SÃO PAULO (News release) -- Suzano, the world's largest pulp producer, has launched its Nature Strategy, reaffirming the company's commitment to biodiversity and how it guides decision-making within the business. Suzano's operations depend directly on nature, and the company recognizes that its longevity and ability to innovate are intrinsically linked to the health of ecosystems. Therefore, nature occupies a significant strategic role in the business' vision.
The science-led Nature Strategy, developed in collaboration with IUCN, is guided by the mitigation hierarchy: avoid, reduce, restore and transform. This approach enables the prevention of impacts, the minimization of risks, and the promotion of ecosystem regeneration.
With support from IUCN, Suzano has pioneered the use of the STAR metric - a tool that enables the company to map sensitive areas within the territories where it operates, identify endangered species, and set priority actions required to reduce their risk of extinction. Biodiversity monitoring conducted by the company over several decades has revealed the presence of 125 endangered species, of which 24 have been selected as priority for action based on technical criteria.
This model, developed in collaboration with IUCN, combined scientific rigor and innovative methodologies, and was published as a Suzano case study at the IUCN Congress in October. The learnings were fundamental to the consolidation of the RHINO methodology (Rapid High-Integrity Nature-positive Outcomes), which guides companies to take concrete and measurable actions for biodiversity conservation. The internal analyses undertaken for the development of Suzano's Nature Strategy covered the 2.9 million hectares of land owned by the company, a number that increases to about 10 million hectares when considering the scale of the watersheds analyzed. This model allows us to expand our view beyond the company's operational limits and reinforces Suzano's commitment to conservation at scale.
"We know that the global biodiversity picture is challenging: 75% of terrestrial ecosystems have already been altered by human activity, and approximately 25% of assessed species are endangered, according to the World Economic Forum. These figures represent tangible risks for society and for businesses. For Suzano, ensuring the integrity of nature means ensuring the resilience of our business and the communities we work with," says Giordano Automare, Executive Manager of Sustainability at Suzano.
Suzano's Nature Strategy is designed to align with the company's previously established long-term commitments, such as connecting 500,000 hectares of forest fragments through ecological corridors and increasing water availability in critical watersheds within the company's areas of operation. These objectives are also aligned to the global goals of the Kunming-Montreal Global Biodiversity Framework and the development of a regenerative economy.
In addition to IUCN, the development of Suzano's Nature Strategy involved more than 25 stakeholders, including experts, representatives from government, academia, NGOs, and local communities, ensuring legitimacy and a diversity of perspectives for the proposed actions.
