What role does Suzano play in Europe’s circular and zero-carbon economy?
As the world’s largest pulp supplier, Suzano produces sustainable raw materials for essential products like tissue, packaging, hygiene products and textiles, which are all certified as deforestation and forest degradation free. Our longstanding relationship with European industry plays a daily role in the life of its citizens – roughly one in three sheets of tissue and toilet paper they use is made with our pulp.
We combine scale with efficiency, delivering reliable volumes at a significantly lower environmental footprint: according to the Transition Pathway Initiative, our carbon intensity per tonne is less than one-third of the sector average.
We want policymakers to see Suzano as a long-term, reliable partner for Europe’s decarbonisation journey. Sustaining its paper and packaging sector will still require virgin fibres, even with ambitious increases in recycling rates: paper is not infinitely recyclable. Our zero-deforestation commitment and regenerative model, thanks to Brazil’s comparative productivity advantage, can help meet the EU climate targets.
Can you walk us through your end-to-end wood traceability system?
We have had traceability systems for many years to meet our own deforestation commitments; we are therefore already today able and ready to comply with the delayed EU Deforestation Regulation (EUDR). Our commitment extends to native ecosystems, such as savannahs and grasslands.
The wood we use in Brazil comes from eucalyptus trees, with seedlings cultivated in nurseries and planted on farms to be harvested over a cycle of around seven years. Most of our supply comes from Suzano-owned farms: we have 1.7 million hectares of planted areas, sitting alongside 1.1 million hectares of conservation areas.
The proximity between farms and processing facilities increases supply transparency. Our logistics network to deliver pulp provides transparency from planting to delivery. To give policymakers and customers confidence in our products, we reinforce this with third-party certifications.
Fair and science-based regulation, help European customers benefiting from a reliable supply of deforestation-free products
How do you monitor zero-deforestation operations at scale, and how are biodiversity outcomes independently validated?
We have put in place processes that go beyond the requirements of regulation and international sustainability standards. Our digital geolocation system allows us to track wood supply throughout the supply chain and providing robust evidence of our products’ origin.
We have monitored biodiversity in our areas since the 1990s, and have one of the most comprehensive fauna and flora databases in the private sector, containing more than 4,000 species. We currently work closely alongside several organisations to more broadly support progress, including the International Union for Conservation of Nature, the Cambridge Conservation Initiative, and the Taskforce on Nature-related Financial Disclosures.
How do you support social development?
We aim to lift 200,000 people out of poverty across the more than 200 Brazilian municipalities by 2030. By 2024, we had reached nearly halfway towards this ambitious goal by lifting over 97,000 people out of poverty through our income-generation programmes and entrepreneurship support.
We help set up thriving businesses and creating opportunities within our own value chain. We also create change through investment in the communities in which we operate. For example, for our new mill in Ribas do Rio Pardo, we invested around €50 million in housing, healthcare, infrastructure and local services.
Importantly, we recognise that addressing poverty over long-term requires a wider approach: our social programmes support education, healthcare and the protection of vulnerable groups. Last year, our education program trained more than 1,600 education professionals, benefitting almost 140,000 people.
Where can your operational experience help Brussels refine rules on traceability, due diligence or circular packaging?
Our experience shows that traceability and due diligence can only be done at scale if companies truly commit to transparency. Technology makes data collection easier, but the real test is whether you act on negative findings, even at a cost.
Initiatives such as the EUDR have generally improved global supply chains, but for countries like Brazil that already meet high forestry and land use sustainability standards, implementation must reflect dialogue and fairness.
Our message to Brussels is clear: rules must raise ambition without creating unnecessary barriers. Fair and science-based regulation will help our European customers, allowing them to benefit from a reliable supply of deforestation-free products.
Our logistics network to deliver pulp provides transparency from planting to delivery. To give policymakers and customers confidence in our products, we reinforce this with third-party certifications.
As European brands move from fossil-based to fibre-based materials, what are you prioritising to advance the circular bioeconomy?
We believe Europe will continue to be a leader in shifting away from fossil-based materials and setting global standards. Our priority is sustainable intensification by producing more biomass per hectare to meet the needs of a growing global population, while supporting healthy ecosystems and biodiversity.
We actively support of Europe’s circular bioeconomy: we have backed startups creating plastic-free barrier technologies for food packaging, and we have taken a stake in the Austrian company, Lenzing, that is a leading supplier globally of sustainable wood-based textiles.
What lessons from your partnerships should policymakers consider when designing incentives and standards for sustainable materials markets?
Partnerships are essential; no company can make a difference on global challenges alone. We aim to magnify our impact while working with our peers and customers. For example, in our pilot project with the Italian tissue business Sofidel in the Amazon region, we supported 1,400 families and created a 2,200 km² biodiversity corridor across the Brazilian states of Maranhão and Pará. However, this remains a pilot. Scaling up requires government frameworks and incentives.
The lesson for policymakers is clear: standards and incentives must reward collective action and long-term investment to accelerate progress across entire value chains.
Our message to Brussels is clear: rules must raise ambition without creating unnecessary barriers
How will your new joint venture in Europe make a difference to European consumers or buyers?
Our planned joint venture with Kimberly-Clark, subject to regulatory and governmental approval, involves us taking on 22 production sites and 9,000 employees globally, which will significantly increase and strengthen our presence in Europe. Europe will become the most important region for us.
We share Kimberly-Clark’s values on sustainability and innovation, and we have already demonstrated how our operational expertise has led to sustainability and efficiency gains when we purchased their assets in Brazil two years ago. We want to maintain the trust built over decades, ensuring that we provide high quality, sustainable and deforestation-free products that European consumers want to buy.
Looking ahead to COP30, what one message would you want to share with the delegates coming to Brazil?
It is important we continue to talk, but we can’t wait to act. We are ten years past the Paris Agreement – and plenty of bold ambitions and commitments have not been delivered.
As a company that plants over a million trees a day, manages vast forests using advanced technologies and mobilises tens of thousands of workers in rural areas, we want to tell the world that transformational change is possible. Many of the capabilities exist in the private sector to make this happen – if workable models can be found.
Creating financial facilities that mobilise this expertise for global forest protection and restoration would be a game changer. With decades of track record of real and measurable impact, Suzano is ready to help lead this effort.
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