Leading Paper Sustainability in China

Greatview CEO Jeff Bi speaks at PwC’s 27th Annual Global Forest & Paper Industry Conference.

On May 6th, Greatview CEO Jeff Bi attended PwC’s 27th Annual Global Forest & Paper Industry Conference in Vancouver, Canada, where he presented to an audience of over 400 leading paper industry experts on Greatview's role in leading paper sustainability in China.

During his speech, Jeff spoke of the urgent need for supply chain collaboration among paper manufacturers in the aseptic packaging industry, sharing his own personal experience on how to achieve responsible paper sourcing in the emerging world. Greatview currently achieves the industry’s best record of sustainable certified paperboard usage in percentage terms, with over ¾ of its cartons last year originating from sustainably managed forests.

‘Greatview’s approach is novel.’ said Jeff. ‘We look to partner with those in the supply chain that share common values with us. Together with our customers and suppliers, we promote the concept of sustainable sourcing to end consumers. By printing sustainable logos on our packs, each purchase becomes an opportunity to promote the concept of responsible paper sourcing. We feel that this bottom-up approach is the best way to build responsible supply chains.’

Jeff concluded that the forestry business is not a necessarily environmentally detrimental activity. 'In the same way that wheat and corn can be harvesterd, so can trees', he said. 'As long as harvesting of forest products accords with internationally recognized sustainability standards, paper can be a renewable resource'.

To see a copy of Jeff's presentation, please visit this link.

The Annual Global Forest & Paper Industry Conference is an important part of the World Global Forests Leadership Summit 2014. The theme of this year’s Conference ‘Building the future’ sought to identify strategic business opportunities in today’s complex operating business environment. Sustainable development was amongst the hottest being discussed at the Conference. According to a recent poll of paper industry CEO’s, 2/3 of companies believe a lack of resources and climate change are already definitive factor for change in their company, with 92% of CEOs choosing the ability to develop sustainably as an important environmental performance goal.