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Anthony Janetos or Anne Hummer
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HEINZ CENTER RELEASES CARBON LIFE CYCLE STUDY

FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE: Thursday, July 13, 2006

Report CoverWashington, D.C. The Heinz Center and its partners have released Following the Paper Trail: The Impact of Magazine and Dimensional Lumber Production on Greenhouse Gas Emissions:  A Case Study—a greenhouse gas life cycle analysis of two magazine chains (In Style and Time) and a dimensional lumber chain (lumber used for construction, remodeling and do-it-yourself projects).

The study was commissioned by Canfor Corporation, The Home Depot, Stora Enso in North America, and Time Inc. to better understand the sources of Greenhouse Gas Emissions (GHG) for each product chain and then to use the information to identify potential opportunities to reduce net GHG emissions across the product chains.  Dr. Stith T. Gower of the Department of Forest Ecology & Management at the University of Wisconsin at Madison prepared the study.

“This is a pathbreaking study because the participating companies provided actual data from their own production chains,” according to Anthony Janetos, Vice President of The Heinz Center, who served as a scientific advisor for the study.   “Few studies have quantified the carbon content and emissions from wood and paper materials and none have had access to the industries’ own data,” he said. 

Data from the study can be used to identify potential opportunities to reduce GHG emissions, to highlight management practices that can potentially increase carbon sequestration and to identify improvements in disposal practices of end products.  Janetos noted, “Opportunities to improve the life cycle of the paper and wood products span the industrial sector, government forest management agencies and the consumer.  Opportunities to improve must also consider cultural, social and economic factors.”

Concentrations of atmospheric greenhouse gases (GHG) have increased over the 20th century as a result of human activities, according to the Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change (IPCC) 2001 report.   From the years 1750 to 2000, the concentration of carbon dioxide (CO2) increased approximately 31 percent.  “The rapid rise of atmospheric CO2 concentration, and other GHG, is one of the most pressing environmental problems facing society today due to a variety of environmental, social, and economic problems caused by global climate change,” Janetos said.

The study identified key points in the processes that generate emissions of greenhouse gases, potential opportunities to reduce emissions of GHG from (non-renewable) fossil fuels, and end use opportunities.  Key findings include:

For Magazine Production: 

  • The highest percentage of greenhouse gas emissions comes from manufacturing at pulp and paper mills. Transportation is the second highest contributor of GHG emissions.
  • Potential ways to reduce GHG emissions for the magazine chain include improving energy efficiencies in the pulp and paper manufacturing process, source reduction, using more efficient modes of transportation and working with transportation providers to encourage fuel-efficient engine designs.  The findings also include encouraging purchased power providers to improve their own carbon footprint for electricity generation, and the utilization of renewable biofuels to replace fossil fuels where possible.
  • After-use, magazine paper can be recycled and the wood fibers reclaimed several times for reuse.  Ultimately the wood fibers could be burned for energy recovery as a climate-neutral biomass fuel.

For Dimensional Lumber Chain:

  • The highest percentage of the greenhouse gas emissions comes from the transportation and distribution of dimension lumber from sawmills to retail outlets.
  • Opportunities for reducing GHG emissions from transportation include using more efficient transportation modes and working with transportation providers to encourage fuel-efficient engine designs.

For Both the Magazine and Dimensional Lumber Chains

  • The final fate of unrecovered magazine and waste dimensional lumber (landfilled, incinerated or recycled) can potentially have a large effect on the GHG shadow of the magazine and dimensional lumber chains.
  • Consumers, governments, and society can all impact the paper and wood product chains by determining the final fate of paper and wood waste products.

“Only some of the potential actions identified above are under the direct control of the individual companies in this study,” Janetos noted. “Others and perhaps especially those actions that potentially affect GHG emissions from purchased power must be addressed broadly by society.”

To view the study in its entirety, please click here.

The Heinz Center, established in 1995 in memory of Senator John Heinz, is a nonprofit, nonpartisan institution dedicated to improving the scientific and economic basis for environmental policy and to developing innovative solutions to environmental problems.

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PARTICIPANT INFORMATION:

Canfor Corporation—leading integrated forest products company based in Vancouver, British Columbia.    Media contact: Mike Bradley (604) 661-5264 or Lynn Embury-Williams (604) 264-6221

The Home Depot—the world’s largest home improvement retailer based in Atlanta, Georgia with sales of $ 81.5 billion in fiscal 2005.  Media contact: Ron Jarvis (770) 384-3467 Eric Oberman (770) 384-4155

Stora Enso is a global integrated paper, packaging and forest products company.  Stora Enso is the leading producer in North America of coated and supercalendered papers for the printing and publishing industries and a premier producer of speciality papers.  In North America, Stora Enso has seven mills in the Midwestern United States and one mill in Nova Scotia, Canada.  Media contact: Tim Laatsch (715) 422-4023

Time Inc. Time Inc. is the world’s leading magazine company, publishing over 149 titles with more than 300 million readers. In 2005, Time Inc. magazines accounted for 23% of the total advertising revenue of U.S. consumer magazines. People, Time and Sports Illustrated were ranked one, three and four in ad revenue respectively.

Time Inc. is a wholly-owned subsidiary of Time Warner, the world’s leading media and entertainment company, whose businesses include interactive services, cable systems, filmed entertainment, television networks and publishing. Media contact: David Refkin (212) 522-3356