Better Health for All

Mercer Peace River Pulp Ltd. was fined $1,000,000 for violating the Fisheries Act by depositing 30,868,000 litres of acutely lethal effluent into the Peace River on April 14, 2021.

This constitutes moderate health-harming externalities with substantial remediation efforts. Mercer utilizes a “Safety Flash” to quickly disseminate general safety information, positive recognition, and near miss or accident report details, and in early 2023, launched HendrikS, a cloud-based repository for safety performance and information, indicating comprehensive risk disclosures. Mercer has developed comprehensive mental health programs that provide resources and support to employees across all operations, including an Employee Assistance Program (EAP) offering confidential counseling and support services to employees and their families. The company conducts workshops, seminars, and regular communications to educate the workforce about mental health and well-being. Mercer provides mental health training for managers, is committed to creating flexible work arrangements, and provides regular check-ins and feedback. The company also conducts regular facility and equipment inspections, scheduled maintenance outages, and implements Nine Life-Saving Golden Rules targeting high-risk activities, alongside regular safety audits and day-one safety training.

Fair Money & Economic Opportunity

Mercer International Inc. is a pulp and paper company, not a financial institution. Therefore, KPIs related to consumer lending, deposit services, financial product pricing, fees, debt burden, data accessibility for financial services, and fair lending compliance are not applicable, resulting in a score of 0 for these categories. While the company engages in social responsibility initiatives, such as partnerships with the National Centre for Truth and Reconciliation, the Outland Youth Employment Program (OYEP), and Indspire's Building Brighter Futures program, these are not financial inclusion programs in the context of a loan/insurance book or community finance reinvestment, nor do they directly measure customer wealth-building outcomes as defined by the rubric.

The company offers a Mercer Money Confidence program, a six-part online learning program for its employees, covering topics like Financial Stocktake and KiwiSaver Investing. This program reaches 23% of employers (not customers) who invest in financial wellbeing, and 46% of employees worry about finances, but there is no evidence of the program's reach to customers or its impact on a specific percentage of customers. OYEP also includes financial literacy training for its 18 participants in 2021. Given the internal nature of the Mercer Money Confidence program and the limited scope of OYEP's financial literacy training, the company's financial literacy initiatives are limited in reach and lack specific outcome tracking for a broader customer base, aligning with a score of -60.

Fair Pay & Worker Respect

Mercer International Inc. reported a CEO to median employee pay ratio of 57:1 for the 2023 fiscal year.

The company's consolidated Total Recordable Incident Rate (TRIR) was 2.76 incidents per 200,000 hours worked in 2024, representing a 25% year-over-year decrease from 3.68 in 2023. Mercer Peace River achieved a TRIR of 0 for the 12 months ended in 2024, and the company recorded zero employee or contractor fatalities in 2024. However, the Mercer Stendal mill recorded a serious bodily injury from a truck accident in 2024, and there were several instances of chemical burns at German pulp mills in 2024. The 2024 global employee engagement survey response rate was 60%, and the inclusion index score was in the 22nd percentile. The company offers comprehensive benefits, including extended health and medical coverage, to all eligible full-time and part-time employees, and an Employee and Family Assistance Program is available to employees and their households in North America, with expansion to German operations underway.

Fair Trade & Ethical Sourcing

Mercer International Inc. reports that 68% of its fiber is certified, ensuring traceability from the forest to final products.

The company conducts annual vendor risk assessments, with 6,646 companies assessed in 2024. No incidents of severe human rights violations, including forced or child labor, have been identified to date. In 2024, a risk analysis classified 0% of business partners as high risk. All vendors must adhere to Mercer’s Supplier Code of Conduct, and acceptance of a purchase order signifies agreement to this code. In 2024, Mercer revised its Procurement Terms and Conditions to further enhance ESG requirements.

Honest & Fair Business

Mercer maintains a formal whistleblower policy, including an Integrity Hotline administered by EthicsPoint, offering anonymous reporting options.

Whistleblower resources are prominently displayed at all facilities, and retaliation against individuals who report concerns is strictly prohibited. Regular training reinforces reporting mechanisms. The company has an Anti-Corruption Policy, effective November 8, 2023, which prohibits offering or making payments of 'anything of value' to foreign officials and explicitly prohibits facilitation payments unless legally required and permitted. Training on this policy is provided to relevant employees as needed. Mercer uses a third-party risk assessment tool to monitor its logistics and supplier network, evaluating cybersecurity threats, ethical risks, and ESG compliance. The company's Whistleblower Policy states that acknowledgement of receipt for complaints is generally provided within 5 business days.

