Climate change is a major global challenge. The planet has been experiencing temperature increases, mainly due to anthropogenic actions promoting greenhouse gas emission (GHG). These impacts on natural ecosystems and communities and the development of economic activities are extensive.

The Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change (IPCC), in its report Climate Change and Land¹, describes that "all assessed modeled pathways that limit warming to 1.5°C or well below 2°C require land mitigation and land use change, with most including different combinations of reforestation, afforestation, reduced deforestation and bioenergy with high confidence."

Suzano has a significant forestry base, with a total area of approximately 2.8 million hectares, which includes eucalyptus plantations and one of the largest areas of privately protected native forests in Brazil (conservation and reforestation), with approximately 1.1 million hectares. For the coming years, we have strategies to expand into anthropized or degraded areas, increasing the vegetation cover. Conservation areas and eucalyptus plantations contribute directly to removing and storing carbon dioxide (CO₂).

We understand that acting to combat climate change is everyone's role, and the integrated operation of our business - which links our forests to the industrial units - places us as central players in advancing this agenda. Understanding the importance of effective measures in the short term, Suzano reaffirmed its commitment to removing more carbon from the atmosphere than it emits and announced that it is bringing forward by five years the target of eliminating 40 million tons of CO₂e from the atmosphere from 2030 to 2025. We remain committed to doing more than neutralizing direct and chain emissions. Our goal is to remove additional and significant amounts of carbon from the atmosphere, which is an extra and equally essential tool in addition to emission reductions to combat the climate crisis. 

Net carbon removal resulting from the balance between Scope 1 emissions (direct), Scope 2 (from electricity purchase), and Scope 3 (indirect emissions) and CO₂ removal through eucalyptus plantations and conservation areas.

Remove 40 million tons of carbon - from zero to 40 million by 2025

In 2024, we achieved a balance of 2,256,855 tons of carbon removed over the year, resulting in an accumulation of 29.4 million tons of CO₂ equivalent removed since 2020⁴. This result represents a 73.4% advance on the target.

The balance is the result of lower fossil emissions in scopes 1 and 3 (of the categories considered in this target) and a positive forest balance for removals, coming from the input of the base from previous years (plantations), acquisition of new areas, maintenance of the standing forest, and the corresponding harvest. In preservation and conservation areas, we continue to see an increase in removals due to the increase in area and evolution of the forests.

In 2024, we incorporated the carbon credits (VCUs) traded and/or retired in 2023 and 2024, discounting the value of total net removals (which is why the 2023 result changed slightly).

For 2025, we will continue to expand our forestry base, which aligns with our strategies for positioning ourselves in the pulp and bioproducts market. In addition, we will continue with our conservation and ecological restoration programs, which will result in increased removals over the years. It is important to note that the volume of removals needed to reach the target is 10.6 M tCO2, except the unfavorable water scenario experienced in Brazil in 2024.

In addition, as part of our commitment made in 2021 to the Business Ambition for 1.5°C and SBTi initiatives, we have submitted new GHG emission reduction and CO₂ removal targets for SBTi validation. The fossil emission targets are being approved, and the SBTi FLAG (Forest, Land Use & Agriculture Guidance) target is being interrupted by the suspension of the SBTI FLAG methodology for Timber & Wood.

Thus, we reaffirm our commitment to strengthening our ambitions through robust methodological approaches and accelerating our journey towards decarbonization and removing carbon from the atmosphere. In this sense, we will continue with this removal target until 2025, or until another recognized methodology is developed.