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Stora Enso is transitioning from a declining paper business to a renewable materials company, targeting the food and building sectors. Through partnerships with entities like Tetra Pak and the creation of innovation accelerators, the company aims to derive 15% of its revenue from new products. While it has successfully launched recycling infrastructure in Poland and developed sustainable alternatives to plastics, it continues to face financial pressures and the challenge of scaling niche products for mainstream adoption.

This guide provides an introduction to selecting environmentally sensitive building materials, emphasizing the reduction of embodied energy, volatile organic compounds (VOCs), and the impact of industrial manufacturing on global ecosystems.

This industry brief by GreenCape explores the potential for industrial hemp in South Africa's construction sector, highlighting hempcrete and hemp insulation as sustainable, carbon-sequestering alternatives to traditional materials. While Cape Town is emerging as a hub—exemplified by the world's tallest hemp-based building—the sector faces barriers including high import costs for hemp hurd, a lack of local standards, and professional risk aversion among engineers and architects.