Enviva unveils latest supply chain tracking data

Wood pellet giant Enviva has released its latest sustainability ‘Track & Trace’ sourcing data.

According to the US-headquarted company, the release of this data demonstrates the company’s ongoing commitment to a sustainable and transparent supply chain.

Enviva said that these data are a key tool used to measure, maintain and validate the company’s sustainability practices throughout the Southeastern US.

“Maintaining this level of transparency and in-depth understanding of our supply chain is at the center of our commitment to sustainability,” said John Keppler, chairman and CEO of Enviva.

He added: “With 18 months of Track & Trace data now available to the public, we continue to demonstrate to our customers, partners, investors and local communities that we’re sourcing the lowest-grade wood possible, while ensuring that the working forests in our supply area in the Southeastern US continue to thrive.”

Track & Trace is a proprietary data system that enables Enviva to monitor every truckload of wood the company procures from the forest throughout the entire supply chain process.

In a statement, Enviva said: “This innovative technology provides detailed insights into the wood’s unique characteristics – including origination – and demonstrates the company’s commitment to sustainable, transparent sourcing policies.

“This latest data set shows that Enviva sourced wood from 1,181 working forest harvests in 73 counties and in 5 Southeastern states over a six-month period ending in June 2017. The forests in the Southeast continue to grow and thrive, with the total amount of forested land in Enviva’s primary supply area increasing by 320,842 acres from 2011 through 2015, according to the U.S. Forest Service. Inventory on that land has grown by 10 percent during that time period and continues to increase as forests grow at a faster rate than they are harvested.”

Other findings include:

• Approximately 38% of Enviva’s wood came from pine and hardwood mixed forests, 31 percent from Southern yellow pine forests and 6 percent from upland hardwood forests. The wood sourced by Enviva consists of undersized or “understory” wood that was removed as part of a larger harvest; tops and limbs; brush; and “thinnings” that were removed to make additional room for planted pines to grow.
• Approximately 21% was sawdust, shavings or residuals from wood product manufacturing.
• Three percent came from working bottomland hardwood forests, also consisting of undersized or “understory” wood; and tops and limbs.
• Less than 1 percent came from arboricultural sources, such as landscaping and urban tree maintenance.
• Wood fiber harvested on these tracts came from forests that were an average of 37 years old.

 

According to Enviva, it “does not use high-quality wood that would otherwise be milled into furniture or construction materials. Additionally, Enviva does not source wood from independently identified bottomland forest ecosystems that demonstrate high conservation value attributes, or from any forest where the landowner plans to convert to a non-forest use”.

Before selling wood to Enviva, a supplier must provide detailed data on the specific forest tract being considered for harvest, including each individual tract’s precise geographic location, acreage, forest type, species mix, age and the share of wood from each harvest earmarked for Enviva versus other consumers.

Enviva does not accept any wood from a harvest without this information, and Enviva records the data and verifies the accuracy of its procedures through third-party audits.

“We are pleased, as always, to share these detailed data about our sourcing with all of our stakeholders. These data provide direct transparency about how we make purchasing decisions and demonstrate our commitment to sustainable sourcing policies,” said Jennifer Jenkins, Enviva’s chief sustainability officer.