Letter to stakeholders and Q&A with CEO

Every trail we follow is shaped by people – the communities we serve, the teams we empower, and the values we uphold. At Sappi, we believe that sustainable progress begins with understanding local needs and investing in shared value.

Like the fox navigating snow-covered terrain, we move with agility and intent – alert to change, guided by experience, and grounded in ethical purpose. This instinctive adaptability mirrors our approach: making smart decisions swiftly, with courage and integrity, and always with safety foremost in mind.

The communities beyond our fence lines are places we are also proud to call home. Their prosperity is not only linked to our own – it is deeply valued and actively nurtured. Our social impact approach is collaborative. We partner with communities to jointly identify and leverage opportunities that support local needs while aligning with Sappi’s purpose. While each region has its own programmes, they share common themes – forestry-related activities, environmental protection and conservation, education, and community welfare.

Through targeted enterprise and supplier development (ESD) programmes, we support local businesses and foster inclusive economic growth. We maintain open, proactive dialogue with stakeholders to build trust and mutual understanding.

Internally, we invest in training, succession planning, and skills development to prepare our workforce for future demands. We manage reputation with care and uphold ethical standards in every decision – ensuring that our path is shaped by smart choices and ethical resolve, moving swiftly but never at the expense of safety or integrity.

Our people-centred approach strengthens our social licence to operate and reinforces our commitment to shared progress – with every step, we remain alert, responsive, and purposeful.

A channel is more than a passage – it is a chosen course, shaped by intention and skill. As we begin the next phase of our Thrive strategy, we reflect on a journey steered with stamina, precision, and responsiveness. Like a gondolier navigating shifting waters, we have moved through capacity expansion, product realignment, and strategic repositioning – attuned to our environment and guided by purpose.

At Sappi, prosperity is not defined by profit alone. It is the ability to create enduring value – financial, social, and environmental. For shareholders, it means disciplined stewardship and operational excellence. For communities, it means investing in renewable resources and partnering for shared progress. For the planet, it means embracing sustainable solutions with eco-effective ingenuity.

Looking ahead, for the immediate future we return to our basics: sustaining financial health, optimising asset utilisation, cash generation and managing costs. While demand for graphic papers continues its structural decline, our focus on market-share growth is delivering results and reinforcing our competitive position. In the dissolving wood pulp (DWP) segment, we remain cautiously optimistic. Despite global headwinds, the long-term outlook is positive, and we are well-positioned to respond with agility and clarity.

In a resource-constrained world, prosperity flows through the channels we choose – those defined by resilience, ethical resolve, and collective strength. As we navigate toward our next horizon, we do so with quiet confidence and a steady hand, steering toward value that endures.

Every course we chart is shaped by our relationship with the natural world. At Sappi, we are custodians of land and forests, committed to using woodfibre responsibly – not only to drive business success, but to contribute to long-term environmental and social value across generations.

Our environmental strategy is rooted in certification, traceability, and continuous improvement in sourcing and land management. Through precision forestry practices, we optimise plantation health and productivity while advancing biodiversity protection. These efforts ensure that our raw materials are sourced from responsibly managed plantations that meet rigorous sustainability standards.

We take proactive steps to reduce our environmental footprint. Our operations are guided by robust environmental management systems that help us lower emissions, conserve water, and improve energy efficiency – often with internally generated bioenergy. As part of our climate action strategy, we are accelerating decarbonisation across our value chain, aligning with science-based targets and global climate frameworks.

Stewardship at Sappi means moving beyond compliance. We integrate circular design principles, regenerative land-use practices, and climate resilience into our operations, balancing business needs with ecological integrity. Our approach is intentional, adaptive, and informed by the evolving expectations of our stakeholders and the realities of a changing climate.

As we adjust our sails to meet the shifting tides of climate change and global expectations, our direction remains clear: to protect, restore, and regenerate the natural systems that sustain us, through measurable action, transparent reporting, and continuous innovation.

Our voyage is powered by innovation – guided by purpose, leadership, and a steadfast commitment to sustainability. Sappi uses renewable resources to make woodfibre-based products, and we are a diversified, innovative, and trusted leader focused on sustainable processes and solutions. From dissolving wood pulp to packaging and speciality papers, we continue to expand our portfolio with offerings that meet evolving customer needs and rising environmental standards.

