Birla Cellulose of the Aditya Birla Group has been ranked first for its commitment to sustainable forestry management, at an international level, according to a latest report. A recent audit at the company has confirmed that the risk of sourcing wood from ancient and endangered forests or any such other controversial sources is low risk.
Birla Cellulose has a 'light green shirt' ranking in the updated and expanded edition of the Hot Button Issue Report, which ranks eleven viscose rayon producers that represent 70 per cent of global viscose production. The report by Canadian environmental NGO Canopy, is highly anticipated by over 105 global brands, retailers and designers.
This year, the ranking has featured five new criteria, including priorities on conservation solutions and transparency where Birla Cellulose has bagged the prize. The Hot Button Issue report is a 'go-to' resource for fashion brands since first published in 2016.
"We are proud of the global industry leading ranking of Birla Cellulose and thank Canopy for acknowledging our sustainability efforts from forest to fashion. This reinforces our belief that sustainability is core to our business strategy," said Dilip Gaur, business director, pulp & fibre, Aditya Birla group and managing director – Grasim Industries Ltd.
"High conservation value forests are an important part of our global ecosystems. At Birla Cellulose, we use only sustainably sourced fibre for our pulp operations. We adhere to the strict standards of our global fibre sourcing policy, which focuses on protection of high conservation value and ancient and endangered forests," said Vinod Tiwari, chief operating officer, Pulp Business, Birla Cellulose. "Birla Cellulose has been striving to deliver quality products while protecting the environment, and the efforts of all team members have made this achievement possible."
"We engage with the entire textile value chain and support global brands for their sustainability journey and being a responsible partner to their sourcing needs. We have plans to further support in traceability, certifications and sustainable innovations," said Rajeev Gopal, chief marketing officer, Birla Cellulose.
"We’ve seen remarkable progress with CanopyStyle over the past four years as a result of the collective action of our brands partners. In the upcoming year, CanopyStyle brands and designers are looking for additional leadership from their rayon and viscose suppliers," said Canopy executive director and founder Nicole Rycroft. (RR)
Source Fibre2Fashion News Desk – India