Mohawk is at the forefront of environmentally sound manufacturing. Every day we look for better ways to reduce emissions and protect the environment inside and outside our mills. On June 1, 2007 we increased our purchase of wind-generated electricity RECs to 100,000,000 kWh annually which represents 100% of the electric power required for all of Mohawk's operations in its New York and Ohio facilities.

Because paper manufacturing relies heavily on water, forests, and energy, it is our responsibility to care for these precious resources. At Mohawk, environmental stewardship is a top priority for everyone, every day. We act responsibly within our own mills and we require the same level of environmental performance from our suppliers.

Our efforts result in superior products manufactured using environmentally and socially responsible practices which is important for our customers because paper is the medium which in itself can deliver a responsible message.

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At Mohawk, we’re committed to going beyond compliance. We set our own high standards for responsibility, with an emphasis on environmental stewardship.

For more than thirty years, Mohawk has been taking steps to protect the environment that sustains our business and our lives. We hope that our actions will inspire other individuals and other businesses to make environmental considerations part of their operations as well.

Evolution
Mohawk began looking beyond “letter-of-the-law” compliance in the mid 1980s, driven in large part by the need to streamline a business process that was becoming increasingly complex and cumbersome with the expansion of existing environmental regulations and the introduction of new ones. By examining voluntary programs, such as those that were evolving within organizations such as the Coalition for Environmentally Responsible Economics (CERES), we began to understand that environmental innovation creates a competitive advantage. This led us to an approach that integrates environmental strategies at all levels of

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business, from risk management, to procurement, to production, to worker training, to corporate policy development, and to product design and marketing.

Stewardship
Being part of an industry that depends heavily on energy, water, and other natural resources, we embraced the concept of extended stewardship. We continually examine every aspect of our business with the objective of making our environmental footprint as small as possible. This means doing more with less and taking decisive actions to minimize or eliminate negative impacts. From simple activities like desk-side recycling to complex decisions about manufacturing techniques, energy choices and vendor selection, nothing is left unexamined. In short, we accept our responsibility to protect the natural resources and processes that sustain our business and our lives, and convey that commitment to our suppliers, distributors, and end-use customers.

Renewable Energy
In 2003, Mohawk became the first paper mill, and one of the first large–scale production facilities in the US to support renewable

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 windpower through the purchase of Green-e certified Renewable Energy Certificates (RECs) from windpower projects. Today, 100% of the electricity used to manufacture the Mohawk grades that carry the “Windpower” designation is matched with RECs, which translates to the output of 24 windmills. We also became a participant in the EPA’s Green Power Partnership and were honored in 2005 and again in 2007 with an award for leadership in renewable energy procurement.

Carbon Neutral
We believe that the causality between human induced greenhouse gas emissions and climate change is well established and based on sound science. In 2007 we joined the US EPA’s Climate Leaders program, guided by our belief that the best environmental protection policies are those that rely on the limitless capacity of industry to innovate. Through this program we will work with the EPA to develop quantifiable greenhouse gas emission reduction goals. As an extension of this commitment, we will also begin to offer our customers products that are made carbon neutral within our production processes by offsetting thermal manufacturing emissions with VERs, and matching purchased electricity with RECs from Green-e certified windpower projects.

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Visit these sites to learn more about the direct contributions you can make in this effort:

www.designcanchange.org
www.davidsuzuki.org
www.epa.gov/climateleaders
www.pewclimate.org/global-warming-basics/basic_science/
www.ucsusa.org/global_warming/science/global-warming-faq.html
www.hoi.edu.institutes/occi/viewTopic.do?o=read&id=501
www.fsc.org
www.greenseal.org
www.green-e.org
www.sustainability.aiga.org/

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