We invest in meaningful engagement across the value chain – collaborating with customers as well as brand owners, converters, and suppliers to unlock shared value. By listening closely and partnering widely, we identify opportunities to enhance product performance, all the while looking to reduce environmental impact, and supporting long-term returns.

Our product strategy is dynamic and forward-looking, anchored in circularity, and market relevance. Through fact-based support and technical expertise, we help customers navigate their own ESG challenges with confidence and clarity.

In a world transitioning from a fossil-based economy to a circular bioeconomy, Sappi offers a compelling vision: a sustainable business with an exciting future in woodfibre – delivering relevant solutions, enhanced value, and trusted partnerships. Beyond our product portfolio, we offer a suite of technical and development services supported by highly qualified teams of technicians to improve customer efficiencies and scientists who continuously explore new applications for woodfibre and collaborate with customers through targeted R&D initiatives.

On this voyage of delivering traceable, responsibly sourced products, we deploy state-of-the-art technology to ensure precision, reliability, and transparency. Every offering is a step forward – advancing purpose-led growth, regenerative design, and global impact. We are actively building a circular economy that benefits both business and the world.

Just as rivers carve their course over centuries – shaping landscapes through persistence and adaptability – our journey begins with a path defined by nearly 90 years of resilience, reinvention, and purpose. Sappi’s Thrive business strategy is more than a roadmap; it is a long-term commitment to sustainable growth, operational excellence, and enduring trust, all while creating meaningful value for our stakeholders.

As Thrive evolves, we stand at an inflection point. The environment around us is shifting – reshaped by global forces that continue to redefine business: climate change, resource scarcity, consumer and employee expectations, and the rapid pace of technological innovation. Our strategy evolves in response, slightly adjusted to remain fit for purpose, reaffirming our commitment to building a thriving world through renewable innovation and shared prosperity.

Our path is not static – it adapts with intention. Whether responding to market pressures or environmental imperatives, we remain focused on long-term value creation. Strategic clarity, technological innovation, and disciplined execution keep us on course – propelling us forward with purpose.

As we look ahead, our focus sharpens: sustaining financial health, deepening stakeholder value, and unlocking opportunity through collaboration and eco-effective ingenuity. The river may change course, but its direction remains true.

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Our key relationships

Our overarching aim is to partner proactively with our stakeholders as we unlock the power of trees and their limitless potential to accelerate the solutions a thriving world requires.

  • Employees
  • Unions
  • Customers
  • Communities and neighbours
  • Industry bodies and NGOs
  • Investors
  • Government and regulatory bodies
  • Suppliers
  • Media
  • Research institutes and academia

Highlights in FY2025

  • Sappi was again named on Forbes magazine and Statista World's Best Employers 2025 (ranked number 289 globally and number 5 in South Africa) and Top Companies for Women 2025 (ranked number 144 globally and number two in South Africa) lists
  • Sappi again achieved highest platinum rating from EcoVadis in Europe and North America (seventh consecutive year for both operating regions) and a gold rating in Southern Africa. Though external country risk factors have evolved, Sappi's commitment and performance in sustainability have remained unwavering
  • SEU brought its arsenal of label papers and packaging solutions to two major industry events in September 2025: Drinktec in Munich and Labelexpo Europe in Barcelona, enabling visitors to discover Sappi's innovations
  • SNA's Community Connection donated over US$2.1 million and supported over 3,800 initiatives since its inauguration in 1998
  • SNA employees collaborated on community-oriented campaigns (eg fundraiser benefiting Barbara Bush Children's Hospital, volunteering at Westbrook Community Centre)
  • SSA opened Sappi Forests Skills Centre in Richmond, KwaZulu-Natal; and its Ngodwana Skills Centre supports a community aquaponics farm at Ngodwana Nursery. Such initiatives aim to provide a pathway to meaningful employment
  • SSA established three vocational skills centres in rural and underserviced areas. These centres provide basic hand skills training to local unemployed youth. Good candidates from these programmes are progressed into pre-apprenticeship maths/science bridging tuition and formal apprenticeships in the mechanical, electrical and boilermaker trades
  • Sappi joined the GMI (Groupement des métiers de l'Impression et de la Communication), a national campaign in Italy to highlight the value of paper and address key misconceptions about the industry. The 'OrigAMA la carta' campaign was an educational initiative, reaching over 1,000 students across 15 schools and universities
  • Building on the Antwerp Declaration in 2024, Marco Eikelenboom, Cepi Chair, discussed the Clean Industrial Deal with the European Commission President Ursula von der Leyen, Vice-President Stephane Sejourne, and European Commissioner Wopke Hoekstra at the European Industry Summit, February 2025
  • Sappi launched the global 'Verve Quest' product competition (adopting a gamification approach) to engage and educate staff about dissolving wood pulp through an interactive augmented reality platform; final participation exceeded the global benchmark target by more than double
  • Kirkniemi Mill has been collaborating with universities, vocational institutions and student organisations for decades, focused on forest industry education. For instance, with Tampere University of Applied Sciences (TAMK) on the degree programme in bioproduct and process engineering. Students work on the mill's project assignments and participate in site visits to learn about its operations. Programme alumni who now work at the mill regularly return to the school to give guest lectures and share experiences
  • Ongoing investment in climate research, including extension of support for Wits Chair in Climate Change and Plantation Sustainability (at the University of the Witwatersrand), led by Professor Mary Scholes, until 2028. Sappi's collaborative research project with Wits began in 2020.

