During Climate Week, HP continues to showcase its commitment to a low-carbon, circular economy through protecting, restoring, and promoting sustainable forests while setting goals and intentions to reduce consumption in operations over the next 5 years.
HP Inc. pledged to plant one million trees by the end of 2020 through a partnership with the Arbor Day Foundation that supports World Economic Forum’s and American Forests’ 1t.org US initiative that serves as a global movement to conserve, restore and grow one trillion trees by 2030. The pledge, the OEM says, reaffirms its ongoing commitment to restoring, protecting and improving the management of global forests as part of the company’s vision for print sustainability.
In addition, HP also pledged to reduce potable water consumption in global operations by 35% by 2025, an industry-leading goal.
“At HP, we believe the science that confirms this is the crucial decade for addressing climate change and know that ensuring access to critical natural resources like forests and water is a key part of a global solution,” said Ellen Jackowski, Chief Sustainability and Social Impact Officer at HP. “By collaborating with organisations such as the Arbor Day Foundation, we are helping restore and preserve the world’s forests for generations to come.”
HP’s partnership with the Foundation is a part of the?HP Sustainable Forests Collaborative, which launched in 2019 with the support of the Forest Stewardship Council (FSC) and International Paper.
“Forests are a critical tool not only to remove carbon from the atmosphere, but also to mitigate the immediate impacts of the changing climate disasters on people, wildlife and critical ecosystems around the globe,” said Dan Lambe, President of the Arbor Day Foundation. “By restoring tree loss, committed partners like HP are making a significant investment in our health and well-being now and for generations to come.”
Earlier this year, Arbor Day Foundation,?Chenming Paper,?Domtar?and?New Leaf Paper?joined the HP Sustainable Forest Collaborative to accelerate efforts on forest restoration. The cross-industry collaboration will demonstrate scientific and commercially viable approaches to keeping working forest ecosystems healthy. Together, HP and the collaborative members encourage other companies to join their reforestation efforts to restore and protect global forests for future generations.
HP said that today, all HP branded paper is deforestation-free, and HP is on track to derive all paper-based product packaging from certified and recycled sources by the end of 2020, with a preference for virgin fibre from FSC-certified sources.
However, the company believes more private and public partnerships are needed to enable all participants to collaborate, share best practices and take advantage of each other’s strengths. To that end, HP recently made a commitment to the U.S. chapter of the World Economic Forum’s 1t.org, the global trillion tree movement.
The initiative is designed to bring together like-minded companies, governments and organisations to accelerate the restoration of degraded forest ecosystems, fight climate change and protect biodiversity on the planet. Through these types of collaborations, HP believes it can magnify its influence to inspire widespread action across all industries – helping create a more sustainable future for the generations to come.
HP is also announcing a corporate goal to reduce potable water consumption across global operations by 35% by 2025, compared to 2015. Previously, HP committed to reduce potable water consumption by 15% by 2025, compared to 2015. In 2019, HP exceeded its water goal six years early, by consuming 18% less than in 2015. As part of the goal, HP is focusing on high risk- and high water-consuming sites. As the private sector continues to look at climate risks from a business and financial perspective, HP will focus on facilities in areas that have seen higher droughts and less potable water for global citizens. Last year, HP received an “A” on the 2019 CDP Water list.
