The Hot Button Issue Report for 2017 – A Ranking of Global Viscose Producers

• Canadian environmental NGO, Canopy ranked Birla Cellulose as No. 1in its updated Hot Button Report.

Birla Cellulose of the Aditya Birla Group has been ranked Number one globally by the NGO Canopy,in its Hot Button Report for it work onthe conservation of ancient and endangered forests. Birla Cellulose has a ‘light green shirt’ ranking in the updated and expanded edition of the Hot Button Report released recently, which ranks eleven viscose rayon producers that represent 70% of global viscose production.

“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”, states Vinod Tiwari, Chief Operating Officer, Pulp Business, Birla Cellulose. He added “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”, added Rajeev Gopal, Chief Marketing Officer, Birla Cellulose.

Birla Cellulose has successfully completed CanopyStyle Audit and its current supply chains confirm that the risk of sourcing wood from ancient and endangered forests or other controversial sources is low risk, which is an industry leading result.

“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’s Executive Director and Founder Nicole Rycroft.

Canopy’s Hot Button Issue ranks the world’s top viscose producers on their progress on eliminating endangered forests from their supply. This year the ranking features five new criteria, including priorities on conservation solutions and transparency where Birla Cellulose has leader scores. The report is highly anticipated by over 105 global brands, retailers and designers that are part of the CanopyStyle initiative. It has become a “go-to” resource for fashion brands since first published in 2016.