Our stakeholder engagement is focused on building trust and delivering impact on what our stakeholders value the most. We proactively collaborate with stakeholders to better inform our decision-making amid today’s dynamic external landscape. We particularly focus on the impact of our activities on people and the planet, in addition to enterprise value and in line with double materiality.

Our approach comprises informal and formal channels of mutual dialogue, ranging from regular employee engagement and customer surveys to community forums and Greenlight Movement community surveys in South Africa. Our stakeholder engagement is aligned to the governance framework of King IV namely performance and value creation, adequate and effective controls and trust, as well as reputation, legitimacy and ethics.

A thriving world is not possible without an ethical culture underpinning our everyday activities. Accordingly, we train our employees, customers and suppliers on our Code of Ethics and promote awareness of the Sappi hotlines in each region which allows all stakeholders to report breaches of the code in full confidentiality.

We regularly review our activities in terms of the OECD Anti-Bribery Convention and the convention’s 2021 Anti-Bribery Recommendation, particularly section VII of the OECD Guidelines for Multinational Enterprises dealing with Combatting Bribery, Bribe Solicitation and Extortion. No issues have been raised in Sappi with regards to compliance with the convention and guidelines either externally or internally. In FY2025, we also assessed the countries in which we operate according to the Corruption Perception Index 2024 which ranks 180 countries and territories by their perceived levels of public sector corruption. The index is calculated using 13 different data sources from 12 different institutions that capture perceptions of corruption within the past two years.

Our stakeholder engagement is also guided by our work towards realisation of the United Nations Sustainable Development Goals (UN SDGs), in particular our priority SDGs. We have a longstanding membership of the United Nations Global Compact (UNGC), which we joined in 2008, and which is now a global movement with over 20,000 participating companies and over 3,800 non-business participants in over 160 countries.


Employees

Employees

Self-assessment of quality of relationships: Satisfactory

Why we engage

As we position Sappi to be future-fit, our task is to meet the changing needs of every Sappi employee within a diverse, inclusive, safe workplace where they can develop their full personal and career potential. We recognise that our wellbeing and financial prosperity are inextricably linked to our employees and the communities in which we operate.

Important topics for stakeholder

  • A safe workplace
  • Fair working conditions and respect for human rights
  • Recognition
  • Inclusive culture
  • Open communications
  • Opportunities for growth, training, development
  • Grievance mechanisms
  • Comprehensive health and wellbeing service.

Challenges for value creation

  • Difficult geoeconomic environment potentially impacting employee morale
  • Recruitment and retention of key skills
  • Reluctance of younger generations to take up employment in the industry
  • Loss of institutional memory as older employees retire.

Opportunities for value creation

  • Open, regular communications on Sappi's strategic direction enables our people to contribute more positively to the business as well as their personal and career development
  • A diverse workforce enhances our ability to service global markets and promotes a culture of inclusivity
  • An increased commitment to safety delivers benefits at personal, team and operational levels
  • By living up to our purpose, we become a more attractive employer, particularly to Millennials and Gen-Zs
  • By establishing an ethical culture in which corporate citizenship is promoted, we ensure the ongoing viability of our business, enhance reputation and become an employer of choice
  • SSA's employee wellbeing programme focuses on financial wellness, aiming to foster savings, offer financial management training, and promote continuous engagement with independent financial advisers and with the retirement benefits team. Behavioural change typically takes an average of five years, so the programme is continuously monitored, adapted and refined to support every employee's personal development.

