CHILE – Last December Arauco was awarded the highest distinction in the “Energy Efficiency” category of the ranking produced by Chilean newspaper Pulso and its Sustainability Hub, which recognized the company for its contribution in the generation of energy from forest biomass and its contribution to the diversification of the energy matrix with clean, renewable energy.

The company participates in the Chilean electric sector with ten power plants fueled by forest biomass, which is renewable fuel provided by its sustainably managed plantations. The company has an installed capacity of 606 MW with which it meets the energy needs of its own industrial facilities and contribute 209 MW of surplus energy to the SIC, the country’s energy grid. This amount accounts for about 2% of the system’s total generation.

Five of Arauco’s cogeneration power plants are registered as greenhouse gas emission reduction projects under the Clean Development Mechanism of the Kyoto Protocol. The company annually reduces about 800,000 tonnes of CO2 equivalent, and therefore contributes to mitigating global climate change, which is one of the objectives of the Kyoto Protocol.

Matías Domeyko, Arauco’s CEO, said “This award is a responsibility and a reason for great satisfaction which drives us to keep working on sustainability issues with even greater determination and to become a better neighbor each day. At Arauco we’re certain that the only way to be sustainable is to make sure that our activity generates social and environmental value as well as business value”.