PAPERWISE IS CO2 NEUTRAL PAPER: HOW DOES THAT WORK?

Various articles are available regarding PaperWise CO2 neutral or climate-neutral paper and paperboard for packaging, printing, and office use. At the same time, we mention that the environmental impact of PaperWise is 47% lower than paper made from trees and 29% lower than recycled paper. But how does that work exactly? What does CO2 neutral or climate-neutral paper actually mean? Why is packaging made from PaperWise paper and paperboard 47% better for the environment than packaging made from wood-based paper and 29% better than recycled paper? We would be pleased to explain it to you.

CO2 neutral paper

The difference between CO2 neutral paper, climate-neutral paper, and paper with a low environmental impact is quite simple. CO2 neutral paper is paper for which the CO2 released—measured across the entire production chain—is offset. Even though PaperWise is manufactured using green energy, you still have to deal with CO2 emissions throughout the chain. This is because the tractors on the fields, and the trucks, trains, and ships required for transport, do not yet all run on green energy.

Climate-neutral paper

With climate-neutral paper, several factors come into play. CO2 (carbon dioxide) is only one of the greenhouse gases that cause climate change or global warming. The most important greenhouse gases contributing to global warming besides CO2 are CH4 (methane), N2O (nitrous oxide), fluorinated gases, O3 (ozone), and water vapor. Climate-neutral paper is paper for which the impact of all these gases is offset. The greenhouse gases are converted into CO2 equivalents and then compensated. Again, this is measured across the entire production chain, including harvesting, the paper production itself, and all transport movements.

PaperWise has had all these greenhouse gases measured across the entire chain as part of
an independent environmental comparative study, a Life Cycle Assessment (LCA), in which the total climate impact of PaperWise across the entire production chain was calculated. PaperWise is manufactured using green energy, and all other greenhouse gases (expressed in CO2 equivalents) are offset through Gold Standard & United Nations. Therefore, PaperWise paper and paperboard are not only CO2 neutral but also climate-neutral.

The environmental impact of paper

However, CO2 neutral or climate-neutral paper does not yet say anything about the total environmental impact of paper or paperboard. The aforementioned LCA study, which PaperWise commissioned from IVAM University of Amsterdam, provided insight into the total environmental impact of PaperWise paper measured across the entire production chain. The environmental impact of PaperWise was then compared with paper made from trees and recycled paper. The LCA study shows that PaperWise paper has a 47% lower environmental impact than wood-based paper and a 29% lower environmental impact than recycled paper. And that includes transport from the factories in India and South America where PaperWise is produced.

The Life Cycle Assessment (LCA) of paper, also known as a Cradle-to-Grave analysis, is a method to determine the total environmental burden of a product throughout its entire life cycle, meaning: extraction of the necessary raw materials, production, and transport. The use and waste phases can also be included if desired, but were excluded from the PaperWise LCA study. You might wonder why? Well, because these steps are identical for PaperWise paper, wood-based paper, and recycled paper.

In the environmental comparative study (LCA) of PaperWise, 17 different environmental impact categories were measured and compared with wood-based paper and recycled paper:

1. Climate Change Human Health
(Climate change, human health)
2. Climate Change Ecosystems
(Climate change, ecosystems)
3. Ozone depletion
(Ozone layer depletion)
4. Terrestrial acidification
(Acidification, soil)
5. Freshwater eutrophication
(Eutrophication, freshwater)
6. Human toxicity
(Human toxicity)
7. Photochemical oxidant formation
(Smog formation)
8. Particulate matter formation
(Particulate matter formation)
9. Terrestrial ecotoxicity
(Ecotoxicity, soil)
10. Freshwater ecotoxicity
(Ecotoxicity, freshwater)
11. Marine ecotoxicity
(Ecotoxicity, saltwater)
12. Ionising radiation
(Ionizing radiation)
13. Agricultural land occupation
(Land use, agricultural)
14. Urban land occupation
(Land use, urban)
15. Natural land transformation
(Land transformation)
16. Metal depletion
(Depletion, minerals/metals)
17. Fossil depletion
(Depletion, fossil) In the environmental comparative study (LCA)

Science determines which environmental impact category receives which weighting, and this is established in ISO standards. In this way, all environmental research organizations worldwide can use the same calculation and reach the same conclusion. To be truly committed to a better environment, it is therefore too simplistic to look only at the CO2 impact or climate impact of a product. That would only take the top two environmental impact categories into account. In the PaperWise LCA study, all 17 categories were included in the calculation.

And that is the reason why PaperWise has a 47% lower environmental impact than wood-based paper and a 29% lower impact than recycled paper. The CO2 and other greenhouse gases that cause CO2 emissions and climate change are offset by PaperWise, making PaperWise CO2 neutral and climate-neutral.