Unions

Unions

Self-assessment of quality of relationships: Satisfactory

Why we engage

A workplace where people feel they have been heard and in which they can make a meaningful contribution enhances trust, helps to drive our safety-first culture and enhances overall efficiency, productivity and stability. Our constructive relationships with our employees and their representatives are based on mutual respect and understanding.

Important topics for stakeholder

  • Freedom of association, collective bargaining and disciplined behaviour
  • Safety and wellness initiatives
  • Remuneration, working hours and other conditions of employment
  • Grievance mechanisms
  • Engagement on company's strategy and long-term growth.

Challenges for value creation

  • Multi-union landscapes add to complexities in the labour environment
  • Lack of employee understanding relative to appropriate practices regarding wages and benefits
  • Lack of real-time visibility or performance against key performance indicators.

Opportunities for value creation

  • Constructive employee/management relations enable us to resolve new and difficult labour issues as they develop
  • When employees understand strategic direction and operating context, they are more likely to be more engaged with Sappi, leading to positive benefits all round
  • Idea generation as a collective to enhance productivity and safety performance building a sustainable and resilient organisation.

Customers

Customers

Self-assessment of quality of relationships: Satisfactory

Why we engage

The more closely we engage and collaborate with our customers, the more likely we are to understand and respond to their evolving needs by offering relevant solutions in the form of sustainable and practical products and services. This partnership approach builds the loyalty and long-term relationships that enable us to thrive.

Important topics for stakeholder

  • Product quality, quality consistency, high runnability for maximised productivity, affordability while maintaining other necessary qualities
  • Product innovation tailored to customer requirements
  • Open, two-way dialogue with customers
  • Flexibility in operations to quickly adapt to and anticipate customer needs
  • Relevant proactive communications and updates (eg via supplier newsletters, websites, trade magazines)
  • Competent service and support, including responsiveness, proper consideration of customer concerns, access to direct contact person
  • Sustainable products that meet changing consumer and regulatory demands (including avoidance of harmful chemicals, responsible management of mills, renewable energy, waste reduction, recycling promotion)
  • Environmental certification, compliance, sustainable wood sourcing and responsible, ethical suppliers
  • Carbon footprint.

Opportunities for value creation

  • There is upward momentum and significant opportunities for value creation in the dissolving wood pulp value chain. Suppliers and brand owners are open to new solutions to improve traceability, to design for circularity and to collaborate more closely
  • AI and state-of-the-art technologies continue to play an increasingly important role in delivering data-driven customer centricity, driving positive sustainable outcomes, and enabling Sappi to minimise its environmental impact in areas where it matters most.

Challenge for value creation

  • Fluctuating consumer sentiment and legislative changes continue to impact the production and market dynamics of packaging and speciality papers, as well as structural shifts in demand for graphic papers
  • Depressed economic conditions and trade tensions and tariffs which disrupt traditional trade flows.

Communities and neighbours

Communities and neighbours

Self-assessment of quality of relationships: Satisfactory

Why we engage

Recognising that we are part of the communities beyond our fence lines and that their prosperity and wellbeing are linked to our own, we strive to make a purpose-driven, meaningful contribution towards the wellbeing and development of our neighbouring communities. We work to create positive social impact by jointly identifying and leveraging opportunities, thereby demonstrating our commitment to transparency and collaboration.

Community engagement meetings take various formats in our mills in the regions where they are situated. These range from broad liaison forums for business, local government and communities to legally mandated environmental forums that form part of the licensing conditions of mills. In South Africa, there are local farmer and community forums related to our forestry communities.

Important topics for stakeholder

  • Addressing fundamental community needs in South Africa eg literacy, numeracy, digital skills for individuals' future competitiveness
  • Practical solutions that address socioeconomic issues whilst being environmentally sustainable
  • Sound and air emissions management around mills
  • Job creation, skills and enterprise development (especially in South Africa)
  • Environmental and climate protection, so communities can continue enjoying nature
  • Long-term, holistic, locally driven growth of communities
  • Fostering diversity, inclusion and women empowerment across communities.

Challenges for value creation

  • Economic pressures on business investments
  • Dynamic geopolitical external risks can be destabilising to communities and shift focus away from local and environmental projects.

