Collaborating for systemic transformation

Individual stakeholders such as governments, businesses, NGOs, and society at large are answering the call for accelerated sustainability progress like the targets outlined in the United Nations Sustainable Development Goals (UNSDG). However, to meet these goals, is it enough for these groups to act individually in reducing their impacts?

A white paper developed by SIG and Stora Enso, in collaboration with the Net Positive Project, argues the need for a collaborative, “transformative and systemic” multi-stakeholder approach to sustainability progress.

Stora Enso and SIG, both operating within the same beverage packaging value chain, are members of the Net Positive Project (NPP) – a collective of leading businesses and NGOs advocating for organisations to reduce how much they take from the environment, society, and the global economy. They instead promote creating positive contributions, such as replacing fossil-intense consumer goods packaging with circular solutions. SIG and Stora Enso have worked collaboratively since 2019 on the development of a net positive food and drink packaging system guided by NPP principles.

In this white paper, you will find:

• The findings from a related pilot project exploring the end-of-life of used packaging

• An example of net positivity where wood fiber-based packaging can create opportunities for giving back across the entire life cycle of the wood fiber (and its re-use over several product life cycles)

• Guiding principles to help companies understand their impact from the perspective of their entire value chain

“It is important that striving to perform better might not be enough: we need to move away from system optimisation to system transformation”, says Christian Bauer, Manager Environmental Sustainability at SIG. “Of course, this is easier said than done. The White Paper suggests one possible path that can be followed.”