CALHOUN, Tenn. (News release) -- Employees of Resolute's Calhoun (Tennessee) pulp, paper and tissue mill have been recognized by the Tennessee Valley Authority (TVA) with a Carbon Reduction Award for their significant reductions in emission rates for 2016. A ceremony was held at the mill to mark the achievement. In receiving this award, Calhoun joins the TVA Leadership Circle 2018 alongside our Grenada (Mississippi) newsprint mill, which received the honor during a ceremony in August. The Leadership Circle recognizes TVA customers who have taken meaningful steps to significantly reduce their carbon emissions and is reserved for companies that achieve the lowest carbon emission rates in a given year.
"The increasing demand for lower-carbon products and processes drives us to identify opportunities to operate more efficiently and with less impact on our surrounding communities," said Yves Laflamme, president and chief executive officer. "The continuous effort by our employees at the Calhoun mill to exceed safety and environmental thresholds support our commitment to sustainability."
"Calhoun's management challenges all 550 employees to be mindful of the responsibility we have to the communities that surround us. Each employee is expected to work safely as well as meet or exceed expectations for environmental performance, and the recognition we're receiving from TVA is a credit to our team."
TVA launched a carbon accounting program in 2015 after Resolute and another industrial customer approached it seeking specific carbon emission data for use in operational planning and sustainability reporting. TVA now provides customers with specific, as-delivered carbon emission rates as a value-added service. Carbon emission reduction milestones are achieved when a company works with TVA to adjust the time of day it uses the most electricity.
"When we looked at the data, we saw companies who had made exceptional efforts to reduce carbon emissions and who, like TVA, care for the environment and are taking meaningful steps to reduce their carbon emissions each year," said Gary Harris, vice president of Industrial Marketing and Services at TVA. "We wanted to recognize those companies for their commitment to improving the environment."