Opportunities for value creation

  • Strengthen collaboration with authorities' local development plans to tackle most pressing community needs (including job creation, and income generation that fosters local economic development in South Africa)
  • Scale up and broaden impact of projects, and continue to enhance the tracking and feedback mechanisms
  • Empower communities and employees to capitalise on opportunities that ensure the long-term growth and resilience of local communities
  • 61% of South Africans believe partnerships between business and government can lead to more trustworthy management of technology-led changes, ultimately propelling South Africa's progress and growth
  • Active participation in industry bodies and communities helps strengthen delivery of Forestry Sector Master Plan and collaboration with SA government in the Public Private Growth Initiative
  • SSA's enterprise and supplier development programme already demonstrated impact on-the-ground and can be springboard for stronger strategic partnerships with diverse stakeholders who provide financial and nonfinancial support to SMEs.

Industry bodies and NGOs

Industry bodies and NGOs

Self-assessment of quality of relationships: Satisfactory

Why we engage

We partner with industry and business bodies to provide input on issues and regulations that affect, and are relevant to our businesses and industries. We also support and partner with industry initiatives aimed at promoting the use of our products and the overall sustainability of our industry.

An important element of our strategy for achieving our business objectives is to enhance and support collaboration across the forest-based sector to enhance responsible forestry and promote forest certification. Our aim is to be present in multi-stakeholder conversations, support effective advocacy with policymakers and government leaders, and support supply chain initiatives. Close engagement is maintained through the industry organisations CEPI (Confederation of European Paper Industries) AF&PA (American Forest and Paper Association), PAMSA (Paper Manufacturers Association of South Africa) and FSA (Forestry South Africa).

Important topics for stakeholder

  • Accountability and governance
  • Decarbonisation and net zero
  • Tangible progress and funding for biodiversity conservation and regeneration
  • Open dialogue, knowledge sharing and collaboration with public and private sector for nature positive outcomes
  • Legislative and regulatory certainty
  • Robust forestry management that improves long-term resilience of trees amid climate change
  • Critical cross-industry action on deforestation, and water management.

Opportunity for value creation

  • There is ample opportunity for Sappi to continue strengthening its voice and demonstrating its sustainable leadership.

Challenge for value creation

  • It is important to foster robust platforms for nuanced, transparent discussions to encourage value-driven collaboration and innovation across business and NGO communities towards unified, nature-positive goals.

Investors

Investors

Self-assessment of quality of relationships: Satisfactory

Why we engage

Our aim is to provide investors (shareholders and bondholders) and analysts with transparent, timely, relevant communication that provides them with an understanding of our industry and our performance, as well as our plans to achieve our growth ambitions, thereby facilitating informed decisions.

Important topics for stakeholder

  • Strategy, vision, financial performance and measures to address future market dynamics
  • Governance, remuneration
  • ESG disclosure
  • Financial impact of pertinent risks and opportunities
  • Anti-corruption and ethical business conduct
  • Future-oriented measures, investments, and innovations in response to changing market demands and regulations
  • Measures to strengthen diversity and inclusion.

Opportunities for value creation

  • Understanding of and commitment to our strategic direction
  • Enhanced reputation
  • Greater investment confidence
  • Easier financing.

Challenge for value creation

  • Uncertainties stemming from legislative and regulatory ambiguity.

Government and regulatory bodies

Government and regulatory bodies

Self-assessment of quality of relationships: Satisfactory

Why we engage

Dialogue with members of governments and regulatory authorities is an opportunity for all stakeholders involved to better understand all aspects of the issues at hand. We work to ensure that our position on a broad range of priority issues is understood by politicians, decision-makers, opinion formers and other role-players in the regions where we operate. This approach supports a policy and legislative environment that helps us achieve our business objectives, as well as enhance our reputation and brand. In addition to direct contact, we also work through a variety of industry groups and associations as described below.

Important topics for stakeholder

  • Climate change and sustainability-related regulations
  • Regulation of operations through licences and permits
  • Implementation and support of government policies on local development, supplier development, employee and contract wellbeing.

Opportunity for value creation

  • Active participation in oversight committees help build structures that assist in delivery of sector plans and helps focus governance structures to hold parties accountable for delivery.

