During its investigations into what happened Stora Enso said it had found one further incident of non-compliance, whereby another stream in Puolanka inhabited by the freshwater pearl mussel was crossed by machinery.
Stora Enso said that while that activity had also violated the Nature Conservation Act, the Puolanka site differed to the incident at Hukkajoki in terms of scale, and the characteristics of the stream.
The local authorities have determined that the area does not require the same type of acute restoration measures as at Hukkajoki.
Regarding the work it had carried out to address the breaches, Stora Enso said: “During the inspections, the operational guidelines, harvesting plans, and risks related to the harvesting sites were reassessed.
“In addition to the site inspections, Stora Enso has initiated additional training on environmental policies, and the company is carrying out a comprehensive audit with a third party of all wood procurement planning, implementation and control processes.”
It has also completed an internal investigation into the Hukkajoki environmental violation.
This found that the events at Hukkajoki were a consequence of several factors, related to information flow, the functioning of IT systems, and individual miscalculations.
“Miscalculations have also occurred within Stora Enso,” the group stated.
The incident is subject to a police investigation. Stora Enso will bear the environmental and financial consequences, which could include heavy fines.
The company will take further corrective measures to complement the actions already taken, it said, to ensure an uninterrupted flow of information and compliance with guidelines.
The measures include paying special attention to harvesting operations carried out in sensitive nature areas.
That work is already underway. In addition, Stora Enso has pledged to develop a forestry water programme in Finland.
“The events in Hukkajoki have demonstrated the need to pay special attention to water bodies,” the firm stated.
According to reports the environmental breach has resulted in concerns from pension fund members of investor-led initiative Nature Action 100, while the WWF is also understood to have paused planned collaboration on joint activities.
Stora Enso makes renewable materials and products including paperboard and bio-based materials, and wooden construction materials.
The group had sales of €9.4bn (£7.9bn) last year and employs around 20,000 worldwide.
