Car·bon Neu·tral (kär-bən nü-trəl) adj. - . balancing the amount of carbon [dioxide] released with the amount sequestered or offset .

Magazines are doing it, television programs are doing it and even concert tours are also doing it . Now six well known Neenah grade lines are produced carbon neutral too. They include all of the CLASSIC Paper offerings and the newly revised STARWHITE Papers.

That means Neenah Paper has reduced - and continues to focus on reducing - its carbon footprint (the net greenhouse gas emissions) associated with the manufacturing of these premium paper brands.

"Neenah is reinforcing its commitment to reducing climate change," says Meredith Christiansen, product manager for the company, who has been delivering the Neenah Green message to designers and printers across North America.  "Manufacturing carbon neutral is part of a growing movement among corporations that are working to reduce greenhouse gases.  By doing so, we are also responding to needs of the business world and helping our customers to reduce their own carbon footprint."

Neenah has achieved carbon neutrality through net reductions in greenhouse gas emissions.  These methods include but are not limited to the use of Green-e certified renewable energy (energy sources that produce little to no greenhouse gas emissions), other unique renewable energy sources such as Neenah's Green Steam program, and the implementation of energy saving upgrades through manufacturing efficiencies. 

For example, Neenah has reengineered its process water treatment system at its Neenah, Wisconsin mill to operate at significantly reduced noise levels and increased treatment efficiency while at the same time consuming less energy. 

Green-e certified renewable energy comes from clean, environmentally preferable sources such as wind, solar, low-impact hydro and biomass.  This renewable power replaces energy produced by traditional fossil fuels.

Neenah Paper has recently renewed its commitment and increased its purchase to over 48 million kWh of Green-e certified renewable energy from the Wisconsin Energy Corporation subsidiary We Energies' Energy for Tomorrow program. That is over four times Neenah's initial purchase commitment, which totaled over 10 million kWh in August 2006.  This makes Neenah the largest purchaser of Green-e certified renewable energy in the entire state of Wisconsin, where its largest mills are located.

By supporting its local utility, Neenah Paper is directly offsetting the production of electricity from fossil fuels in Wisconsin, growing the utility's renewable energy program, directly increasing demand for renewable energy resources and reducing local air emissions.

We Energies is one of only 14 utility renewable energy programs certified as Green-e in the country.  For the seventh straight year, it has been ranked among the nation's top 10 green energy programs, according to the U.S. Department of Energy's National Renewable Energy Laboratory.

Neenah committed to tracking, reporting and reducing carbon dioxide emissions upon joining the Chicago Climate Exchange (CCX).  CCX is the world's first and North America's only voluntary but legally binding greenhouse gas emissions reduction, registry and trading program.  It is also the second largest trading system worldwide.

One of Neenah's carbon neutral brands, STARWHITE Writing, Text and Cover Papers, is helping to reshape how the design world thinks about sustainability. 

STARWHITE is not only manufactured Carbon Neutral, but as of the fall 2007 it is also 100 percent certified FSC Pure and Green-e certified.

The fact is you can buy virgin paper and still support responsible forest management.  The FSC Pure label means the paper is made only with virgin fiber that comes from a forest certified by the Forest Stewardship Council. 

"Being green and buying virgin fiber aren't mutually exclusive," says Gabe Bolton, the U.S. Chain of Custody Coordinator for SmartWood, the certification arm of the Rainforest Alliance.  "Virgin fiber is still a significant requirement.  In fact, buying FSC Pure fiber can be a more environmentally friendly choice because you can't always know where postconsumer waste has come from.  However, with fiber labeled FSC Pure, you can be assured of where it comes from - an FSC-certified forest."

By the same stretch, buying carbon neutral and buying recycled are also not mutually exclusive.  Several of Neenah's carbon neutral brands also include recycled offerings. 

Two colors in the CLASSIC brands are now available as (traditional) FSC-certified: Recycled Bright White and Recycled Natural White, made with 100 percent postconsumer recycled fiber.  Neenah is the first mill in the world to watermark the FSC symbol and Chain of Custody into its papers.

Neenah's paper offerings are continually becoming even greener.  "Made Carbon Neutral" is just one of the latest advances in making Neenah a brighter shade of green.

To get a copy of the latest STARWHITE swatchbook or for more information on other grade lines from Neenah Paper, call 1-800-994-5993 or e-mail samples@neenahpaper.com.