Challenges for value creation

  • Policies which take neither our high use of biobased energy into account nor recognise the important carbon sequestration role played by the sustainably managed forests and plantations from which we source woodfibre
  • Legislative and regulatory uncertainties impact speed of decision-making and investment, as well as the way forward for industry and customers (in South Africa, this relates to carbon budgeting, carbon credit system, air quality and how climate change impacts are considered in environmental authorisations)
  • Administrative and licensing delays.

Suppliers

Suppliers

Self-assessment of quality of relationships: Satisfactory

Why we engage

Our suppliers are a core aspect of our business. We aim to establish mutually respectful, value-based relationships with them and encourage them to share our approach to investing in and searching for innovative ways to leave the planet better than we found it and making a purpose-driven and meaningful contribution towards the wellbeing and development of employees and our communities.

Important topics for stakeholder

  • Efficient, transparent tender process
  • Flexible support for small, medium, local enterprises
  • Local procurement
  • Secure, long-term contracts
  • Supplier diversity
  • Capacity building and resource support
  • Constructive engagement across the value chain.

Opportunity for value creation

  • To support local economic development initiatives and emerging contractor development, SSA continues to leverage the enterprise and supplier development programme by focusing on local supplier development via direct/indirect contracting. To ensure the programme's success, local procurement and recruitment is built into the businesses' policies and are incorporated into the procurement contracting processes
  • Ongoing appetite to continue co-developing products and optimising packaging and transportation alongside our suppliers.

Challenge for value creation

  • For our engagement with enterprises and suppliers, it is critical to ensure local SMEs can overcome regulatory and operational challenges, so that they can continue to grow and scale up.

Media

Media

Self-assessment of quality of relationships: Satisfactory

Why we engage

We maintain an open relationship with the media.

We continue to update the media on our belief that it is our responsibility to use the full potential of each tree we harvest. We engage with civil society organisations on issues of mutual interest and belong to key organisations relevant to our operations. We engage with various civil society groups on our societal and development impact.

Important topics for stakeholder

  • Understanding of how Sappi's strategy and key initiatives contribute to its target stakeholders and communities
  • Direct engagement with Sappi's leaders on their vision and perspectives on external developments.

Opportunities for value creation

  • Deepen media relations and educate stakeholders on data-driven nuances behind complex topics
  • More productive collaboration on advancing the debate on important topics, activating a wide variety of policy and industry-focused voices.

Challenge for value creation

  • Misconceptions on the industry's sustainability progress, occasionally based on isolated cases, can detract from the willingness to better understand the support that Sappi and other companies need to continue investing and innovating towards more positive, sustainable outcomes.

Research institutes and academia

Research institutes and academia

Self-assessment of quality of relationships: Satisfactory

Why we engage

Collaborating and engaging with research institutes and academia enables Sappi to contribute to broader scientific advancement, the industry's ability to drive future-oriented net positive sustainable outcomes, and Sappi's own innovative process as it continues exploring long-term and emerging opportunities.

Important topics for stakeholder

  • Ongoing funding and support for research projects and programmes
  • Enhanced visibility on how scientific, data-driven research drives positive business, socioeconomic and environmental outcomes
  • Partnerships and best practices sharing.

Opportunity for value creation

  • There is ample opportunity, when it comes to topics of common interest that could form the basis of constructive programmes and focus areas of credible research.

Challenge for value creation

  • Budget constraints to fund programmes to be able to direct the work; expert capacity to provide oversight.

