INDIA – Sappi Verve has partnered with Birla Cellulose, one of the leading viscose manufacturers in the textile value chain, to provide a forest-to-garment traceability solution for brand owners.
Through this collaborative partnership, Sappi Verve, a world market leader in dissolving pulp, continues to strengthen its sustainability credentials within the textile industry.
“This collaboration is part of Sappi’s vision as a sustainable wood fiber business to provide relevant solutions and deliver enhanced value as a trusted partner to all its stakeholders,” says Krelyne Andrew, Sustainability General Manager for Sappi Verve.
Traceable and transparent supply chains are key to providing brand owners and consumers with the assurance and confidence that their products originate from sustainable and renewable sources of wood, free from deforestation, where biodiversity is promoted and where the customary, traditional, and civil rights of people are upheld.
This collaboration allows for sustainability-focused consumers, brand owners, and retailers who make more informed buying decisions.
To provide this brand-owner traceability solution, Sappi coupled its comprehensive database on wood origin for its dissolving pulp operations in South Africa and the United States with the use of Birla’s pioneering GreenTrack blockchain technology.
Blockchain is a system that employs distributed ledger technology to record, duplicate, and distribute information to an entire network of computer systems, which then makes it difficult or impossible to change, hack, or cheat the system.
The efforts have been recognized by Forbes magazine’s “Blockchain 50” list, which features companies that lead in employing distributed ledger technology and have revenue or a valuation of at least US$1 billion. Twenty-one newcomers, including Sappi, are recognized for 2021.
The GreenTrack blockchain technology has been adopted by more than 250 supply chain partners, including Walmart and Marks & Spencer to verify the sustainability of the apparel they sell.
Birla Cellulose, along with its value chain partners, provides transparency on a “live” basis for the entire journey of cellulose, from a well-certified forest to the consumer’s hands.
Earlier this year, Birla Cellulose joined in the fight against climate change by announcing its goal to bring down its net carbon emissions to zero across all its operations by 2040, with a possibility to reach it earlier by 2035.
This is the most ambitious target set by any company in the Man-made cellulosic fiber (MMCF) industry globally.
The company also targets to reduce its greenhouse gas (GHG) emissions intensity to half by 2030 from the baseline of 2019.
Birla Cellulose’s commitment to carbon neutrality and GHG reductions includes scope 1, scope 2, scope 3 emissions, and the carbon sequestration in managed forests and is derived using science-based methods.
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