Birla Cellulose of the Aditya Birla Group, India, has been ranked Number one globally by the NGO Canopy, Canada, in its Hot Button Report for its work on the conservation of ancient and endangered forests. Birla Cellulose has a 'light green shirt' ranking in the updated and expanded edition of the Hot Button Report released recently, which ranks 11 viscose rayon producers that represent 70% of global viscose production.

"We are proud of the global Industry leading ranking of Birla Cellulose and thank Canopy for acknowledging our sustainability efforts from forest to fashion. This reinforces our belief that sustainability is core to our business strategy," said Dilip Gaur, business director, Pulp & Fiber, Aditya Birla Group, and managing director - Grasim Industries Ltd, India.

"High conservation value forests are an important part of our global ecosystems. At Birla Cellulose, we use only sustainably sourced fiber for our pulp operations. We adhere to the strict standards of our Global Fiber Sourcing Policy, which focuses on protection of High Conservation Value and Ancient and Endangered Forests," said Vinod Tiwari, COO, Birla Cellulose Pulp Business. He added that "Birla Cellulose has been striving to deliver quality products while protecting the environment, and the efforts of all team members have made this achievement possible."

"We engage with the entire textile value chain and support global brands for their sustainability journey and being a responsible partner to their sourcing needs. We have plans to further support in traceability, certifications, and sustainable innovations," added Rajeev Gopal, chief marketing officer, Birla Cellulose.

Birla Cellulose has successfully completed CanopyStyle Audit and its current supply chains confirm that the risk of sourcing wood from ancient and endangered forests or other controversial sources is low risk, which is an industry leading result.

"We've seen remarkable progress with CanopyStyle over the past four years as a result of the collective action of our brands partners. In the upcoming year, CanopyStyle brands and designers are looking for additional leadership from their rayon and viscose suppliers," said Canopy's Executive Director and Founder Nicole Rycroft.

Canopy's Hot Button Issue ranks the world's top viscose producers on their progress in eliminating endangered forests from their supply. This year the ranking features five new criteria, including priorities on conservation solutions and transparency where Birla Cellulose has leader scores. The report is highly anticipated by more than 105 global brands, retailers, and designers that are part of the CanopyStyle initiative. It has become a "go-to" resource for fashion brands since first published in 2016.

Aditya Birla Group is a $41 billion multinational, in the league of Fortune 500, anchored by an extraordinary force of more than 120,000 employees, belonging to 42 nationalities, with operations in 36 countries across the globe.

More details are available online.