Our key memberships and commitments

Sappi Limited
Name of organisation   Focus
African Business Leaders Coalition In the build-up to COP27 in Egypt, the UNGC launched the African Business Leaders Coalition, to advance Africa's sustainable growth, prosperity and development by mobilising a coalition of Africa's business leaders to engage on the continent's most pressing issues as an organised, innovative, forward-looking principles based and unified voice. Our group CEO joined 56 other business leaders from African companies and signed The Africa Business Leaders' Climate statement, ensuring that African business had a collective voice to contribute to a positive outcome.
Business for Nature
#MakeitMandatory
We signed up to this campaign, which calls on all large businesses and financial institutions to assess and disclose their impacts and dependencies on biodiversity.
Business Leadership
South Africa (BLSA)
BLSA promotes engagement between South Africa's business leaders and key players in South African society, including government, civil society and labour, to exchange ideas in our national interest and to create effective dialogue.
EcoVadis We assess the sustainability performance of our suppliers through proactive ratings and evaluations using EcoVadis methodology – under the EcoVadis banner, we have been submitting our own sustainability performance to our customers for many years now. In FY2025, Sappi again achieved highest platinum rating in Europe and North America (seventh consecutive year for both operating regions) and a gold rating in Southern Africa.
Ethics Institute of SA As we are headquartered and listed in South Africa, we belong to this institute.
Forest Stewardship Council™
(FSC™)
Both SNA and SSA belong to this international, non-governmental organisation dedicated to promoting responsible management of the world's forests.
National Economic
Development and Labour
Council (Nedlac)
Sappi is an active participant in the Nedlac Companies Amendment Bill Task Team where representatives of labour, government and business meet to discuss and seek consensus on the major amendments proposed to the current South African Companies Act and governance codes as well as changes related to social and ethics board committees.
Paris Pledge for Action We signed this pledge in 2015 to add our voice to global calls to limit global temperature rise to well below 2°C – and pursue efforts to limit the increase to 1.5°C.
Programme for the
Endorsement of Forest
Certification (PEFC)
Sappi is an International Stakeholder Member of PEFC, an independent, global, non-profit, non-governmental organisation, which promotes sustainably managed forests through independent third-party certification.
Cascale (formerly Sustainable Apparel Coalition) A global, non-profit alliance of over 300 leading consumer goods brands, retailers, manufacturers, sourcing agents, service providers, trade associations, NGOs and academic institutions. Our members represent every link of the global value chain for apparel, footwear, and textiles; home furnishings; sporting and outdoor goods; bags and luggage. We use their sustainability measurement suit of tools, the Higg Index, to evaluate materials, products, facilities, and processes based on environmental performance, social labour practices, and product design choices).
Technical Association of the Pulp and Paper Industry An international NGO of about 14,000 member engineers, scientists, managers, academics and others involved in the areas of pulp and paper.
The Textile Exchange (TE) and TE man-made cellulosic fibre roundtable and climate sub-committee The TE launched their Climate+ Strategy in 2019, with a goal to reduce GHG emissions in the textile value chain by 45% by 2030, while addressing other climate-related impact areas, like water, biodiversity and soil health. Sappi was an advisory partner in the development of the TE's biodiversity benchmarking module and participated in the pilot launch of the tool. We also participate in the cellulosic roundtable and climate sub-committee.
World Business Council for Sustainable Development (WBCSD) The organisation has three imperatives; climate, nature and equity. The Forest Solutions Group (FSG) is a sector-specific working group under the WBCSD umbrella. Sappi is an active participant in the FSG, has contributed to the development of the net-zero and nature-positive roadmaps for the forest sector and is one of the co-leads for the equity roadmap which is in progress.
Sappi Europe
Name of organisation   Focus
Biobased Industries Consortium Covers the entire biobased ecosystem and brings together players from different industrial sectors and disciplines. One of the consortium's aims is to improve access to finance and the investment climate in Europe.
CELAB (Circular Economy for Labels) coalition Aims to create a sustainable circular economy for self-adhesive labels throughout the entire supply chain. The initiative aims to develop a sustainable and circular business model for more than 75% of the matrices and release liners used in Europe by 2025.
Confederation of European
Paper Industries (CEPI)
The European association representing the pulp and paper industry.
4evergreen Alliance A cross-industry alliance dedicated to perfecting the circularity of fibre-based packaging.
Intergraf A trade association promoting and protecting the interests of the graphic industry at European level.
The Alliance of Energy Intensive Industries Represents a broad grouping of industries who participate in policy discussions such as the EU Green Deal.
The Forests Dialogue Provides international leaders in the forest sector with an ongoing, multi-stakeholder dialogue (MSD) platform and process focused on developing mutual trust, a shared understanding, and collaborative solutions to challenges in achieving sustainable forest management and forest conservation around the world.

Other memberships include BioChem Europe, Eurograph, European Joint Undertaking on Biobased Industries, Print Power.

