K-C, Greenpeace Mark Fifth Year of Sustainability Collaboration
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This past Tuesday, August 5, marked the fifth anniversary of a milestone agreement between Kimberly-Clark Corp., Dallas, Texas, USA, and Greenpeace, which established a framework for collaboration towards long-term solutions to protect forests worldwide. Over the years, the relationship helped accomplish key objectives for both organizations by increasing the use of fiber from sustainable sources. The two organizations opened a dialogue that enabled both parties to learn they had many shared goals and could help each other achieve them.
For Kimberly-Clark, the collaboration with Greenpeace and other stakeholders such as the Forest Stewardship Council (FSC) provided important insights into ways to improve the sustainability of its products and its supply chain. Since the partnership began, Kimberly-Clark has:
- Committed to a preference of Forest Stewardship Council-certified fiber, resulting in global growth in FSC-fiber supply through supplier partners
- Increased the use of FSC-certified fiber in Kimberly-Clark's global tissue products by 111% since 2009
- Reached its Sustainability 2015 goal of sourcing 100% of virgin wood fiber from suppliers whose forestry operations or wood-fiber procurement activities are certified by a third-party forest certification system
- Increased its use of environmentally-preferred fiber, which includes FSC-certified fiber and recycled fiber, in its global tissue products to 83.5% from 54.6%.
"Over the years, we have learned that working collaboratively helps us to continuously improve. Kimberly-Clark and Greenpeace may seem like unlikely allies, but opening a dialogue showed us that we have shared values—and that a partnership could help us accelerate our progress towards common goals," said Lisa Morden, senior director of sustainability at Kimberly-Clark. "Our relationship also opened the door to further collaboration with organizations including the Forest Stewardship Council who bring extensive knowledge and capabilities in the area of responsible forest management."
For Greenpeace, this relationship has made a significant contribution to responsible forest management globally and reduced pressure on the world's most vulnerable forests.
"The unique relationship has also helped smooth the way for conversations with other corporations whose supply chains remain controversial or require changes. It has enriched Greenpeace's approach and has been an example of the value of cooperation versus confrontation," said Richard Brooks, forest campaign coordinator at Greenpeace Canada. "Kimberly-Clark has shown that if the world's largest tissue products manufacturer, whose products are used by a billion people a day, can change and lead in the field of sustainability, then virtually any other company can do the same."
As pressure on natural resources continues to increase, both organizations remain committed to maintaining healthy forests worldwide. For example, Kimberly-Clark continues to set a high standard in its fiber sourcing goals for the policies, including:
- By 2025, the company will strive to obtain 90% of the fiber for its tissue products from environmentally preferred sources. This includes FSC-certified wood fiber, recycled fiber, and sustainable alternative fibers
- Also by 2025, find substitute sources for at least 50% of wood fiber sourced from natural forests.
