
Hans Sohlström
CEO of Stora Enso
Sustainable growth
Stora Enso, leading provider of renewable products in packaging, biomaterials, and wooden construction, and one of the largest private forest owners in the world, defines itself as a renewable materials company. And that it really is. In an era where the race towards a fossil-free future is intensifying, Stora Enso stands out with its bold vision and innovative but well-streamlined strategies.
Under the leadership of CEO Hans Sohlström, Stora Enso is focusing its strategy on wood-based innovations in renewable packaging, sustainable building solutions and advanced biomaterials innovation. However, the journey of new innovations from pilot projects to commercial scale production is fraught with challenges, from scaling up technology to navigating challenges of market entry hurdles. In this interview with AFRY, Hans Sohlström shares his views on how the company is navigating these complexities and what the future holds for wood-based innovations in the forest industry and beyond.
The future of wood-based solutions in decarbonisation
Driven by their purpose to replace fossil materials with renewable alternatives, Stora Enso is contributing to decarbonisation by promoting the use of renewable wood-based materials. They are convinced that anything produced from fossil materials can also be produced from wood.
“Stora Enso is committed to leading the transition to a more sustainable future by leveraging the potential of wood-based solutions in decarbonisation and promoting collaboration across the value chain. My vision for the future of wood-based solutions in decarbonisation is centred around the concept of the circular bioeconomy”, says Hans Sohlström.
By 2030, Stora Enso aims to reduce CO2 emissions by 50% from 2019 levels, with a reduction of roughly 40% (Scope 1 and 2 emissions) achieved by end 2023 . Their commitment extends beyond zero carbon emissions by 2040, towards becoming regenerative by 2050, meaning that they will transform from an emitter to a carbon sink. One concrete example of this potential can be seen along Stora Enso’s value chain, where the whole process from energy production to transportation to customers currently results in 6 million tonnes of CO2 emissions per year. This can be offset by making commercial forests act as carbon sinks, absorbing more than 4 million tonnes of CO2 per year, and by long-lived wood products, which can sequester almost 3 million tonnes per year. Added to this, the substitution impact of renewable materials is 13 million tonnes of CO2 per year, for example, replacing fossil-based packaging with a renewable alternative.
“As a forestry company and one of the largest private forest owners in the world, Stora Enso has the opportunity to play a significant role in carbon storage through sustainable forest management. Balancing the need for wood-based solutions and maintaining forests as carbon sinks, all while safeguarding biodiversity, is crucial. To ensure sustainable forest management, we have defined 15 biodiversity indicators that are constantly measured to track progress. Further to that, we are collaborating with the International Union for Conservation of Nature (IUCN) to develop commonly agreed and accepted biodiversity measurements and key performance indicators. This collaboration aims to ensure that biodiversity efforts are broadly accepted by NGOs, governments, and the industry.”
Strategy is about choices about where to play and how to win
“I see a balanced approach between our three main strategic areas - renewable packaging, sustainable building, and biomaterials innovation - as essential to driving our vision of a fossil-free future. Each of these areas plays a crucial role in our overall strategy, and we expect significant opportunities in all three.”
In the renewable packaging area, Stora Enso sees immediate and substantial growth potential. This is driven by rapidly increasing demand for sustainable packaging solutions, as consumers and businesses seek to reduce their environmental footprint. Innovative wood-based packaging materials offer a renewable and recyclable alternative to traditional fossil-based packaging, positioning Stora Enso well to capture this growing market. Growth in this sector can be seen in the renewable packaging material expansion project in Oulu, Finland, where AFRY is providing engineering services.
The tremendous potential of sustainable building is another area where there is significant opportunity for growth, with buildings accounting for 37% of global CO2 emissions and with less than 3% of all construction and building materials in Europe currently being wood-based. Wood as a construction material not only reduces CO2 emissions but also stores carbon throughout the lifetime of the building, as well as serving as a visible commitment to sustainable building practices and the future of environmentally friendly construction.
