The pillars of the report: sharing the group’s environmental practices and publicly communicating our commitment to reaching new goals.

Lecta is a company firmly committed to sustainability that views its business activity as being inextricably linked to an attitude that is respectful of both the environment and society.

One of the guiding principals of Lecta’s environmental policy is transparent and regular communication of its environmental practices. The publication of the “2010 Environmental Report: Challenges 2011/2012” underpins this transparency, and reflects Lecta’s commitment to demonstrate to our partners that they may have the utmost confidence and trust in the sustainable nature of our activity.

The latest Environmental Report draws together the efforts made in recent years by the Group’s member companies – Condat, Cartiere del Garda and Torraspapel – while also detailing the commitments we have made that constitute our challenges for the immediate future.

In order to validate the Group’s desire to be transparent, committed and responsible in communicating its environmental performance, the environmental data included in the report have been evaluated and verified by an independent organization, as stated in the appendix.

Lecta is one Europe’s largest manufacturers of coated woodfree paper (CWF), with a production capacity of more than 1.4 million tons, making it the market leader in Southern Europe (Spain, Portugal, France and Italy). In addition to manufacturing coated woodfree paper at its manufacturing sites in Spain, Italy and France, Lecta produces 330,000 tons of diverse specialty and base papers in Spain, with a total production capacity of nearly 2 million tons of coated paper, pulp, specialty papers and base paper.

Over the last five years, Lecta has invested close to 90 million euros in environmental projects aimed at improving energy efficiency in production processes and implementing modern CHP (cogeneration) plants; reducing CO2 emissions by increasing control points, upgrading and modernizing equipment, and replacing fuel oil with other cleaner fuels;  achieving a 90% reduction of odor-producing gases from the pulp mill in Zaragoza; attaining the most rigorous environmental certifications – ISO 14001, EMAS, PEFC™, FSC® and UNI CEI EN 16001 –; and improving waste management in order to minimize the amount of waste sent to disposal sites and the emissions produced therein.

Lecta’s new Environmental Report is available in four languages: English, Spanish, French and Italian. For the full report in pdf, consult the websites www.lecta.com, www.torraspapel.com, www.condat-pap.com and www.gardacartiere.com.