A warm welcome to Stora Enso's Post AGM webcast twenty twenty one. My name
is
Mikaela Torstrom, and I have just acted as the Secretary to the Stora Enso AGM held earlier today. On behalf of all of us here at Stora Enso, I want to thank you for joining this event. We will, during the next hour, present to you the decisions by the Stora Enso AGM twenty twenty one. You will also be able to listen to the presentations by our President and CEO, Anni Kabreski as well as greetings from the Storenso Board of Directors. This event is held in English.
You may also choose to listen to the event in either Finnish or Swedish by clicking on the icon at the left hand corner of your own screen below the live stream or if you use a mobile device below the stream in the middle of your screen. During the whole event, you may send in questions to us, which we will answer during the Q and A session at the end of the event. Questions can be sent by entering the question in the questions box below the stream at the bottom of the page. You can send them to us in either Finnish, Swedish or English. We will translate them and read them to the meeting in English.
Kindly note that we will publish a recording of the full event on our website after the meeting. With this, I give over to the Chair of the Stora Enso Board of Directors twenty twenty, Jorma Eleranta.
Thank you very much, Mikaela, and dear Stora Enso shareholders. And ladies and gentlemen, my name is, as Mikaela pointed, Jormaeloranta. Authorized by the company's Board of Directors, I would like to wish you, our shareholders and others present, a warm welcome. This virtual shareholder event is held after Stora Enso's AGM this year. As last year, this year's Stora Enso's Annual General Meeting had to be held without presence of shareholders and a proxy of representatives.
This arrangement is based on the act of temporary deviation from the Limited Liability Companies Act in order to limit spread of COVID-nineteen pandemic. I'm very sorry that we were not able to organize a normal shareholder meeting. And as some kind of a substitute, although, of course, inadequate, we decided to organize this virtual event where we can review the decisions made at the AGM held a few minutes ago. At this event, the company's management is also ready to answer questions and participants and, as mentioned, they can be asked in Finnish English and Swedish. So at the AGM that has just been concluded, the Board of Directors was elected whose term of office began a few minutes ago at the end of the meeting.
I served as a chair of Storians' Board of Directors until the end of the meeting. As a result of the proposal by the Shareholders' Nomination Board, Antti Makinen was elected chair of the Board of Directors and he is present online at this event in addition to myself. So congratulations, Antti, and good luck to you and your board team. Antti and I have agreed that in this opening address of mine, I will talk about the work of the board of directors up to the annual general meeting held today, and he will then answer any and I will also answer any questions concerning that. Antti will then answer questions about the about the work of the border directors concerning his own term of chairmanship.
Also in attendance are the chair of the annual general meeting, Manneh Hirakzenen, secretary Mikhail Atulstrom, as we were able to witness some seconds ago. Manne will ensure that all matters that were dealt with the AGM are reviewed at this event. The company's CEO, Annika Preskip, is attending the event from Sweden by remote connection. Other members of the company's management and company's auditors, Samui Perale, are also present. At this event, Annika will present in English our business situation as she would have done if it had been possible to hold the AGM in a normal way.
So then some words about operations of the Board of Directors. The AGM annual report and the corporate governance statement included in the report described the operations of the Board last year. The report sets out that the board convened 14 times last year. This year, the board has already managed to meet four times. Participation last year was 98%.
One member was absent twice for a fully valid reason. This year, all meetings in the board have taken all board members have taken have been participating in all board meetings. Last year, the board supervised Zura Ensus operations and management in a normal manner as well as made significant decisions concerning strategy, investments, organization and financing. Due to COVID nineteen pandemic, the meetings have been held virtually since last March. It is my view that the meetings went well while working under these circumstances, although they are more demanding.
If all decision makers would be simultaneously present in a meeting, in particular, consideration of challenging questions may likely go more smoothly. So hopefully, we will get there soon. Last year, the Board Finance and Audit Committee held eight meetings: the Sustainability and Ethics Committee, four meetings and the Remuneration Committee, six. We also established a temporary strategy committee that convened four times to prepare, along with the management, a proposal to be put before the Board of Directors with regard to the group's strategy. All members took part in the committee meetings with the exception of one member who was absent from the one meeting for a valid reason.