Biomaterials innovation represents a long-term opportunity across industries. At Stora Enso, this is exemplified by their development of renewable wood based anode materials for batteries. The demand for such innovations is closely tied to the energy transition, marked by the electrification of society and the growth of the battery industry. Additionally, their work on wood-based packaging foams and biochemicals offers promising avenues for replacing fossil-based materials with renewable alternatives.
Focus on chosen three strategic bio-based innovation areas
To crystallise its strategic focus, Stora Enso has narrowed down an innovation portfolio and chosen three strategic bio-based development areas to focus their full attention on: battery materials, wood-based packaging foams, and biochemicals.
“Strategy is about choices, about where to play and how to win – you cannot participate in every battle. We have narrowed down our innovation portfolio and chosen these three strategic bio-based innovation areas to focus on. Currently, I see that the biggest opportunities with new innovations lie in the development of battery materials. However, it is important to understand that we face multiple challenges in these innovation paths, and it can even be a 10-year-long road to grow from innovation to commercial production.”
The key challenges with new technologies, in scaling up from the pilot phase to a demonstration-scale unit, and ultimately to commercial-scale production, includes capital intensity and risks related to large investments. Concepts need to be proven and extremely well tested before making significant investments.
“One of the biggest challenges is that the target is constantly moving. The technology and market development requires us to continuously adapt and improve our product innovations to remain competitive now and in the future. This means that while innovating and developing new technologies, we must understand and prepare for future needs, as well as current market needs. For example, in today’s world lithium-ion batteries are used, but markets are already developing sodium-ion batteries, which have different requirements of our anode material.”
Stora Enso sees a smoother path from innovation towards commercial production through strong value chain collaboration. This includes working with architects, construction companies, and educational programmes to build the knowledge and skills required for wood construction. Additionally, regulatory support can accelerate development in all the areas of decarbonisation. Collaboration with research institutes, academic institutions, and other industry partners is also important in staying on top of technological advancements and market developments.
Transition towards clean energy and decarbonised operations
Stora Enso’s strategic approach to new, clean-energy transition solutions is focused on leveraging its strengths in renewable materials and sustainability. From an energy perspective, Stora Enso is currently 70% self-sufficient on clean energy by using bioenergy, combined with wind and solar power as well as its ownership of nuclear- and hydropower production.
Stora Enso sees significant potential for wind power development in using its own forests and land. Currently, they generate one terawatt-hour of wind power and aim to develop an additional 5 to 10 terawatt-hours of wind power by the 2030s. In addition, to make wind power even more sustainable, Stora Enso also produces wind power towers made of laminated veneer lumber (LVL), rendering the towers more renewable and recyclable. Wooden wind towers, including the blades, have already entered test operations, so this development is not far off. “Our strategy supports the energy transition, as our active development of battery materials will be a key element in energy storage systems development. In addition, of course, we constantly work on improving our energy efficiency. I would say that the best kWh is the kWh never used. So, reducing energy consumption by doing more with less is our target.”
The transition away from fossil fuels and fossil based materials is key to reducing global warming and complying with the Paris Agreement, with carbon capture and utilisation seen as one potential solution to reach this target. Biogenic CO2 emitted by the biobased industries can be captured and used to decarbonise other sectors by substituting fossil products or, for example, to producing e-fuels.
“Stora Enso started a biogenic carbon capture pilot plant at our Skutskär mill in Sweden some time ago with focus on capturing biogenic carbon and turning it into valuable products. The pilot phase is exploring what can be done with captured biogenic carbon and how it can be turned into valuable products. We are keen to see the opportunities and continue to investigate the developing scenario.”
