Suzano outlines ESG milestone achievements and commitments at second annual ESG call

· Suzano is reaching 34 thousand people with social programs, of which 11 thousand have already been uplifted from poverty

· Over 4,000 species of fauna and flora identified, monitored and protected on Suzano’s land

São Paulo/New York, 23 June 2022 – Suzano, the world’s leading hardwood pulp producer and a global reference in developing sustainable and innovative solutions from renewable sources, today held its second annual ESG Call centered around its ambition to be a ‘regenerative company for a regenerative society’.

Suzano is at the forefront of developing nature-based solutions to tackle some of the planet’s most pressing challenges. Today’s ESG Call spotlighted measurable progress and ambitions across three core areas of action: climate change, biodiversity and social development.

On Climate Change, the Assessing low-Carbon Transition (ACT) initiative of the French Government and CDP scored Suzano ahead of its pulp and paper industry peers in virtually every metric, such as Sold Product Performance, Policy engagement and Business model. In 2021, Suzano brought forward its target for removing 40 million tons of carbon dioxide from the atmosphere from 2030 to 2025. This is being achieved through improvements to its industrial processes, such as systematically replacing the use of fossil fuels at its industrial plants with biomass, and through conversion of degraded land into carbon-rich forest, both for eucalyptus plantations and permanent conservation.

As part of the company’s social commitments and in recognition of Suzano’s responsibility as one of Brazil’s largest companies, it launched a target in 2020 to lift 200,000 people out of poverty. This is more than pertinent, given that in Brazil, 10% of the population lives below the poverty line and 33.1 million Brazilians experience hunger.

The company’s strategy is to target the communities most in need and empower them to develop products, services and enterprises that will build up local economies. In the first two years of this project, 11,000 people were raised above the poverty line and a further 34,000 people were reached via social programs. This in turn has resulted in income increasing by 57.5% on average, resulting in revenue generation of US$18 million for these communities, only in 2021.

On the biodiversity agenda, we’ve worked to build a governance system and a detailed action plan based on dialogues with rural producers and local organizations, on field studies and science-based methodologies. In the second semester of 2022, we will start the restoration of natural forests and the implementation of production models with ecological functions.

Reflecting on Suzano’s social and environmental activity goals, CEO of Suzano Walter said, “Against the backdrop of the climate crisis and rising global prices, taking action to strengthen communities and protect nature has never been more important. We take our responsibility as one of Brazil’s largest landowners very seriously.

“We already lead pioneering projects to develop research-based solutions which tackle climate change, preserve natural landscapes and permanently lift whole communities out of poverty. However, there is so much more to achieve and we cannot do this alone. Beyond reaching our own targets, our mission is to build networks with governments, organizations and individual citizens to drive forward impactful and lasting change and create a regenerative system for the benefit of society.”

The ESG Call presentation, alongside Suzano’s recently published Annual Report and newly redesigned Sustainability Center (formerly known as the Indicators Center), is the company´s main hub for ESG-related content. The Sustainability Center with more than 450 metrics provides information related to corporate management and performance and is connected with different standards and frameworks, as the Global Reporting Initiative (GRI), the Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs) and the World Economic Forum’s (WEF) Stakeholder Capitalism Metrics, among others.

The Recording of the ESG Call 2022 is available on the website

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=CMrEtbhd54E