Sappi North America
Name of organisation   Focus
Alliance for Pulp and Paper Technology Innovation APPTI is an industry-led consortium that promotes development of advanced manufacturing technologies for the pulp and paper industry.
American Forests and Paper Association (AF&PA) The national trade association of the paper and wood products industry.
Federal Forest Resource Coalition Comprises companies and regional trade associations whose members harvest and manufacture wood products, paper and renewable energy from federal timber resources.
Sustainable Forestry Initiative® (SFI®) Implementation Committees (Maine, Minnesota, Wisconsin and Michigan) Committees work with local, forestry, and professional associations, universities, government agencies, landowner groups, conservation groups and many others to promote SFI® standards to broaden the practice of responsible forestry and achieve on-the-ground progress.
Maine Forest Products Council The Maine Forest Products Council has been the voice of Maine's forest economy since 1961, uniting landowners, loggers, truckers, mills, foresters, and allied professionals to keep the Maine woods a viable, sustainable resource. Through convening, education, and strong representation at the Maine Legislature and in Washington DC, MFPC advances policies and collaboration that support responsible forestry and the communities it sustains.
Minnesota Forest Resources Council Develops policy recommendations and encourages the adoption of sustainable forest management policies and practices. Council members represent a wide range of forest resource interests and hold public meetings every second month to discuss key issues.
University of Maine Pulp and Paper Foundation Active internship programme and industry advocacy.
University of Minnesota Sustainable Forests Education Cooperative A forestry education cooperative offering continuing education opportunities for natural resource professionals.

Other memberships include American BioFuels Association, American Forest Foundation, Biorenewable Deployment Consortium, Forest Products Working Group, Forest Resources Association, Forest Stewardship Council™ (FSC™), FRA Lakes States Policy Committee, Great Lakes Timber Professionals Association, Maine Forest Products Council, Maine Cooperative Forest Research Unit, Maine Tree Foundation, Maine SFI® Implementation Committee (ME SIC), Maine Tree Foundation, ME American Tree Farm System (ATFS) Chapter, Maine Woodland Owners, Michigan Forest Products Council, Minnesota Forest Industries, Minnesota Timber Producers Association, MN SFI® Implementation Committee (MN SIC), MN ATFS, New Hampshire SFI® Implementation Committee (NH SIC), NH Timberland Owners Association, Paper and Packing Board, Paperboard Packaging Council , Pulp and Paper Products Council, Quebec SFI® Implementation Committee (QC SIC), Sustainable Packaging Coalition, University of Maine Paper Surface Science Consortia, VT SIC, Federal Forest Resources Coalition (FFRC), Federal Timber Purchasers Committee (FTPC), Wood Fiber Employee Joint Legislative Council, Great Lakes Timber Professionals, Minnesota Logger Education Program (MLEP), MI SFI® Implementation Committee (MI SIC), MI ATFS, WI SFI® Implementation Committee (WI SIC), FSC™-US Membership.

Sappi Southern Africa
Name of organisation   Focus
Business for South Africa (B4SA) B4SA is an alliance of business leaders working with the SA government and other social partners focused on mobilising business resources and capacity to work alongside and in support of government to address bottlenecks impacting the country's socioeconomic development.
Business Unity South Africa (BUSA) BUSA structures its work through two policy committees – a Social Policy Committee and an Economic and Trade Policy Committee. All deliberation on policy is considered through the policy committees. Sappi contributes through various committees influencing government policymaking.
Forestry South Africa Forestry South Africa represents 13 corporate forestry companies, approximately 1,100 commercial timber farmers and some 20,000 small-scale growers. Collectively, these growers own or control no less than 93% of the country's total plantation area of 1.2 million hectares.
National Business Initiative (NBI) An independent, business movement of nearly 100 South African and multinational companies committed to the vision of a thriving society and working with members to build their capacity for change and to create investment opportunities for them.
Paper Manufacturers Association of South Africa (PAMSA) Responsible for the pre-competitive legislative, education, environment, research and recycling interests of the pulp, paper, board and tissue sector in South Africa.
South African National Biodiversity Institute (SANBI) Tasked with research and dissemination of information on biodiversity, and legally mandated to contribute to the management of SA's biodiversity resources.
WWF-SA Works with business to generate collective action, stimulate innovation and mobilise resources for shared value and systems change (See here for details of our Water Stewardship partnership with WWF-SA).

Other memberships include Birdlife SA, Fibre Circle, Fibre Processing and Manufacturing Skills Education and Training Authority, FSC™, Manufacturing Circle, Packaging SA, Recycle Paper ZA, South African Chamber of Commerce and Industry and local chambers of commerce and industry.

Sappi Forests (SF)

Sappi Forests' memberships are focused on mitigating pests and disease and promoting sustainability of our plantations: