Sustainable choices made easy

Today, most UPM products are certified with widely recognized ecolabels, such as the EU Ecolabel and The German Blue Angel label.

Our determined efforts in product stewardship make us the world’s largest producer of EU ecolabelled newsprint, graphic and office papers. We offer approximately 200 EU ecolabelled paper products from 12 paper mills in Austria, Finland, Germany and the UK.

In addition to ecolabels, all our businesses have FSC and/or PEFC chain of custody certification, which verifies the origin of the wood and guarantees that all wood used in our products is legally harvested from sustainably managed forests and does not originate from controversial sources.

In 2023, 89% of UPM’s overall paper-, chemical pulp-, plywood-, label material-, timber- and biocomposites-products were eligible for ecolabelling. This figure includes FSC, PEFC and EU Ecolabels, and national ecolabels.

Why ecolabels and certifications?

Ecolabels support customers in their choices and provide relevant information to stakeholders. 

Third-party-verified environmental certifications and labels are a way of proving and communicating the environmental quality of our products and solutions.

Our ecolabels and certifications 

The EU Ecolabel helps identify products that have a reduced environmental impact throughout their life cycle – from the extraction of raw materials to production, use and disposal. The EU Ecolabel is continuously evolving. UPM has been active in developing new criteria for converted paper products.

The German Blue Angel is the world’s oldest ecolabel, created in 1978. It focuses on examining a product’s impact on the climate, resources, water, soil and air. 

The Nordic Ecolabel evaluates a product’s environmental impact throughout its whole life cycle – from sourcing to the end product.

FSC (Forest Stewardship Council™) certification ensures that products come from responsibly managed forests that provide environmental, social and economic benefits. Its principles and criteria provide a global foundation for all forest management standards.

PEFC (Programme for the Endorsement of Forest Certification Schemes) is an umbrella organization for the mutual recognition of national or regional forest certification schemes, which meet internationally recognized requirements for sustainable forest management.

The SFI (Sustainable Forestry Initiative) standard is based on principles and measures that promote sustainable forest management and take into account all forest values. It includes chain-of-custody certification and on-product labels.

The ISCC is a sustainability certification system covering the entire supply chain and all kinds of biobased feedstocks and renewables.

The China Green Label aims to help the public identify environmentally sound products that meet certain eco-standards.

All the certificates can be found using the Certificate Finder.