BETHESDA, Md. (News release) -- Enviva, a leading renewable energy company specializing in wood bioenergy, announced the release of its first Corporate Sustainability Report. The report focuses on three key topics that define Enviva's mission: people, forests, and climate change. The report highlights progress Enviva has made to help landowners in the U.S. Southeast keep and use generational forestland, address climate change by displacing coal and drive positive, economic change in the communities where the company operates.

Enviva announces its first Corporate Sustainability Report that details its #sustainability journey from humble beginnings to a publicly-traded company fighting climate change, displacing coal and growing more trees #EnvivaCSR

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"I am excited to share our first-ever Corporate Sustainability Report that not only reflects the journey that began when we founded Enviva more than 16 years ago but also looks ahead at the opportunities that exist for our company to continue to fuel positive change," said John Keppler, Chairman and Chief Executive Officer of Enviva. "This milestone document for Enviva focuses on the three core commitments that guide our work - people, forests, and climate change - and how they drive our approach to sustainability in all aspects of our business. The choices we make today will have lasting impacts for generations to come, and we are privileged to continue to have the input of so many valued stakeholders to inform our choices and help ensure that good biomass protects forests, empowers communities, and puts us on the path to net-zero emissions."

"Publishing this Corporate Sustainability Report is an important, measurable first step to ensure Enviva continues to source responsibly, improve forest ecosystems, and produce a reliable, renewable, and dispatchable wood-based fuel that can be used globally to reduce carbon emissions," said Dr. Jennifer Jenkins, Vice President and Chief Sustainability Officer at Enviva. "As our 2020 report reveals, sustainability is essential to Enviva's core business. This report reflects the time, dedication, and commitment we have invested to better serve our customers, partners, and communities around the world."

Among the accomplishments reported in the Corporate Sustainability Report are the following:

Fighting Climate Change

• Reducing Greenhouse Gas Emissions: Enviva has displaced approximately 16 million metric tons of coal and eliminated 31 million metric tons of CO2 emissions globally. The reduction in CO2 emissions alone is the equivalent of the CO2 emissions of 8 coal-fired power plants in one year or more than 71 million barrels of oil.
• Driving Progress to Net-Zero: Enviva has a target to displace an additional 87 million metric tons of coal and eliminate an additional 172 million metric tons of CO2 emissions between 2020 and 2044.
• Leading the Industry in Controlling Emissions: Enviva is a leader in the wood products industry by comprehensively controlling emissions generated by our operations and using state-of-the-art industry-proven air emission controls to reduce emissions from our manufacturing process.

Empowering Our People and Communities

• Economic Investment: When planned investments in Alabama, Mississippi and South Carolina are complete, it is estimated that Enviva's footprint across the U.S. Southeast will support approximately 4,200 jobs and an annual economic impact of more than 2.7 billion dollars.
• Sustainable Forestry and Land Retention: Since 2013, Enviva partnered with the Sustainable Forestry and African American Land Retention Program, launched by the U.S. Endowment for Forest & Communities as well as the U.S. Forest Service and USDA Natural Resources Conservation Service. The program provides resources to empower all landowners with a focus on engaging and encouraging African American forest landowners to keep and use forestland that has been passed down to them for generations, helping families turn their land from a liability into an asset - providing both an income and a legacy for future generations.
• Ongoing Community Involvement: Enviva's positive community impact in the U.S. Southeast doesn't end with the economic development driven by the company's operations. Enviva provides significant support and investment of resources to local schools, colleges, first responders, and charitable organizations across a broad range of community programs focused on the rural U.S. Southeast.

Growing and Thriving Forests

• Keeping Forests as Forests: Enviva partnered with The Longleaf Alliance to help conserve rare and threatened species and ecosystems and to help restore longleaf pine, a critical species in the pine forest ecosystem in the U.S. Southeast, through its responsible wood sourcing.
• Supporting Forest Conservation: Enviva provided more than $1.9 million in grants through its Forest Conservation Fund, resulting in more than 24,000 acres of forestland conserved across the U.S. Southeast.
• Transparency in the Supply Chain: The deployment and evolution of Enviva's industry-leading Track & Trace® technology has been widely successful in effectively monitoring, tracking, and publicly reporting where all of Enviva's wood is sourced across the U.S. Southeast.

To view a digital version of Enviva's 2020 Corporate Sustainability Report, click here.