only used to wet the roads in the neighboring communities to control dust when transporting wood, which happens six to seven years after planting.?
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Continuous Monitoring??
Despite our conscious approach, we have identified a few areas that are subject to water shortages, given their natural characteristics. To prevent water restrictions, we mapped all watersheds in the areas where Suzano operates and defined three main criteria to classify them as critical: historical water monitoring data, complaints filed by local communities and relevance of the company’s presence in the watershed. Based on these criteria, we selected 44 critical watersheds1, totaling 88,400 hectares, and individually assessed them to develop technical recommendations for management initiatives with a direct impact on water balance. The company then committed to implementing forest management initiatives2 to increase water availability in these critical watersheds by 2030. From 2020 to 2022, 7,084 hectares of our land were managed based on these recommendations, achieving 8.2% of our target.?
To increase our knowledge of the impact and effects of forest management activities on water resources, we also have 10 experimental micro hydrographic basins equipped with sensors in areas that are representative of our production model.?
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Caring for Water in our Sites??
In our industrial sites, in addition to incorporating international best practices in water use, established by Integrated Pollution Prevention and Control (IPPC) guidelines and the International Finance Corporation (IFC), we are committed to further lowering our water consumption to reduce the water footprint of our products and help mitigate the risk of water scarcity in the regions where we operate. Therefore, one of our Commitments to Renewing Life is to reduce water withdrawal per tonne of salable paper and pulp in all our industrial sites by 15%. Our goal is to go from 29.8 m3/tonne in 2018 to 25.3 m3/tonne by 2030.?
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This issue has become so relevant that water withdrawal targets are now linked to the variable compensation of executive directors, direct leaders and employees of the sites. In addition, our confidence in our ability to meet our targets led us to link our commitment to reducing water withdrawal, as well as other targets, to Sustainability-Linked Loans (SLL) and Sustainability-Linked Bonds (SLB) issued by Suzano in 2021. In 2022, thanks to our efforts to implement initiatives and accelerate our results, we reduced our water withdrawal to 25.9 m3/tonne, representing a progress of 87% toward our commitment.?
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Recognizing that the solution to the water crisis involves efforts in different areas and the engagement of various stakeholders, Suzano also seeks to raise awareness of this issue among its partners. In this context, our participation in river basin committees in areas where our industrial sites are located is considered strategic and has the purpose of aligning our operations with the management plan of each basin, helping to produce positive results for all parties involved.?
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In addition, the company created a program called Protecting our Water in the Value Chain, a pilot project focused on engaging and working together with our suppliers on water management issues. Through this program, Suzano encourages its value chain to commit to reducing water consumption, while also improving data transparency and measurement, setting goals and assessing water-related risks and opportunities. In its first phase, the program includes 100 suppliers that were identified as having high potential impact on water resources based on a social and environmental risk matrix.?
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Our Unique Advantages??
As a Suzano product, the production of Eucafluff?, the world’s first eucalyptus fluff, complies with the same water protection standards and has significant advantages when it comes to a smaller water footprint. When compared to its competitors, such as pine fluff manufactured in the southeastern United States, our eucalyptus fluff consumes approximately 35% less water3 over its life cycle.?
Suzano’s Research & Development area is also committed to pursuing solutions to reduce our water footprint. One successful project in this area involves a seedling protection collar we developed to reduce water consumption in our eucalyptus farms. By applying a mixture of pulp fiber (organic waste from the manufacturing process) and water around eucalyptus seedlings in the first days after planting, we create a protective collar that reduces the soil temperature and decreases the loss of water by evaporation near the planting hole. This innovation has significantly reduced the need for irrigation, saving approximately 532 million liters of water for every 100,000 hectares planted in 2021, while also increasing the survival rate of the seedlings. After a pilot project implemented at our site in Maranh?o in 2021 saved 65 million liters of water, this technique is being currently being implemented in Suzano’s other forestry sites.?
Approximately 12% of the planet’s freshwater reserve is distributed across Brazil, but since 1990, 15% of Brazilian surface water has dried up4. Of the 2.1 million liters of water consumed every second, 52% is used for agriculture and 9% for manufacturing, adding up to 61% of the total water withdrawn from water bodies5. Faced with these figures, we recognize that to continue to fulfill our purpose of “Renewing life inspired by trees”, we must tackle the global risk of water scarcity by implementing proactive initiatives to reduce our water footprint, increase water availability in critical watersheds in the areas where we operate, increase our efficiency in the use of water, engage more stakeholders with this cause, innovate in the way we take care of our water, and promote regenerative businesses. Protecting our water is another way Suzano is planting a better future for people and the planet.?
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Sources?
Suzano’s Sustainability Center?