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Lenzing

Products: Lyocell, VSF / Rayon

Risk Status
No Known High Risk
Next Gen Solutions
Next Gen
Chemical Management (out of 8)
7
Hot Button Score (out of 40)
33 =
中文

Risk of sourcing from Ancient and Endangered Forests

No Known High Risk

In 2023, Lenzing published its third CanopyStyle Audit, which confirmed that new suppliers were added, increasing the potential risk of sourcing forest fibre from Ancient and Endangered Forests or other controversial sources. However, the company worked proactively with Canopy to collect information, as well as shift some sourcing, and risk has largely been addressed.  

Lenzing’s new mill in Brazil — LD Celulose — sources FSC-certified plantation fibre, and does not contain any recently converted Ancient and Endangered Forests. The mill is able to provide FSC 100% pulp, the first dissolving pulp to do so.

Areas where the company is showing leadership

  • Opened a mill in Brazil that produces FSC 100% dissolving pulp — this is industry-leading, as most mills produce FSC Mix (which contains a mix of FSC certified and non-certified fibres).
  • Continues to do due diligence on suppliers and shares this information with Canopy.
  • Has traceability systems in place to allow customers to track from MMCF fibre to garment.
  • Has called on signatories to the Convention on Biological Diversity (CBD) to develop the regulatory mechanisms necessary to ensure that the Convention’s goals for nature protection are prioritized.
  • Ongoing support for restoration and conservation projects in Austria, Albania, and Brazil, including financial support.
  • Has a goal of reaching net zero GHG emissions by 2050.
  • Created the first commercially-available lyocell fibre containing 30% recycled pre-consumer content-based cotton waste, with up to 10% post-consumer content. In 2023-4, it removed its lyocell (Tencel) Next Gen product offerings due to feedstock supply issues but expanded into viscose (Ecovero).
  • Has major partnership with Sodra Once More to create up to 60,000 tonnes of product with 50% recycled cotton and 50% wood pulp.
  • Lenzing contributed to a sign-on letter calling for governments to support enabling conditions for the scale up of Next Generation Solutions. 

Key Improvements Required

  • Continue to invest in research and development efforts to develop and significantly scale the use of Next Generation Solutions in order to reduce impacts on forests.
  • Continue to procure higher volumes of FSC 100% or FSC Mix certified inputs, especially in central Europe.
  • Continue to proactively use ForestMapper and complementary guidance to avoid sourcing from Ancient and Endangered Forests.

Facilities

Lenzing produces a viscose fibre with 20% to 30% pre- and post-consumer recycled cotton called REFIBRA™ and can produce on demand in response to brand uptake.

The company owns nine mills: three viscose mills, four lyocell mills, and two dissolving pulp mills. Lenzing has built a new dissolving pulp plant in Brazil, jointly with Dexco,  that has a capacity of 500,000 tonnes of viscose fibre per year.

Lenzing’s mills include:                                                      

  • Purwakarta  PT. South Pacific Viscose, Purwakarta, West Java, Indonesia. Capacity of 323,000 tonnes of viscose fibre.
  • Prachinburi, Sri Maha Phot District, Prachin Buri Province, Thailand. 100,000 tonnes of lyocell.
  • Lenzing Nanjing (100% ownership), Nanjing, Jiangsu, China. Capacity of 178,000 tonnes of viscose fibre.
  • Lenzing, Vocklabruck, Austria. Capacity of 284,000 tonnes of viscose and modal.
  • Lenzing, Vocklabruck, Austria. Capacity of 74,000 tonnes of Lyocell (Tencel™, Veocel™).
    • Lenzing City, Vocklabruck, Austria. Capacity of 320,000 tonnes of dissolving pulp.
  • Heiligenkreuz, Baden, Austria. Capacity 90,000 tonnes of lyocell (TENCEL™, VEOCEL™).
  • Grimsby, Lincolnshire, UK. Capacity of 45,000 tonnes of lyocell (TENCEL™, VEOCEL™).
  • Mobile, Axis, Alabama, USA. Capacity of 51,000 tonnes of lyocell (TENCEL™, VEOCEL™).
  • Paskov, Frydek-Mistek, Czech Republic. Capacity of 285,000 tonnes of dissolving pulp.   
  • Indianópolis, Minas Gerais, Brazil.  Capacity of 500,000 tonnes of dissolving pulp.

Lenzing has three VSF facilities and all of these have been registered on the ZDHC platform. Two of these facilities have achieved progressive levels in all three criteria related to chemical management: chemical recovery, wastewater discharge, and air emissions. The Indonesian facility has not been assessed for chemical recovery or air emissions as yet.

POLICYAUDIT REPORTLIST OF SUPPLIER

More information

Hot Button Score

33 =

  1. Completion of CanopyStyle Third-Party Verification Audits

    1. Conducts Audits 2/2
    2. Audits published and results acted on2/2
    3. Audit risk results1.5/2

  2. Contribution to Conservation Legacies

    1. Promotes Ancient and Endangered Forest conservation2/2
    2. Supports conservation targets 1/1
    3. Influences supply chain and decision makers1.5/2
    4. Contributes to legislated protection0.5/2
    5. Extra responsibility: additional support for conservation1.5/2

  3. Innovation via New Alternative Fibres

    1. Advocates for Next Gen 1/1
    2. Invests in R&D1/1
    3. Has a commercial-scale product 2/2
    4. Publishes targets and timelines2/2
    5. Uses Next Gen pulp0.5/1
    6. Proportional contribution2/2
    7. Implementing ambitious scale-up0/2

  4. Adoption of Robust Forest Sourcing Policy

    1. Has a policy2/2
    2. Policy aligns with CanopyStyle2/2

  5. Traceability & Transparency

    1. Has track and trace systems1/1
    2. Publishes list of suppliers2/2
    3. Conducts due diligence in sourcing1.5/2

  6. Leaders in Supply Chain Shifts

    1. Is responsive and proactive0.5/1
    2. Acts on FSC preference 1/1
    3. Supports ForestMapper1/1
    4. Addresses risk1.5/2

  7. Associated with High Risk of Sourcing from Ancient and Endangered Forests and other Controversial Sources

    1. High risk sourcing0/-5

More information

Sustainable Chemical Management

7

  1. Participation in ZDHC

    The company is an active participant in ZDHC, where all of their viscose staple fibre and modal staple fibre facilities have joined the ZDHC Supplier Platform and have access to the MMCF Module.2/2

  2. Chemical Recovery

    All of the company’s MMCF viscose staple fibre and modal staple fibre facilities have reached at least the Progressive level in their chemical recovery parameters and limit value, according to Chapter 1: ZDHC MMCF Responsible Fibre Production Guidelines V2.21.5/2

  3. Wastewater

    All of the company’s MMCF viscose staple fibre and modal staple fibre facilities have reached at least the Progressive level in their wastewater discharge parameters and limit values, according to Chapter 2: ZDHC MMCF Wastewater Guidelines V2.22/2

  4. Air Emissions

    All of the company’s viscose staple fibre and modal staple fibre facilities have reached at least the Progressive level in their hazardous chemicals’ air emissions parameters and limit values, according to Chapter 3: ZDHC MMCF Air Emissions Guidelines V2.21.5/2

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