Greenpeace investigation reveals Kimberly-Clark ignored company environmental policy, misinformed shareholders

The report, Cut and Run, uses government information, independent audits, public records and satellite mapping to document Kimberly-Clark's management and logging of the Kenogami Forest near Thunder Bay. It alleges the company violated its previous policy not to use "environmentally significant" old-growth fibre in its consumer products. Its executives have repeatedly claimed the boreal fibre used in the company's products comes primarily from "waste," despite healthy forests being logged to produce their pulp.

Since Kimberly-Clark began logging in Kenogami in 1937, 71 per cent of this forest has been fragmented and woodland caribou have been driven from 67 per cent of the area. Wolverines have been driven out of the forest completely. Over 80 per cent of the Kenogami Forest has been classified by a provincial government task group as inadequately protected, and 78 per cent as high priority for conservation.

"When Kimberly-Clark arrived in the Kenogami Forest, it was a healthy, vibrant ecosystem," said Christy Ferguson, a forests campaigner with Greenpeace. "Today it is unable to sustain healthy wildlife populations and its old-growth is projected to collapse⎯largely because of products that are used once and then thrown away."

Even though Kimberly-Clark has not directly managed the forest since 2004, the company still buys large amounts of fibre from Kenogami. Kimberly-Clark's updated policy, adopted in 2007, adds new disappointment by permitting the purchase of fibre from old-growth forests. Fibre from intact forests, the habitat of threatened species, continues to be permitted under the new policy.

"Kimberly-Clark's shareholders should be alarmed at the company's ongoing support for logging operations that are environmentally destructive and a source of multiple social conflicts," said Ferguson. "Shareholders, corporate customers and everyday consumers have a responsibility to hold Kimberly-Clark accountable for its actions."

Nine First Nations communities are presently involved in a legal case against the Ontario provincial government and the companies managing the Kenogami Forest. These Aboriginal communities have been left out of the forest's planning, management and economic benefits, despite treaty rights. Workers from the forest's Terrace Bay mill have been on strike for over two years.

A shareholder resolution sponsored by Harrington Investments to create a board-level sustainability committee will be voted on at today's shareholder meeting. Greenpeace supports this resolution as an important step towards increasing recycled materials in Kimberly-Clark products, respecting First Nations' rights and ending the logging of endangered forests.

High-resolution photos are available at www.greenpeace.ca/gallery

The report can be downloaded from www.greenpeace.ca/cutandrun

For more information:

Brian Blomme, Media and PR Officer
416-930-9055