HP Innovation Journal Issue 13: Winter 2019 | Page 64

leader WWF. Over the next five years, HP will contribute
$11 million for WWF to restore part of Brazil’s threatened
Atlantic Forest and increase sustainable management of
state-owned farms and forest plantations in China—ulti-
mately protecting a combined area of 200,000 acres. HP’s
partnership with WWF will support the development
of science-based targets for forests, estimating carbon
and nature co-benefits of forest restoration and improved
forest management. The new initiative with WWF begins
in November and marks the launch of HP’s Sustainable
Forests Cooperative.
All HP-branded paper is already deforestation-free, and by
2020, the company is on track to achieve 100% zero-defor-
estation for all of its paper-based product packaging. These
efforts and the partnership with WWF are supported by
FSC and International Paper, one of the world’s larg-
est paper manufacturers. The ultimate goal is to make
printing with HP a catalyst for industry-wide support for
FSC-certified and recycled fiber sourcing, while con-
tributing to the restoration, protection, and improved
management of the world’s forests.
down to earn a living from things like soy or palm oil or
beef. To counter this cycle, local communities need new
ways to develop economically. By committing to purchas-
ing FSC-certified fiber, HP is working to create incentives
to keep forests intact and prevent deforestation.
Conventional forestry practices involve heavy harvesting
and pesticide use. When chemicals are used, they can come
into contact with freshwater bodies or local communities.
But in an FSC-certified forest, trees are cut selectively and
chemical use is highly restricted. Standards also cover
the physical health, and social and economic well-being
of people who work in FSC-certified forests.
“If you’re walking in a conventionally managed forest,
you’re seeing very large openings and a highly altered
landscape,” says Corey Brinkema, president of FSC’s US
national office. “Walking in an FSC-certified forest feels
like you’re walking in a natural forest. You tend to have the
qualities that you would expect if you’re walking through
your state park.”
CONSERVATION THROUGH COLLABORATION
With the HP Sustainable Forests Cooperative, HP is taking
“Every business is in the forest business, because every
business depends either directly or indirectly on forests.
For businesses to thrive in the future, nature needs to thrive.”
—LINDA WALKER
Senior Director of Corporate Engagement for World Wildlife Fund
MANAGING A HEALTHY FOREST
Forests are essential to life on Earth. They provide homes
for thousands of species. They produce oxygen, store
carbon, and regulate global climate. And they support mil-
lions of people who depend on them for survival.
But along with clear-cutting for agriculture, demand for
timber has fueled high rates of deforestation, threatening
nearly half of the world’s forests. According to WWF, the
planet is losing 18.7 million acres of forest each year—the
equivalent of 27 soccer fields per minute. Recent fires in
the Amazon rainforest, Indonesia, and Africa have shown
how the rate of deforestation has reached critical levels.
Much of this is due to the fact that people cut the forest
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HP Innovation Journal Issue 13
steps to make printing with any paper more sustain-
able—not just its own. The new initiative is designed to
conserve an area of forests and increase the supply of FSC
fiber, enough to cover the amount of paper (even non-HP-
branded paper) that runs through HP printers, according
to calculations by HP and WWF.
The initiative covers two forest conservation programs.
One is a restoration project in Brazil’s Atlantic Forest, a
biodiversity hotspot that’s home to jaguars, hundreds of
tree species, and 5% of the Earth’s vertebrate species—
many found nowhere else. The other will increase the area
of responsibly managed forests in China, which produces
and consumes more paper than any other country.