Apple CEO Tim Cook recently visited Sweden to discover more about the sustainability work achieved by Iggesund Paperboard, manufacturer of the high-end paperboard material Invercote and subsidiary of the Holmen Group. He was welcomed by Holmen’s CEO Henrik Sjölund and Iggesund Paperboard’s CEO Daniel Peltonen.
The Invercote paperboard material is used by Apple for the packaging of its products. Invercote is produced in Sweden by Iggesund Paperboard from sustainably-managed forest resources surrounding the company’s production site. Invercote is also widely used for the packaging of many other high-end consumer goods, including cosmetics and perfumes.
“For Holmen it is self-evident to start with sustainable forestry. We grow trees with an 80 to 90-year time frame, with the timber being used to build houses. We make the paperboard from pulpwood from the forest and chips from the sawmill. Iggesund is a good example of a climate-smart combine where we feed in forest raw materials and produce bioenergy, paper pulp and paperboard. Major investments over a long time plus a system in balance are a prerequisite for a sustainable value chain. The Iggesund combine binds 0.7 million tonnes of CO2,” said Holmen’s CEO Henrik Sjölund.
Holmen has repeatedly ranked among the world’s most sustainable companies, with its sustainably managed forest as a cornerstone of that achievement.
The Apple CEO also planted his own tree in Iggesund’s forests as he followed the whole process from forest management to finished packaging.
“We have been harvesting and maintaining Swedish forests in a traditional and sustainable way for the past 400 years. Everything starts with long-term sustainable forestry. For us it is natural to work in a climate-compensating way and based on a value chain where all stages are important,” concluded Holmen’s CEO Henrik Sjölund.