In my view, the excellent active participation of board members in the meeting speaks of the commitment of the board in the company's operations. Last spring, we decided the following as areas of priority of our board work. Firstly, it was a group strategy and secondly, monitoring the operational situation taking in development of the COVID-nineteen pandemic into consideration. Annika Preski started as President and CEO on the 12/01/2019. It was natural that our group strategy and business portfolio would be assessed under her leadership.
As a result of this work, our critical starting points for the development of our business operations remain the same as before. However, through our strategic choices, we will strive to outline the area of priority for our renewable and advancement with more clarity than previously. Our goal is to produce enormous potential of wood in wood pipe fibers here as well as to find new applications and products, which will, as years go by, bring about new sustainable development earning opportunities. Our strategy was presented last autumn during the Capital Markets Day, and Annika will explain its pivotal content in her own presentation. I trust that during the next two, three years, we will hear more concrete details when the approved strategy will be implemented.
When the coronavirus situation emerged last spring, we anticipated several scenarios regarding potential developments and impacts on Stora Enso's business activities. The Board of Directors also received COVID-nineteen status reports and information from management concerning measures to prevent spread of the virus in the Stora Enso's functions. Now that we have lived through more than a year of pandemic turmoil, we can see that the pandemic has had a negative impact on our business operations, but nevertheless considerably less than in the most pessimistic scenarios we envisioned a year ago. The situation has remained well within the control of management. The industrial plants have continued to function.
Customers have received their orders, and we have learned to work remotely. We all hope and expect, of course, that as a result of the vaccinations, it will be possible to put the pandemic behind us over the course of this event. Then some words about the self assessment. We continued with its aspiration to develop continued our aspiration to develop board work and operational methods. The board and each of its committees have completed an anonymous self assessment of its The result of the board self assessment have been delivered to the shareholder the nomination board as well as report of interviews con conducted on one to one basis between chair, myself, and each board member.
In our understanding, it is our understanding that the working principles of the board of directors and its committees are in good order. We will strive to observe the principles governing governing our board work that we approved in the autumn twenty nineteen and which I told you about the last year. So, ladies and gentlemen, let me share a few words on our success last year. The company renewed strategy, responsible operational methods, management, remuneration and the financial results of our work are described in Stora Ensen's annual report. Last year, our revenue totaled €8,600,000,000 in other words, it declined by 15%.
The coronavirus pandemic had a negative impact on the demand and price level of our products, and this struck our paper division the hearts. We were nevertheless able to adjust our expenses to a large extent, and our financial situation liquidity has remained strong during the entire pandemic period. Our CEO, Annica, will tell more about this. But to sum up, 2020 was highly exceptional and challenging. But STURA ANSL succeeded through the efforts of the management and entire personnel in keeping our operations and finances well under control.
For which I, on behalf of the Board of Directors, extend very many thanks to all of you. As in the previous year, our dividend proposal and now accepted by the AGM is $0.3 per share, which is in line with our dividend policy approved last year to distribute as dividends 50 of the earnings per share excluding fair valuation over the cycle. Earnings per share excluding fair valuation was 45¢ last year. At the beginning of last year, market value was €10,300,000,000 and at its end, it was €12,400,000,000 For the calendar year 2020, Sturenso's total shareholder return, meaning dividend plus. Price in stock price was 23% in our shares and 20% for A shares.
Yesterday, our market cap was €13,200,000,000 so it means a 6.5% increase from the year end. According to my understanding, the favorable development of the company's market value reflect the confidence of investors in the company's renewed strategy and the effective operations of its management. So, dear shareholders, I would like to thank you for showing your confidence in Stora Stora Enso by investing your assets in its shares. I also thank you for coming to this virtual shareholder event to hear and talk about how the company's board of directors and other management has performed, task entrusted to them, and about the plans the company has. With these words, I once again wish all present at this event a warm welcome.
I will now give the floor to Mani Arakzinen who acted as the chair of the annual general meeting. He will tell you about the decisions we that have just been made at that meet. So, Manne, please, for this use.
Thank you, Jorma. My name is Manne Araksidenen of Russia Attorneys. I acted as Chair for the Annual General Meeting of STURA held earlier today. STURA and SOHM twenty twenty one has been held with exceptional arrangements due to COVID pandemic, which was noted by Mr. Eloranta a moment ago.
