Going Beyond Certification to Making the List

Canopy: the uppermost spreading branchy layer of a forest.

var. - an organization dedicated to safeguarding forests and the environment by harnessing the power of the marketplace and changing business practices.

You may not recognize the name Canopy; perhaps you heard of it when the organization was called Markets Initiative? This spunky non-profit is not just focused on forest protection, it connects printers and publishers to sources of paper that reduce the pressure on environmentally and culturally sensitive forests.

Canopy has found that leading green printers—while implementing a wide range of operational activities and initiatives that reduce energy consumption and water use—have gone beyond simply obtaining Forest Stewardship Council (FSC) or even triple certification (FSC, SFI and PEFC) to:

• Transparently report on the increased use of FSC-certified and recycled paper;

• Lend their voice to forest conservation initiatives in North America and around the world;

• Provide 100 percent post-consumer recycled paper as house sheets at a competitive price;

• Offer press time to agricultural residue paper trials; and

• Train their sales team on how to help clients source the best eco paper.

To help printers “learn from their peers,” Canopy has launched a Printer Leadership List to help them identify ways to implement paper purchasing policies that will benefit their businesses, their communities and the world’s forests, while reducing the impacts of climate change.

One of the first companies to be recognized on Canopy’s Print Leadership List is EarthColor, with 10 locations across the United States.

EarthColor has a comprehensive forest resources policy, one of the broadest among North American printers. Highlights from the company’s “2009/2010 Sustainability Report” include:

• High-integrity framing and communication of the true impact paper usage has on forests
Transparent reporting using GRI principals.

• 46 percent of the paper purchased in 2009 was FSC certified.