Metsa Board Oyj

Metsä Group's President and CEO, supported by the Group's Executive Management Team, determines the priorities of political influence for all business operations and monitors the progress made in them. Metsä Group's corporate affairs function coordinates practical influence work, handling the related cooperation among the Group's business operations and other functions, and reporting the work's progress and effectiveness to Group management and the Board of Directors. [...] Metsä Group's parent company Metsäliitto Cooperative is registered in EU's and Finland's Transparency Registers and complies with their code of conducts. The register number in the EU Transparency Register is 962687110415-94 and in Finland's national Transparency Register MET 24 399 R

### Circular economy, climate and forests as a focus in advocacy

Metsä Board participates in advocacy as part of Metsä Group at the EU and national levels, especially in Finland, Sweden and Germany. Metsä Group's Corporate Affairs function coordinates practical influence work, handling the related cooperation between Metsä Board and other functions. Metsä Group's parent company Metsäliitto Cooperative is registered in the EU's Transparency Register and complies with its code of conduct. Its member number in the Transparency Register is 962687110415-94. Metsä Board is registered in the Finnish Transparency Register under diary number MET-24-465-R.

To identify the most significant legislative risks and advocacy focal areas, Metsä Group has conducted a comprehensive assessment of regulatory risks, which covers all the business areas, including Metsä Board. These risks have been considered in the company's double materiality assessment.

Metsä Group follows and participates in discussions about forests and biodiversity and influences policy questions related to the bioeconomy and products.

Metsä Group has actively influenced several legal initiatives in the EU, including the deforestation regulation, nature restoration regulation, packaging and packaging waste regulation, and sustainable product policy.

Metsä Group promotes the circular bioeconomy and emphasises the role of forests and wood-based products in climate change mitigation, and the safeguarding of biodiversity. Metsä Group is committed to the principles of regenerative forestry, the goal of which is to verifiably strengthen the state of forests and nature by 2030. Metsä Group aims to increase understanding of regenerative forestry and the role of renewable carbon. The company supports the EU's environmental targets and the 2050 climate neutrality target.

In Finland, as a member of the Finnish Forest Industries Federation, Metsä Group actively participates in the industry's joint roadmap work in the areas of both climate and biodiversity.

In 2024, Metsä Group's position papers on regenerative forestry and the central role of renewable carbon in achieving the EU's climate neutrality target and developing industrial carbon management were published. The goal is to do proactive and open climate influence work based on researched information.

Metsä Board actively participates e.g. in 4evergreen alliance's work. 4evergreen represents the entire value chain of fibre-based packaging and has set as its target the raising of the recycling rate of fibre-based packaging to 90 per cent by 2030. Currently, the recycling rate in the EU is ca. 83 per cent (Eurostat, 2022).

## Responsible parties and changes
This environmental policy has been approved by the Board of Directors of Metsäliitto Cooperative, and it is owned by the director reporting on sustainability to the President and CEO. The director in charge of sustainability processes is responsible for updates to this environmental policy and the related change proposals. [...] |Version|Date|Policy owner|Approved by|Scope|Comments|
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
|1.0|12 January 2011|Director responsible for sustainability and lobbying|Board of Directors of Metsäliitto Cooperative|Internal||
|2.0|xx June 2019|Director reporting on sustainability to the President and CEO|Board of Directors of Metsäliitto Cooperative|Internal|Content reviewed and changes approved|
|3.0|xx June 2023|Director reporting on sustainability to the President and CEO|Board of Directors of Metsäliitto Cooperative|Public||

Metsä Group is committed to climate change mitigation and contributes to EU's and Finland's ambitions  for climate-neutrality.

To contribute to these objectives we engage in policy debates and provide decision makers with information about sustainable forest management and the sustainability of our raw materials, decarbonization of our operations and the climate and environmental friendliness of our products.

We also explain how we work on new innovative sustainable solutions, such as wood-based textile fibres and 3D fibre products. Metsä Group is an active member of many national, European and international trade  and industrial organisations. We are a reliable discussion partner for industry organisations, legislators and decision-makers.

We participate in the operations of the following organisations:

* National forest industry federations: Finnish Forest Industries Federation (FFIF)
* The Swedish Forest Industries and the German Pulp and Paper Association (VDP)
* Finnish Chamber of Commerce and International Chamber of Commerce (ICC)
* Confederation of European Paper Industries (CEPI) and 4evergreen alliance
* Business Europe's Corporate Advisory and Support Group
* Bio-based Industries Consortium (BIC)
* Programme for the Endorsement of Forest Certification (PEFC™)
* Forest Stewardship Council (FSC®) (License Code FSC-C014476)

Metsä Group and its five business areas also participate in the operations of many national forest industry organisations in their key countries of operation. Such organisations include the Swedish Forest Industries Federation and the German Pulp and Paper Association, for example.  

In addition, Metsä Group or its businesses are members of many field-specific organisations such as the European Tissue Symposium (ETS) and the European Organization of Packaging and the Environment (Europen).

Describe the process(es) your organization has in place to ensure that your engagement activities are consistent with your overall climate change strategy[…]Metsä Group's (MG's) Executive Board sets group wide policies, defines sustainability targets and advocacy priorities and monitors the progress. The sustainability targets are approved by the Board of Directors and aligned with the strategy. MG Corporate Affairs promotes the Group's interest in regulatory and policy issues and serves all business areas (including MB). SVP Corporate Affairs reports to the CEO and President of Metsä Group and works in close cooperation with the business areas to develop the Group's activities towards sustainable circular bioeconomy and climate change mitigation. MG's VP Sustainability is a part of Corporate Affairs team further strengthening the integration of sustainability commitments to policy-related activities. The activities are thus coordinated under one management which also considers needed actions if any inconsistencies would occur. The processes serve all our businesses globally. However, as all our production units and wood supply areas and most of the personnel are located in Europe, the policy activities focus on Europe. Therefore Corporate Affairs has specific representatives focusing on the policy issues on the EU level, the Nordics and Germany. In addition to Corporate Affairs representatives, also other experts from our company participate in working groups to engage with policy makers and trade associations. Corporate Affairs is in charge of internal coordination. Local level activities are aligned with group level policies through environmental management systems applied at all production units. All personnel is expected to follow the Code of Conduct and trained accordingly (coverage of training was 99% in 2021). All violations of CoC are investigated by the Compliance Committee and may result in disciplinary actions.

Describe the process(es) your organization has in place to ensure that your external engagement activities are consistent with your climate commitments and/or climate transition plan?[…]Metsä Group's (MG's) Executive Board sets group wide policies, defines sustainability targets and advocacy priorities and monitors the progress. The sustainability targets are approved by the Board of Directors and aligned with the strategy. MG Corporate Affairs promotes the Group's interest in regulatory and policy issues and serves all business areas (including Metsä Board).