Shareholders and their proxy representatives have been able to participate in the meeting and exercise shareholder rights only through voting in advance as well as by making counter proposals and presenting questions in advance. A total of 2,041 shareholders, representing 161,118,126 A shares and 353,036,275 our shares in total, 1 196,420,893 votes participated in the advanced voting. This means that a total of 91.41% of all our A shares and a total of 57.65% of all our shares and 82.71% of all the votes in the company have been represented at the meeting. Stora Enso shareholders have approved all of the resolutions as proposed by the Stora Enso Sharedness Nomination Board and Stora Enso Board of Directors. Stora Enso's Annual General Meeting has thereby decided in Tiraleo on the following.
The General Meeting has decided to adopt the annual accounts and more than 99.99% of the votes cast in the agenda item were in favor of the decision. The General Meeting has decided that a dividend of €0.3 per share will be distributed to all shareholders. The record date for the dividend is twenty third March this year, and the dividend will be paid on or about thirtieth March this year. 99.97% of the both costs in the agenda item were in favor of the decision. As the dividend proposal by the Board was less than half of the profit of the financial year, shareholders had the right, according to Finnish law, to demand a so called minority dividend, which was to be paid if supported by no less than 10% of the shares in the company.
A total of 7.83 of the shares in the company demanded minority dividend, which is less than the required 10%, meaning that minority dividend will not be paid. The General Meeting has decided to discharge the members of the Board of Directors and the President and CEO from liability for the financial year 2020, 99.94% of the votes cast in the agenda item were in favor of the decision. The General Meeting has decided to support the presented remuneration report, 99.07% of the votes cast in the agenda item were in favor of the decision. This decision was advisory. The Annual General Meeting decided to elect the following nine members to the Stora Enso Board of Directors for the year ending at the AGM twenty twenty two: Hakan Buschke, Elisabeth Fleurio, Hocko, Helena Herrblum, Mikko Helander, Christiane Kune, Antti Makinen, Richard Nielsen and Hans Zulstrom.
It was decided to elect Mr. Makinen as Chair of the Board of Directors and Mr. Buschka as Vice Chair. We will soon hear a greeting from Mr. Makinen as well as the elected new Board members, Helene Heidblum and Hans Zulstrom.
The Annual General Meeting decided that the Board and committee remuneration be kept at the same level as during last year. 91.47% of the votes cast were in favor of the election of the proposed Chair, Vice Chair and Board members, and 99.91% of the votes cast were in favor of the proposal by the Chair's Nomination Board to keep Board remuneration at its current level. The general meeting has decided to elect PricewaterhouseCoopers as the statutory auditor of the company until the 2022. Mr. Samoli Perala, authorized public accountant, will act as the responsible auditor during that time.
We have Mr. Perala online during this meeting, and you may, in the Q and A session, present questions also to him. It was further decided that the remuneration for the auditor be paid according to an invoice approved by the company's Financial and Audit Committee. 99.95% of the votes cast were in favor of the election of the proposed auditor and more than 99.99% of the votes cast were in favor of the auditor's proposed remuneration. The General Meeting has decided to approve of the authorization for the Board to decide on a repurchase of the company's own shares as well as an issuance of shares.
Both authorizations may be carried out in deviation from preemptive rights for the purpose of using the shares as part of the company's incentive scheme. More than 99.99% of A shares and 99.72% of our shares represented and 99.96% of the votes cast were in favor of the decision to authorize the Board to decide on share repurchases and 99.99% of all shares and more than 99.99% of the votes cast were in favor of the decision to authorize the Board to decide on share issuances. This concludes the overview of the decisions made today by the Annual General Meeting. With this, I conclude the review of the decisions and hand over to Mikaela.
Thank you, Manne. We will now hear the greeting by the Chair of the Stora Enso's Shareholders Nomination Board, Markus Valenberi and after that, we will hear the speech by the newly elected Chair of the Stora Enso Board of Directors, Antti Makinen.
Greetings from the Shareholders' Nomination Board of Stora Enso. And the composition of the Shareholders' Nomination Board has, during 2020, 2021, been the chair of the board, Jorma Eloranta the vice chairman of the board, Hans Stauburg and two other members appointed by the two largest shareholders, Harry Silas of Solydium and myself, Markus Wallenberg of FAM, acting as the chair. The main task of the Nomination Board twenty twenty has been first to prepare the proposals for the AGM twenty twenty one concerning Board members and their remuneration and two, review of Board independence and annual evaluation three, evaluate long term succession planning of the Board, including the Board's composition with view of the principles of the company's Board Diversity Policy. Our proposal regarding Board election and the remuneration. The aim of the shareholders' nomination board is to ensure the right long term competencies for the board's work as well as to ensure that the diversity of thought and qualities is maintained of the board.
