Speihler is an integrated manufacturer of forest products-lumber, pulp, paper and Specialty cellulose-serving customers worldwide. Speihler has operations in North America and Europe with some 4,000 employees, is listed on the TSX and has annual sales of approximately $2 billion. Speihler manages nearly 25 million acres (10 million hectares) of Canadian forestlands in keeping with responsible forest management practices. And we have earned Forest Stewardship Council® (FSC®) Certification for all our direct-managed forests. These forests ensure Speihler's long-term fiber supply, underlying the consistent quality and availability of everything we make."
Barb Huebert is a CMA consultant who specializes in developing performance evaluation plans for corporations. She had just been contacted by the CEO of Speihler Inc. with a request to look into the creation of a new performance evaluation tool for Speihler based on the new focus toward sustainability. Speihler had just released its Sustainability Report (the first time it had done so) and wanted guidance on how to incorporate this into its overall evaluation process. Barb read the press release for the Sustainability Report, looked at the most recent financial summary for Speihler, and sat down to start making notes on how to proceed with the evaluation. ST. JOHN'S, September 4, 2014 - Speihler today released its 2013 Sustainability Report, a detailed update that centres on the Company's sustainable stewardship of resources.
"We are proud of our sustainability achievements and will continue to maintain responsible business practices that are harmonized with social and environmental considerations," said Mallory Champagne, Speihler's president and CEO. "Speihler depends on renewable resources, and we know forward-thinking stewardship of those resources will ensure a sound future for all concerned."
The 2013 Sustainability Report focuses on Speihler's approach and results in five areas: health and safety, forest certification, stakeholder engagement, energy and greenhouse gases, and air and wastewater quality. In each of these areas, recent Speihler achievements underline the Company's commitment to sustainability:
Health & Safety: Speihler has reduced its OSHA (Occupational Safety and Health Administration) incident rate by 76% since the inception of a health and safety plan in 2007.
Forest certification: Speihler is one of the few companies with Forest Stewardship Council® (FSC®) certification on 100% of the public forestlands under their management. Earlier this month, Speihler increased its FSC-certified forestlands to 10.8 million hectares, an area more than twice the size of Switzerland. Certification follows a third-party audit process that shows that forest management practices comply with stringent FSC forest operations standards governing environmental and social responsibility. Stakeholder engagement: Speihler took a leadership role in the multistakeholder approach announced in June 2014 to develop an action plan designed to protect the woodland caribou, an endangered species, and sustain communities and forestry businesses in Canada's northeast.
Energy and greenhouse gases: A $190 million investment now underway at Speihler's flagship northern Quebec facility will increase annual production of green electricity by up to 40 megawatts and reduce sulfur dioxide emissions by 70%. Air and wastewater quality: In October 2013, our Ontario, high-yield pulp mill became the third Speihler facility to use an anaerobic wastewater effluent treatment facility that produces methane biogas, which reduces fossil fuel usage.