Metsä Group plans to boost biodiversity on its land areas in Kemi, Finland. Covering more than 650 hectares, the designated site encompasses Metsä Group's mill area and other areas in the Kemi urban environment. Metsä Group's operations in Kemi include a bioproduct mill, currently under construction, and a paperboard mill. The company aims to increase regional biodiversity at all its mill locations across Europe, which number more than 20.
The goal is to modify land use on the Metsä Group Kemi site to improve the state of nature in the industrial environment. The special features of local nature will be taken into account in the project, and the living conditions of endangered species will be improved. Biodiversity in the area will be increased experimentally and by adopting new operating methods.
For example, more than 12 hectares of meadows and sunlit habitats will be added to the Kemi mill area. Only local vegetation will be used in establishing open habitats, and these habitats will be made suitable for endangered species. Various other approaches to increasing the biodiversity of industrial environments will also be tested on the mill site.
The biodiversity plans will also extend outside the mill site to land areas owned by Metsä Group that belong to the Kemi built environment. Residents use these areas for recreational purposes. New ways to increase biodiversity are being developed collaboratively with the town of Kemi.
Metsä Group's collaborative network will grow as the project progresses. One of the key partners is the Villi Vyöhyke association, a leading expert in the biodiversity of the built environment.
The Kemi pilot project is now underway. The various measures concerning other Metsä Group mills will be carried out gradually over the next few years, using the operating models developed in Kemi.
Metsä Group intends to make the mill areas' biodiversity plans part of the environmental reporting of mills. In the next few years, the company also plans to collaborate with its stakeholders to develop the plans for the built environment into internationally approved criteria and standards.
