CARBON NEUTRAL
National Carbon Offset Standard and Carbon Neutral Program
CASE STUDY: Australian Paper
Australian Paper is the leading manufacturer of office, printing and packaging papers in Australia and is one of the largest private employers in the Latrobe Valley. The plant in Maryvale is Victoria’s biggest generator of renewable base load energy with black liquor biofuel created as a by-product of the pulp and paper manufacturing process.
Australian Paper has been a participant in the Australian Government’s carbon offsetting programs since 2006. First, through the Greenhouse Friendly (GHF) Program and now through the Carbon Neutral Program which certifies carbon neutrality against the National Carbon Offset Standard (NCOS). Australian Paper’s carbon neutral products are made at the Maryvale Mill in Victoria. It is the largest integrated pulp and fine paper manufacturing site in Australia, producing over 600,000 tonnes of paper per annum.
The business case for carbon neutral certification
Australian Paper sells a range of branded paper products throughout Australia and New Zealand with the Carbon Neutral Certification Trade Mark.
We chose to become certified against the NCOS as it demonstrates to customers that we have met a credible standard for carbon neutrality. Since gaining carbon neutral certification, a number of corporations using Australian Paper’s products have also become NCOS certified.
Achieving carbon neutral certification
Carbon footprint
Our emissions boundary includes every stage of the life of paper manufacturing from harvest of trees and waste paper to customer delivery, and end-of-life disposal.
To ensure compliance with the NCOS, Australian Paper undertakes a Life Cycle Analysis to determine the emissions in its paper products. The company has developed an internal system of measurement and analysis, and also partners with external consultants for Life Cycle modelling to match our activity data with up to date emissions factors and provide a consistent reporting structure.
Emission reductions
Australian Paper is committed to investing in processes that deliver permanent ongoing savings in energy use. In a highly energy intensive industry, Australian Paper already produces over 50 per cent of its total energy requirements from renewable biomass waste. The majority of the remaining energy required is provided from natural gas with less than 5 per cent of Maryvale’s energy needs being met through electricity from the grid.
Since 2009, we have recruited internal energy teams, which focus on electrical systems efficiency improvements, improvements in recovery of energy from existing renewable biomass streams, and reductions in steam used for heating. Our stated long term objective is an ongoing 1 per cent improvement year on year in energy efficiency.
Offsetting
Australian Paper already produces a high proportion of renewable energy as a by-product of the pulping process. Aligning with our focus on renewable energy, we purchase offset credits from projects primarily focussed on biomass, wind and hydro power.
Benefits and outcomes of carbon neutral certification
Australian Paper has been associated with the NCOS and its predecessor, Greenhouse Friendly, since 2006. We chose the Australian Government’s carbon neutral scheme because we saw it as the most robust carbon neutral certification available. It was particularly important to us that our end paper users would have absolute confidence that our carbon neutral claims are risk free, and that they would withstand the test of the closest scrutiny. Since gaining our NCOS certification, many of our major end user corporations have become NCOS certified.
Challenges and learnings
The most significant challenge for our NCOS certification is to maintain an allocation process for identifying inputs to carbon neutral products and to ensure a rigorous approach to activity data collection. Both of these ensure consistency of analysis, ease of audit verification and integrity of the results.
Want to find out more about other organisations who are carbon neutral?