The foremost criteria for nominating board member candidates is the candidate's skills and experiences as well as the personal qualities and integrity. The proposed board composition includes three women and six men in the age range of 47 years to 65 years, representing five nationalities. Gender distribution has improved by increasing the number of female members on the board to three. The aim is to continuously ensure that the gender diversity is maintained or further strengthened. This year, Jormael Lurante, having served as chair of the board since 2017 and vice chair during 2016 and 2017, as well as Hans Storberg, having served on the Board since 2009 and as Vice Chair since 2017, had decided not to stand for re election to the Board.
The Shareholders' Nomination Board nominated Helena Herr Blum and Hans Zulstrom as new members to the Board, both possessing a strong industrial background as well as personal merits and management experience that has been identified as complementing the board composition. Antti Meikkinen was nominated as chair of the board and Hakan Buske as vice chair of the board. Anti, having been a member of the STURA Enso board since 2018 and Hawkem since 2020. Both possess a background and personal merits that the shareholders' nomination board is convinced will bring value in the task as chair and vice chair of Storrenso. Regarding board remuneration, the aim is to ensure a competitive board remuneration in line with relevant peer group.
This year, the proposal has been for board remuneration to be kept at the same level as in 2020. So let me just end by saying and direct a very large thank you to Jorman Eloranta and Hans Strawberg for their service on the Storanso board as well as welcome the new members, Helena Heldrum and Hans Zulstrom, and also wishing all the best to Antti Mekkenin and Hock Ambuske in their roles as chair and vice chair. When it comes to Jorma and Hans, they have steered Stora Enso through some challenging years with both structural changes and, of course, an unprecedented period of economic impact during the pandemic years. So on the behalf of all shareholders, the Nomination Board wish to express a deep appreciation for the chair and the vice chair's dedication, contribution and very hard work on behalf of all shareholders for Stora Enso. Thank you very much, and good day.
Dear shareholders, my name is Antti MacKinnon. As as you have learned during the previous speeches a few hours ago, I was selected new chair of the board of directors of Stora Ensem. I've been a board member since 2018, and in my daily job is, being CEO of Solydium, which is a large shareholder in Storanza. Firstly, I want to thank you, shareholders, for the the confidence that has been invested in me, and I assure you that I will do my utmost to be worthy of that confidence and do my best to serve the company and its shareholders as best as I can. I would also like to take the opportunity to to continue where where mister Wallenberg stopped and and on behalf of the board of directors to thank Jormael Arenta for his chairmanship of the of the Souranza board of directors, and, also thank Hans Strawbery for the vice chair chairmanship of of his, during the past years.
As, Mr. Eloranta just a moment ago said, last year, we we reviewed the strategy of STURA ENSO and and the outcome of that review work and and and analysis was announced in the CMD in in in November. Naturally, this year's focus, therefore, will be to to start and and continue implementing that new strategy and and and certainly during the quarterly releases and and also other releases during the year, your shareholders will be informed about how how that strategy implementation will progress. In the next year's AGM, I will be in a position to give you the perspective of the board of directors on how how company has has progressed, and I hope that we can have that, shareholders meeting then in a nicer format than than over over Teams or or over video and that we could meet in person in in in the '22. But with these words, dear shareholders, thank you once again for the confidence vested in me, and, we'll do our utmost best to serve you as blessed as we can.
Thank you so much.
Thank you, Antti. We will now listen to the prerecorded videos of our newly elected Board members, Helena Hirblom and Hans Zustrem.
Dear shareholders of Sora Enso, I am Helena Hjablon and I am the CEO and President of Epiroc, one of the largest OEMs for the mining and infrastructure industry. Epiroc has more than 14,000 employees and we have sales in more than 150 countries. So a truly global business. Eproc was created after the successful split from Atlas Copco in 2018. And we are a leading productivity and sustainability partner for the industries that we serve.
