Responsibility

We recognize our social obligation to demonstrate environmental leadership, for the benefits of our local communities and the community at large. As a company that works with renewable resources, Tembec knows responsible stewardship of those resources ensures a sound future.

Environmental policy

Tembec’s corporate vision is to be an industry leader in value creation by being the best steward of resources: human, capital and forest.

Tembec shares with the community important responsibilities towards the environment in which we live and work. The Corporation supports the responsible stewardship of resources, including forest, fish and aquatic habitat, wildlife, air, land and water. Responsible stewardship, combined with a continual improvement process, makes possible sustained economic development and an improved quality of life. In this spirit, Tembec commits to implementing and maintaining an effective environmental management program that will govern its attitude and action in environmental matters and will benefit the environment, the community, the shareholders, employees and customers.

Tembec demonstrates environmental leadership through its commitment to:

• Conduct its business in a responsible manner designed to protect the environment and to protect the health and safety of its employees, its customers and the public.
• Assess, plan, construct and operate its manufacturing facilities and forestry operations in compliance with all applicable legislation, regulations and applicable codes of practice or programs to which the Corporation subscribes.
• Set environmental objectives and targets to continually improve environmental performance and provide the management commitment and resources necessary to achieve stated objectives.
• Encourage and support research to improve its ability to protect the environment and maintain public health and safety and strive for the virtual elimination of any persistent toxic emissions from its operations.
• Manage and protect its forest resources to ensure sustainable forest management consistent with all applicable regulations. Beyond, or in the absence of regulatory requirements, strive to maintain biodiversity, protect wildlife habitat and ecosystems.
• Promote new technologies aimed at conserving, recycling and renewing the resources utilized.
• Promote employee awareness and training in their environmental responsibilities and foster employee participation in environmental management.
• Work and consult with governments and the public in the development of regulations and policies based on sound, socially acceptable, and economically achievable technologies and the analysis of environmental and health impacts.
• Implement programs and procedures to prevent emergency events and minimize the consequences by ensuring effective preparedness and response.
• Report regularly to the Board of Directors on its environmental status and perform audits to ensure conformance with its policies and guidelines.
• Conduct forest management activities in a responsible manner by recognizing the values of Aboriginal groups and stakeholders.

Responsible manufacturing

We like to exceed expectations. When it comes to air emissions, effluent quality, noise, fiber utilization, waste reduction, energy consumption, and greenhouse gas emissions, we work hard to continually improve our performance and go beyond legislative demands.
Our commitment to responsible manufacturing shines through in these key areas:

• Striving to continually improve environmental performance by maintaining forward-looking objectives and targets, while operating our facilities in line with applicable environmental laws and regulations;
• Promptly addressing all environmental incidents in order to mitigate any impacts, and ensuring preventive measures are implemented;
• Maintaining an Environmental Management System (EMS) in compliance with ISO-14001, in order to ensure we manage our operations following internationally recognized best management practices.

Our environmental management system

We were leaders here long before “green” became a buzzword. In 2000, Tembec was the first major Canadian forest products company to implement across all of its operations an Environmental Management System (EMS) that complies with the ISO 14001 standard.

Internationally recognized best management practices
Our EMS provides a rigorous management structure that is applied in all Tembec manufacturing and forest operations under our control. The EMS is an internationally recognized set of environmental best management practices that guides all activities that have a relationship with the environment. The EMS facilitates the achievement of important sustainability objectives and programs, such as maximizing environmental performance in manufacturing, and maintaining Forest Stewardship Council® (FSC®) certification in all forestry operations.

All Tembec manufacturing and forestry operations are required to maintain an ISO-14001 certifiable EMS. In 2011 the Temiscaming, Matane, and Skookumchuck operations were certified to the standard. Certification is planned for Chetwynd in 2012, as well as the three Québec forestry business units.

Managing carbon responsibly

We truly understand the direct relationship between carbon management and climate change.

Reducing energy consumption and greenhouse gas emissions
Our aim is to minimize fossil fuel consumption and maximize the use of green energy in our manufacturing facilities. Through conversion to renewable, green, energy sources and equipment upgrades, we’ve achieved significant reductions in fossil fuel consumption and greenhouse gas emissions over the last few years.

In a world of uncertainty and resistance regarding greenhouse gas emissions, we’ve forged ahead. Energy objectives and targets are in place to continually improve carbon management. In total, the pulp and paper members of the Forest Products Association of Canada (FPAC), including Tembec, have reduced their absolute (total) greenhouse emissions by 57% since 1990, thereby greatly surpassing the Canadian Kyoto Protocol objective of 6% (2009 FPAC Sustainability Report).

Carbon neutrality commitment
FPAC and its member companies, including Tembec, have committed to becoming carbon neutral by 2015, without the purchase of carbon offset credits. This means that by 2015, Tembec commits to achieving a balance between fossil carbon emissions and carbon storage. For more information on the FPAC Carbon Neutrality commitment, go to www.fpac.ca, Click on “What We Do”, then “Environmental Progress”, and “Fighting Climate Change”.

Anaerobic wastewater treatment
Finding innovative ways to use waste is at the top of our agenda. Tembec operates anaerobic wastewater treatment plants at its Temiscaming, Québec and Tartas, France facilities. A third anaerobic plant is under construction at the Matane, Québec facility.

Basically, anaerobic wastewater treatment is an innovation in the biological treatment of wastewater. The treatment enables us to remove organic pollutants, which are then converted by anaerobic microorganisms to biogas.

Here’s what we can achieve:

1.Reduced energy consumption:
The anaerobic process uses significantly less energy compared to conventional aerobic systems because the microbial breakdown of the dissolved organic material in the wastewater does not require aeration (oxygen).

2.Production of biogas:
Conventional aerobic treatment generates carbon dioxide (CO2). Anaerobic microorganisms convert the dissolved organic material into methane biogas (CH4). The methane in turn is used as a fuel in part of the pulping process, and therefore replaces natural gas, a fossil fuel.

3.Reduced production of biological sludge:
Conventional aerobic treatment generates significant quantities of biological sludge; much of the dissolved organic material is converted into microorganisms, which eventually die (sludge). In contrast, only a small amount of biological sludge is produced in the anaerobic process.

Cogeneration
Cogeneration is a highly efficient means of generating thermal and electric energy simultaneously from the same energy source. At Tembec, cogeneration plants produce heat by burning biomass (pulping liquor, bark, shavings, sawdust, and sludge). The heat is used to produce steam for the pulping and papermaking processes. The steam also produces electricity by operating a turbine. This green electricity is either used internally or sold to utilities.

In the end, the biomass replaces fossil fuels to produce green steam and green electricity.

We have 5 cogeneration plants in place at Tembec: Skookumchuck, Kapuskasing, Chapleau, Temiscaming, and Tartas.

Carbon sequestration
Carbon storage and sequestration are important parts of the natural carbon cycle. Carbon is sequestered when atmospheric carbon dioxide (CO2) is absorbed into living trees and other plants, and is then stored in forest soils, mosses, trees and plants until affected by a natural event such as a forest fire, insect infestation, disease, old age, or windthrow. Timber harvested from managed forests can end up in solid wood products (lumber, panelling, furniture, etc.), where the stored carbon in sustainably harvested trees remains until the wood is burned or biodegrades.

Young and healthy trees sequester carbon at a faster rate than older trees, while older, larger trees store more carbon than younger trees. Maintaining a diversity of forest types (various age classes and tree species mixtures) and management regimes from intensive to natural regeneration to protected areas helps to maintain the forest carbon balance over the long term. Forests are complex ecosystems and much research remains to fully understand their role in the mitigation of climate change.

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