Becoming Forest Positive: Don't just go beyond, regenerate

As the world's desire for sustainability grows to help combat climate change, businesses are proactively looking to explore ways to embed sustainable and regenerative practices. Forests are key in helping combat climate change, but nearly half of the world’s forests are under threat. The mass destruction of trees—deforestation—continues, sacrificing the long-term benefits of standing trees for short-term gain of fuel, and materials for manufacturing and construction. HP have long understood the role of Forests as both carbon sinks and important natural habitat. While replenishment has been an HP imperative for many years, we extended this to 'go beyond' with Forest Positive.

Prioritising the protection of forests is important because we’re all inextricably linked to them. Last November, leaders at the COP27 climate conference in Egypt emerged with a landmark agreement aimed at protecting nature. Delegates from 26 countries formed a Forest and Climate Leaders’ Partnership (FCLP), dedicated to halting and reversing forest loss – a term also referred to as ‘forest positive’.

Forest positive broadly means halting and reversing nature loss - going beyond conservation and planting trees. Last year saw the term gain significant traction, as businesses now have an in-depth understanding of biodiversity trends and a role to halt climate change and biodiversity loss.

Many of the biggest companies, ourselves included, have programmes that should be increasingly scrutinised to ensure words match deeds. Here’s how companies can effectively step up against deforestation and create a forest positive future.

Lesson One: Revisiting Your Sustainability Goals

Sustainability in 2023 is about much more than an organisation doing the best it can for the planet. A business must have awareness, take responsibility, and be accountable for mitigating all its impacts, including those on the natural world. Above all else, being a sustainable business is about action and setting goals.

Nowadays, the majority of the world’s largest companies now issue a sustainability report and set goals; more than 2,000 companies have set a science-based carbon target; and about one-third of Europe’s largest public companies have pledged to reach net zero by 2050. As a rule of thumb, a business’s sustainability goals should be revisited every three years to see how much progress is being made and if the goals are impactful.

Integrating forest-positive goals into your company's sustainability strategy is a key way to ensure these goals will have a real and meaningful impact. These goals will help to protect existing forests, strengthen biodiversity, and preserve ecosystem services and can be done through tree planting initiatives or building a more sustainable product portfolio.

Lesson Two: Assessing the Green Credentials of your Packaging

Increasingly, eco-conscious consumers are also opting for brands that have stringent climate action goals and can help them to reduce their carbon footprint through sustainable packaging. Sustainable packaging can be broken down into three key elements:

Preservation: Using non-toxic and compostable materials can help conserve the environment, reduce landfill deposits, and protect wildlife.

Reduction: Reducing the amount of packaging used through redesign, such as custom-fit boxes that have a minimal void but still provide maximum protection to the contents.

Circulatory: Using recycled content and reusable products to close the loop on the usage of unsustainable materials. This can be achieved using packaging that can be easily and widely recycled.

Metrics can be applied to assess packaging performance and determine steps that can be taken to improve its sustainability. From assessing the packaging material waste and carbon footprint it generates, to the usage of recycled and renewable content within the material.

This was a key driver in HP’s quest to achieve 99% deforestation of HP brand paper and paper-based product packaging in 2020. The remaining 1% is assessed to ensure reported fibre usage meets HP’s Sustainable Paper and Wood Policy.

Lesson 3: Partnering with Experts

Forest conservation and restoration is a simple and effective starting point for organisations wishing to combat climate change. Trees are our allies when it comes to combatting global warming as they absorb CO2 from the atmosphere which they use to grow.

Like many organisations, HP’s goal is to be Forest Positive by 2030 through its commitment to forest conservation. This approach involves partnerships with recognised environmental organisations, designing products and services to reduce environmental impact, and sharing tools for more responsible printing.

Since 2020, HP has worked with the Arbor Day Foundation to plant a range of native tree types in Mersey Forest that provide habitats for local species and boosts biodiversity. Restoring and protecting the world’s trees and forests will be crucial in the battle against climate change and Britain’s declining biodiversity. To date, HP and the Arbor Day Foundation have been responsible for planting over 40,000 trees across the UK & Ireland alone.

Choosing to partner with an organisation such as the Arbor Day Foundation is one step in addressing the urgent need for reforestation. These corporate partnerships ensure initiatives add real value and prevent them from being a mere box-ticking exercise.

There are many ways for organisations to set ambitious climate action goals - from assessing the source and lifespan of their packaging materials, to tackling the need for reforestation head-on. However, each method requires careful consideration to ensure implementation is successful and drives change. Consumers have grown wise to greenwashing and actively seek out organisations that can help them to live sustainably, often being influenced by authentic brand ambassadors who align with their own beliefs.

Like any ambitious company programme, creating a truly sustainable initiative and setting clear goals designed to support a new era of opportunity can be a challenge. When momentum has slowed, unexpected obstacles emerge, and new regulations bring plans into question, it pays to remember why you are doing this: it is good for the planet, and good for business.

Partnering with knowledgeable and established third parties is key to helping companies achieve their sustainability goals. Speaking with experts to effectively deploy initiatives, such as tree planting or carbon offsetting, can be the difference between a box-ticking exercise and making a genuine contribution toward a very real issue.

I am calling on all businesses to speak with leading conservation and environmental organisations about climate change, forest restoration, and responsible management to counteract deforestation. This is an effective way for companies to reduce their environmental impact and ensure they’re on track to achieve any climate goals they choose to set.