Abstract
When the public is asked to name the most globally sustainable industries, they typically respond with solar, wind, geothermal, or EVs. Yet, who would ever imagine the pulp & paper industry, which is often caricatured as a relic, is in fact one of the largest and most secretly sustainable manufacturing sectors. Its entire infrastructure and operations are built on replenishable forests and powered by renewable energy streams to produce recyclable, biodegradable products. The pulp & paper industry has a story that deserves retelling in the age of sustainability metrics and ESG frameworks. Our editorial embarks on a short simple journey to reframe pulp & paper not as a legacy industry, but as a model for sustainable manufacturing by using a clear, quantifiable system to demonstrate its global environmental impact.
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Pulp & Paper Manufacturing: The Best Kept Secret on the Global Sustainability Stage
Ben Thorp,a Daniel Saloni 
,b and Lucian Lucia ,b,c,*
When the public is asked to name the most globally sustainable industries, they typically respond with solar, wind, geothermal, or EVs. Yet, who would ever imagine the pulp & paper industry, which is often caricatured as a relic, is in fact one of the largest and most secretly sustainable manufacturing sectors. Its entire infrastructure and operations are built on replenishable forests and powered by renewable energy streams to produce recyclable, biodegradable products. The pulp & paper industry has a story that deserves retelling in the age of sustainability metrics and ESG frameworks. Our editorial embarks on a short simple journey to reframe pulp & paper not as a legacy industry, but as a model for sustainable manufacturing by using a clear, quantifiable system to demonstrate its global environmental impact.
DOI: 10.15376/biores.21.1.16-18
Keywords: Pulp & Paper; Sustainability; Quantification
Contact information: a: Cofounder and Partner BDC Madison, WI USA; b: Department of Forest Biomaterials; College of Natural Resources; North Carolina State University, Campus Box 8005, Raleigh, NC 27695-8005 USA; c: Department of Chemistry; College of Sciences; North Carolina State University, Campus Box 8204, Raleigh, NC 27695-8204 USA; *Corresponding author: lalucia@ncsu.edu
The Need for a Quantifiable Global Sustainability Model
Sustainability conversations are often clouded by complexity, competing agendas, and a lack of clear evaluative rubrics. Corporate governance and social factors, while important, are contentious and difficult to quantify across industries. Yet, the possibility of contextualizing these discussions within environmental factors is a distinct possibility; in this editorial, we provide a strong foundation for a measurable, comparable, and transparent system. Indeed, we solicit your comments, suggestions and upgrades to continue the evolution of the model herein contained.
The purpose of the illustrative model presented here is threefold. We wish to quantify sustainability impact so that resources are deployed where they will achieve the greatest results. In addition, we will provide a simple, understandable reporting framework, one that avoids jargon and resonates. Finally, it is our hope we can educate society on relative industry practices to clarify which industries are making measurable progress, and which are falling behind. Companies such as BDC (Biorenewable Deployment Consortia) have already begun demonstrating what this looks like in practice by translating sustainability metrics into actionable industrial innovations.
Building the Illustrative Model: Five Impact Factors
We propose that sustainability can be evaluated using five environmental Impact Factors, each weighted according to its global significance.
Table 1. Proposed Environmental Sustainability Scoring System
This above system allows facility-to-facility, company-to-company, and industry-to-industry comparisons, while remaining transparent enough to educate the public and discourage greenwashing.
How Pulp & Paper Measures Up
Applying this framework reveals why pulp and paper is, in fact, a hidden sustainability champion. Within the five domains, it scores quite well. For Raw Materials, it is known that forest resources are renewable and replenished. Score: ~25/30. For Energy: mills generate significant energy from black liquor and bark. Score: ~12/15. In Water, we find this is their weakest category due to high water use. Score: ~3/10. For Emissions, they display above-average performance under strict regulations. Score: ~12/15. Finally, for products, they are highly recyclable and biodegradable. Score: ~25/30. Therefore, their Total Score: ~77/100 which is one of the highest among global manufacturing sectors. In Table 2 you can insert your numbers. Industry fundamentals will dictate similar scores and similar color coding of the summed results.
BDC has demonstrated how industry-driven innovation can accelerate the circular economy. Through its work in renewable feedstocks, energy integration, and product valorization, BDC exemplifies how targeted investment and applied research can translate sustainability principles into measurable practice. Its collaborations with universities and industry partners highlight cross-sectoral partnerships for scaling sustainability frameworks from concept to global manufacturing. This was also observed by BDC when they were researching sustainability for their members. Please contact the Author for the requested material from an early draft (*See References).
Cross-Industry Comparisons
Table 2. Illustrative Cross-Industry Sustainability Scores
This comparison underscores a striking reality. Pulp & Paper and Natural Textiles perform well among the most sustainable large-scale industries whereas petrochemicals and Synthetic Textiles perform poorly, relying heavily on non-renewable inputs and producing non-biodegradable products. Utilities powered by renewables remain the gold standard, but pulp & paper is close behind proving that industrial sustainability at a global scale is achievable.
Summing it Up
The pulp & paper industry, long dismissed as environmentally problematic, may in fact be the best kept secret in global sustainability. Rooted in renewable forestry, powered by bioenergy, and producing circular products, pulp & paper provides a roadmap for sustainable industrial practice.
If adopted and refined, the Impact–Ranking model proposed here could provide the clarity, comparability, and credibility that sustainability reporting has long lacked. In doing so, it would elevate pulp & paper from a hidden sustainability champion to a global exemplar of circular manufacturing.
References
* For copies please email bathorp@comcast