Kind to Animals

Mercer Peace River actively manages forests to protect wildlife habitats for species like songbirds, caribou, and trumpeter swans, employing a mitigation hierarchy that prioritizes avoiding impacts through practices like winter harvesting and buffer zones.

The company maintains 800 meters of buffers around swan nesting lakes and monitors biodiversity through 29 indicators across landscape, local/stand, species, and genetic levels. A renaturation project in Northern Saxony, Germany, restored 157,000 square meters of land, creating habitats for insects, amphibians, and reptiles. However, specific metrics on species population data, habitat quality, or conservation initiatives are not provided. Approximately 200 key suppliers were targeted for in-depth ESG assessments in 2024, but it is not specified if these assessments included welfare compliance.

Planet-Friendly Business

Mercer International Inc. reported total Scope 1, 2, and 3 GHG emissions of 2,767,756 tCO₂e in 2024, a 12.36% decline from 2023.

The company's initial climate goals were validated by SBTi in 2021, and it is currently seeking re-validation of revised targets aligned with a 1.5°C pathway. In 2024, 83% of the company's fuel-based energy was sourced from renewables. Water withdrawal per $1 million revenue was 54,913 m³ in 2024. Total waste to landfill from pulp mills was 29,997 tonnes in 2024, or 16.6 kg/ADMT, representing a 24% improvement over the 2019 baseline. The company has a net-zero target year of 2050. It conducts TCFD climate scenario analysis periodically, adhering to TCFD guidelines, and explored three scenarios (Current Policies, Net Zero 2050, Delayed Transition) in 2024 in partnership with BSR. Mercer Peace River Pulp Ltd. was fined $1,000,000 for violating the Fisheries Act in April 2021 by depositing 30,868,000 liters of acutely lethal effluent into the Peace River.

Respect for Cultures & Communities

The company has 5 formal partnerships with indigenous or local community groups, including the Outland Youth Employment Program

, Skemxist Solutions (an Osoyoos Indian Band company) , Woodland Cree First Nation , Métis Nation of Alberta Region 6 , and the Northern Alberta Institute of Technology . While the company aligns with Alberta's Values, Objectives, Indicators, and Targets (VOITs) framework and uses Traditional Land Use (TLU) projects and spatial viewers to inform operational decisions , a formal cultural impact assessment protocol is implied rather than explicitly stated as a distinct, company-wide protocol. The company secures jobs for more than 80 local people through its co-ownership of Peace River Logging with Woodland Cree First Nation. It engages at least one indigenous supplier, Bison Contracting, a joint venture with the Métis Nation of Alberta Region 6 , which has provided employment for over 2,000 predominantly Indigenous people for over 35 years. The company actively works to identify and protect traditional and culturally significant sites, creating buffers around areas like trappers’ cabins and berry-picking sites. In 2024, Mercer Peace River employees participated in cultural awareness training sessions, including blanket exercises. The company explores ways to incorporate Indigenous place names into mapping systems and customizes consultation with Indigenous communities to meet their needs , but a formal language inclusivity assessment score is not provided.

Zero Waste & Sustainable Products

Mercer International integrates circular design principles by transferring residual fiber from TimberProducts to other facilities for pulp production and utilizing residuals like bark, wood chips, and sawdust for biofuels or on-site power generation.

Their German solid wood facilities achieve less than 1% fiber waste. The company has implemented proactive waste reduction initiatives at various mills, including finding alternative uses for pulp mill process waste such as land applications for agriculture and road construction. Mercer has reduced pulp mill process waste sent to landfill by 24% since 2019, with 18% of this reduction occurring in 2024, and aims for a 30% reduction by 2030. The company also targets a 5% improvement in pulp mill fiber and chemical utilization intensity by 2030, with 2024 fiber utilization at 5.17 m³/ADMT and chemical utilization at 141 kg/ADMT. While Mercer states it manages and disposes of minimal hazardous waste safely according to local regulations, Mercer Peace River Pulp Ltd. was fined $1 million for violating the Fisheries Act in April 2021 by depositing over 30 million liters of acutely lethal effluent into the Peace River due to insufficient spill pond capacity. The company has since increased spill pond capacity.