Suzano S.A. builds stronger relationships with communities by choosing INFLOR Sociall for their socio-environmental project management

Suzano S.A., a Brazilian pulp and paper company, is currently the largest global producer of eucalyptus pulp.

With its broad portfolio of renewable products and its wide production capacity, Suzano is present in the daily lives of more than two billion people worldwide— providing pulp, paper for printing and writing, specialty paper, sanitary products and diapers, packaging materials for a variety of industries, among many others.

Suzano has about 36,500 employees—inhouse and outsourced—and its manufacturing units are located in 7 Brazilian states (São Paulo, Bahia, Espírito Santo, Maranhão, Mato Grosso do Sul, Pará, and Ceará). The company also has a presence internationally, with commercial offices in five other countries.

“The basis of our good relationship with neighboring communities is based on frequent and transparent dialogue,” explained Terezinha Sagrillo Kirmse, Social Development Analyst at Suzano. “We work with socio-environmental projects in several communities in the regions where we are located, including urban, rural, and traditional populations.”

In its corporate human rights policy, Suzano has publicly assumed the responsibility to identify, mitigate, and prevent possible negative socio-environmental impacts of our activities on neighboring communities, as well as supporting the preservation of customs, natural resources, and the survival of traditional populations in our surroundings. 

Suzano has also assumed the commitment to expand its role in the value chain and in society through long-term goals that guide the path over the next ten years.

Among the company goals, two stand out that directly connect the evolution of Suzano’s relationship in its operating territories: to increase the Basic Education Development Index (IDEB) by 40% in priority relationship cities, and to remove 200,000 people from the condition of extreme poverty in their regions of operation. The target date to reach both goals is 2030.

According to Terezinha, the company uses INFLOR Sociall in its business units to keep the relationship / investment history with each stakeholder of the company centralized.

“Using Sociall’s Demands Module, we can manage the entire process of receiving requests and accepting socio-environmental projects, sponsorships, donations, and cooperations, helping us ensure compliance with the guidelines of the Social and Environmental Investment Policy and Donations in the process of analysis, approval, return to applicants and execution of demands.

We believe that one of the strongest advantages of utilizing the solution is the ability that different departments in the organization can have access and get involved in the process of deciding demands, generating systematic reports, and maintaining complete and updated records, including the documentation associated with each request received.”

Suzano has planning and monitoring systems and initiatives to identify, avoid and mitigate potential adverse impacts of the company’s activities, guaranteeing respect and dialogue with the communities in the ADA’s (areas directly affected – locations within the 3 km radius of the company’s areas and/or in locations on routes permanently used by Suzano’s operations). 

Among these initiatives, the “Socio-Environmental Aspects” and “Impacts Matrix” stand out, which defines the mitigating measures related to each type of impact. The “Operational Dialogue”, a good practice developed by Suzano, allows preliminary communication with interested parties (locations, isolated neighbors, city halls) before operations of greater intensity start. This way, everyone can jointly align mitigating measures and enable these interested parties to assess the effectiveness of such measures at the end of operations.

Terezinha also points out that with the Sociall’s Occurrences Module, it is possible to establish guidelines and procedures for receiving, registering, evaluating, responding, and monitoring occurrences from interested parties, related to the environmental, economic, and social aspects and impacts arising from the Suzano’s activities and products. Among the advantages of this module, she highlighted the Flow Parameterized by Classification, which allows the active involvement of operational areas in the analysis of occurrences, in addition to meeting the principles of forest certification, minimizing and mitigating the social risks associated with operations, and maintaining records of each occurrence and the actions taken to resolve them.

There is no doubt about the role of the private sector in building a more sustainable future. That’s why Suzano is very proud to invest more than 73 million Brazilian Reais (about 14 million US Dollars) in social investments (combined between Suzano and partners’ investment), mobilizing more than 130 professionals, and benefiting more than 12,700 families in 8 different states in Brazil.

About INFLOR Sociall

If your company or the institution you represent invests in social projects or is concerned with the relationship with your stakeholders, you can count on INFLOR Sociall to make this process less subjective and more manageable.

With INFLOR Sociall, you have access to all the information you need directly from the communities, to support you in controlling, analyzing and measuring private social investment.