Ranked No. 1 in this year's Hot Button Ranking, Birla Cellulose of Aditya Birla Group has been accorded a 'dark green shirt' by the Canada-based environmental not-for-profit Canopy Planet Society in the latest Hot Button Report 2020.

Birla Cellulose, the pulp and fibre business of the Aditya Birla Group, has again emerged number 1 globally in Canopy's Hot Button Report 2020 for its continuous effort on the conservation of ancient and endangered forests. The top ranking in the environmental report reflects the company's relentless attempt to improve sustainable wood sourcing practices, conservation of forests, innovations in development of next generation fibre solutions and transparency across its value chain.

"For Birla Cellulose, protection of ancient and endangered forests is extremely important. We believe rich biodiversity, sustainable forestry practices, and advancing conservation solutions can help fight climate change. Our collaboration with Canopy has motivated us to continually better our own benchmarks year on year in each of the focussed areas", said Dilip Gaur, Business Director, Pulp and Fibre (Birla Cellulose) Aditya Birla Group & Managing Director, Grasim Industries Limited.

Along with the top ranking, Birla Cellulose has been accorded a 'dark green shirt' ranking, a first in the Hot Button Report 2020. A deeper shade of green ranking affirms better performance of the company in its implementation of its CanopyStyle commitments, with progress on next generation fibre solutions and the advancement of conservation in a critical landscape.

Canopy's Hot Button Ranking and Report, a flagship annual publication by Canopy, is the primary fibre sourcing analysis tool for the fashion sector. The report evaluates global man- made cellulosic fibre (MMCF) producers and ranks them based on their commitment to eliminate the use of ancient and endangered forests in viscose and other cellulosic fibres, giving preference to textiles made from innovative fibres.

Aditya Birla Group is proud to have invested substantially in conservation solutions at the threshold of 70 percent at identified forests, while maintaining socio economic values in the sourcing area. The report recognizes that Aditya Birla is a key stakeholder poised to use their significant influence to create socioeconomic and ecological certainty. The recently published CanopyStyle Audit has confirmed that the risk of sourcing wood from ancient and endangered forests or other controversial sources for Birla Cellulose remains low.

Birla Cellulose has a stringent wood sourcing policy:100 percent of its wood comes from controlled sources complying to FSC, SFI or PEFC Standards. All its sites are FSC CoC (Chain of Custody) certified. Providing forest to fashion transparency for sustainability-focussed brands in their value chain, Birla Cellulose's traceability platform GreenTrackTM is one of the most widely used platform in the industry.

Birla Cellulose's practice of sustainable forestry is demonstrated by the facts that the carbon sequestered due to net positive growth of its directly managed forests is more than the entire Scope 1 and 2 emissions of 12 global sites, based on an assessment carried out in 2019.

Currently, more than 320 global brands, with combined annual revenues of over USD$578 billion, are looking to source from producers rated as low risk in the Canopy Hot Button Report. With 72 percent of global MMCF suppliers voluntarily undergoing audits to confirm and address any risk of sourcing from ancient and endangered forests, MMCF producers are adapting sourcing practices, indicating that the industry is going through a positive transition towards a more sustainably sourced and produced fibre. Circular product Liva Reviva, produced using industrial cotton waste, has caught the imagination of leading brands and is showing fast pick up in the market.