European Paper Industry Delivers on Emission Reduction and Recycling Commitments
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With the slowing down of the European economy and the sanitary restrictions, European paper and board consumption decreased by 5.3% in 2020 compared to 2019, totaling 71 million metric tons.
Cepi members produced 85.2 million metric tons of paper and board, a decrease of 4.8% compared to 2019. This downward trend was observed in many other parts of the world, namely the US, Japan, Brazil and Canada.
Covid crisis has accelerated both negative and positive existing trends
Despite the slowing down of the European economy and the sanitary restrictions, most of the mills ran without disruption in 2020; even if some operated at reduced speed because of lower levels of demand.
In 2020, the pandemic accelerated the structural decline of graphic grades but stimulated the production of packaging grades as well as sanitary and household paper. The overall output of graphic grades including newsprint fell by 19%. Demand from publishers, offices and commercial printing declined dramatically.
In contrast, the packaging paper and board as well as the sanitary and household paper production increased by 2.1% and 3.1% respectively in 2020 while specialty paper and board production remained stable.
Packaging paper and board are essential materials to transport and deliver supplies, such as medicines or food, they also benefitted from the acceleration of e-commerce related to the sanitary crisis. Demand for sanitary and household grades benefitted from higher hygiene requirements, despite the restrictions affecting the 'away-from-home' markets.
Also impacted by the economic slow-down and the decrease in paper and board production, pulp consumption decreased by 6.4%. Total pulp production decreased by 4.7% while market pulp output remained unchanged.
Net-exports remained strong despite minor decrease
Market pulp exports grew by 2.8% while paper and board exports decreased by 3.1%, a lower extent than production and imports (-4.5%). Looking at market pulp and paper and board combined, the share of our production going for export has reached a new height: 26% in 2020.
Sustainability performance on track
While providing essential products to European citizens in 2020, the European paper industry delivered on its competitiveness and sustainability agenda.
In spite of the pandemic impacting availability and quality of paper for recycling throughout 2020, the European recycling rate increased by 1.4 percentage points and reached 73.9% in 2020. Looking back at the progress made since 1998 — the base year for the first voluntary commitment set in the European Declaration on Paper Recycling — recycling has increased by 40% or 16.0 million metric tons.
CO2 direct emissions from the European paper industry also declined by 7.1% in 2020, mainly due to the reduced activity but also the continuing efforts of the industry to decarbonise. As a result, the specific CO2 emissions (per metric ton of product) further decreased in 2020 by 3.1%. In terms of energy use, 62.2% of the fuel consumption was based on renewable energy: woody biomass sourced from sustainably managed European forests.
"I am proud to announce today that our investments in reducing emissions and using more renewable energy are paying off, with a 7.1% reduction of our CO2 direct emissions last year. We continue to lead among industries switching to renewable energy, renewables represented 62.2% of our primary energy in 2020. Our climate commitment is even more important this year, just days ahead of the European Commission's "Fit for 2030" package. It will radically revamp the regulatory framework to achieve higher emission reductions by 2030," commented Jori Ringman, Cepi Director General.
Production will pick up with economic recovery in 2022
Looking ahead, the paper and board demand will undoubtedly benefit from the economic rebound forecasted for 2021. The EU economy is estimated to grow by 4.2% in 2021 and to strengthen to around 4.4% in 2022 according to the European Commission. As of end-April 2021, the production of paper and board in Cepi countries increased by1.0% over the same period of the previous year.