Anything produced from fossil materials can also be produced from wood
Stora Enso's approach to circular economy principles is deeply integrated into its daily operations and innovative applications. Their vision for the future of wood-based solutions in decarbonisation is centred around the concept of circular bioeconomy
“I believe that anything produced from fossil materials can also be produced from wood and our purpose is to do good for people and the planet by replacing fossil materials with renewable products. To increase the ambition, we also focus on designing products that are recyclable, and our ambition is to have 100% recyclable products by 2030. Already today, 94% of Stora Enso's products are recyclable. To increase this ambition the goal is that by 2050, we want to ensure that 100% of our products are also recycled, not only recyclable.”

Did you know?
Stora Enso and AFRY have a strong cooperation, leveraging AFRY's global knowledge and expertise in renewable materials and renewable energy
By combining AFRY's vast skills, experience, foresight, and insight with Stora Enso's knowledge and capabilities, the two companies can find better, more sustainable, and innovative solutions for the future.

Renewable packaging
Stora Enso renewable packaging project in Oulu
Stora Enso is investing in a high-volume consumer board production line to meet the market demand, growing the production capacity at the company’s mill in Oulu, Finland. The rapid growth of the renewable packaging sector continues due to demographic changes and overall long-term economic growth. The increasing focus on sustainability, particularly in the consumer goods industry, is contributing to the wider adoption of fibre-based packaging solutions.
Stora Enso's renewable packaging materials production project in Oulu is a significant investment in the company's future. The project is a key part of Stora Enso's strategy to enhance its product offerings and improve sustainability through innovative production processes. The project involves converting the Oulu paper mill into a high-quality consumer board production facility. 28 This state-of-the-art consumer board line is designed to produce folding boxboard, which is one of the main products of Stora Enso packaging. The quality properties of the folding boxboard offer more for less, meaning better strength properties, folding properties, and bulk with less weight. This follows the light-weighting trend, offering better properties with less raw material and energy consumption.
AFRY has been supporting Stora Enso in this strategic project since the early development phases. In the implementation phase during 2022-2024, AFRY’s assignment included detail engineering services for balance of plant (BoP), a new wood handling line, a new bleached thermomechanical pulp line (BCTMP), and evaporation plants, modifications to the existing recovery boiler and causticising, a new biofuel boiler and fuel handling, a new non condensable gas (NCG) boiler, and the rebuild of an on-site storage and conversion.
Sustainable building solutions
Stora Enso’s new head office - a masterpiece of sustainable wood building
Stora Enso has opened its new head office, Katajanokan Laituri, in Helsinki, which is the largest mass timber building in Finland. This building showcases sustainable architecture and low-carbon construction using prefabricated mass timber elements. Completed in July 2024, it houses Stora Enso’s head office and a hotel, and is open to the public.
By building from wood, the before-use CO₂ emissions can be reduced by 35% compared to building in conventional concrete. In addition to having a lower carbon footprint than concrete, wood also stores carbon. No other commercially available building material can do that. The wooden elements used in Katajanokan Laituri captured 6,000 tonnes of carbon dioxide while the trees were growing. Now the wood will store the carbon in the building for at least the next 100 years. This means that the building stores as much carbon as its 50 years of operation will emit.
The new headquarter is evidence that shows how Stora Enso is really living their strategy and values – the timber frame and all load-bearing elements are renewable and from their own production units in Gruvön, Varkaus, and Honkalahti. By using these lightweight yet extremely strong wood materials, a given construction project required five times less transportation loads during the building phase than what would have been needed if concrete and traditional materials were used.
Regardless of the obvious benefits of using wood based building materials, currently, less than 3% of all construction and building materials in Europe are wood-based, presenting a huge potential to increase sustainable construction.
“To accelerate the development of wood-based solutions, regulation and value chain collaboration are essential. For example, the French RE 2020 legislation mandates that at least 50% of materials in new public buildings must be renewable, which promotes the use of wood. Collaboration with architects, construction companies, and educational programmes are also necessary to build the knowledge and skills required for wood construction”, says Hans Sohlström, President and
CEO of Stora Enso.
