Mohawk Fine Papers Goes Carbon Neutral

 

Reprinted from Auggie V's Green Blog May 13th, 2007

 

Just outside of Albany is a great green company that has embraced sustainability to the point that as of July 1, 2007 it will increase its purchases of Renewable Energy Credits (RECs) to 100,000 MWh, which will offset emissions from 100% of the purchased electricity used at its NY and Ohio operations. Mohawk Fine Papers is the largest manufacturer of premium printing and writing papers in the country. Now Mohawk is going one step further offering paper brands that are carbon neutral. Last week I had a meeting with Lee Moody who covers Connecticut for Mohawk and we talked about Mohawk and sustainability.

 

I had known of Mohawk through my association with Curtis Packaging. Mohawk has greened its operations as a way of life not because it’s cool, but because it’s the correct thing to do. This industry leader has been FSC certified since 2002, and in 2003, they became the first paper manufacturer to off-set is electricity use with wind RECs from green-e certified wind projects. This April the company joined the EPA climate Leaders Program to develop formal greenhouse gas emission reduction goals. As an extension of the commitment, Mohawk announced four of their premium product lines, including Strathmore, are now made carbon neutral within its production and distribution process. The thermal energy emissions created in the manufacturing of these papers have been entirely offset with Verified Emissions Reduction credits ( VERs).

 

Lee was excited about Mohawk, as well she should be. If I worked for a company like this I’d be pretty psyched too. We continued to discuss some good green stories about various aspects of sustainable initiatives currently underway in Connecticut .We must have yakked an hour and a half and in the end I was very impressed with Lee and Mohawk.

 

Mohawk has created a lot of good will and received a lot of positive credit for having taken a stance for moving beyond recyclable paper and addressing the problems of climate change by reducing emission. As Thomas O’Connor, Jr., Chairman and CEO of Mohawk states - “Climate change is a major concern of our customers and for that reason we will offer products with the smallest possible carbon footprint. This provides our customers with a tangible way to make a positive difference. It’s up to each of us to make changes where we can, whether it’s switching to compact fluorescent light bulbs or using paper for our business cards that has less of a climate impact.”

 

To find out more about Mohawk’s commitment to environmental stewardship, click here.