And we are leading the technology shifts ongoing in mining and infrastructure within automation, digitalization and electrification. I have a broad industrial experience with more than twenty years from the Aktraz Kopko Group. I have an engineering background with a Master of Science in materials technology from the Royal Institute of Technology in Stockholm. I have been leading our research and development efforts for many years. I have been general manager, heading our production entities as well as Divisional President and Business Area President with full P and L and balance sheet responsibilities for many years.
During the last twenty years, I have been leading truly international organizations with focus on innovation and growth. As a person, I am result oriented and used to ambitious growth agendas, both organic and inorganic. I have a passion for innovation, sustainability and leadership. I strongly believe in a decentralized business model with clear responsibilities and accountability. And I truly believe in diversity and inclusion to create long lasting business results.
I am very much looking forward to this opportunity to be able to contribute to the F. Sora Enso's journey in the coming years. I hope that I, with my experience, will be able to contribute in the areas of innovation and sustainability. Thank you so much.
Hello, I am Hans Zulstrom and I am pleased, Anat, and really excited about the nomination board proposing me to join Stora Enso's board of directors. I have thirty years' experience of various leadership positions in the forest, pulp, and paper industry. In addition, I have previous experience of seven board memberships, of which five as chairman and one as vice chairman. Regarding educational background, I have master of science degrees from two universities, one in industrial management and paper technology and one in finance and business administration. Currently, I'm the CEO of Alstom Moveshoe, a global provider of sustainable and innovative fiber based solutions, such as, for instance, filter media, technical and industrial specialty papers, as well as life science and health care nonwoven materials.
I joined the company early two thousand sixteen as chairman of the board when I was CEO of Alstrom Capital, the Alstrom family investment company. I was elected to continue as Chairman of the Board in Alstrom Moveshire after the merger in 2017 and was appointed CEO early twenty eighteen. Before 02/2016, I was CEO of Reddy Group, a Finnish family owned industrial conglomerate for three and a half years. And from year 1988 to 02/2012, that is to twenty four years in total, I worked for UPM in Finland and abroad in various positions leading business units, paper mills, global sales and marketing, as well as business innovation and corporate development. During my last eight years at UPM, I was a member of the group executive management team reporting to the CEO.
I think I can bring to Stora Enso's Board of Directors three main experiences. First, a diverse and practical pulp and paper industry leadership experience of operations, sales and marketing, innovation of renewable new businesses and strategy. Secondly, a broad experience of various aspects to shareholder value creation from several leadership three CEO and seven Board positions and third, an international and multicultural experience. For instance, AlstroMunkshire is a global company with employees representing over 50 nationalities, and I have currently six different nationalities in my group executive management team. I am passionate about renewable materials and the bioeconomy as solutions for a sustainable and greener world.
I'm excited about all the untapped potential and numerous new sustainable business opportunities in wood and forests. ENSO is a global leader in the forefront of renewable materials. I would join the board with an open mind and strong engagement to serve Stora Enso in order to maximize shareholder value.
Next in our program, we will hear Stora Enso's President and CEO, Annika Brezki, give her overview of the financial results from 2020 as well as a presentation of Stora Enso's current strategy and financial targets. After Annica's speech, we will start the Q and A session of today. So this is a reminder that you may send in us questions through the questions box at the bottom of your screen, and we will revert to them after the speech. Thank you.
Hello, and a very warm welcome to Stora Enso's Annual General Meeting. Although the pandemic prevents us from hosting a physical event, I'm still very excited to digitally engage with you, our valued shareholders. I want to take the opportunity today to first comment on our 2020 results and then describe our strategy and opportunities looking ahead. I think it's appropriate to start with the foundation of our business opportunities, the global megatrends, driving the demand for renewable materials. Even though 2020 was the year of the pandemic, which we haven't seen the end of yet, we remained focused on the business opportunities for Stora Enso.
And the numbers are quite substantial. Carbon neutrality can create a 6,000 billion euros market for smart green solutions by 02/1950. 70% of consumers state that they have purchased an eco friendly product even if it was more expensive. And almost as many have avoided a particular product or brand for environmental reasons. Close to 70% of the world's population are expected to live in urban areas by 02/1950, creating significant opportunities for more sustainable living.
And China's demand for packaged food will continue to grow at about 8% a year up to 2024. Retail and e commerce sales are projected to increase over 3,000 billion euros And these are just some of the proof points for the increasing demand for materials that can replace less environmental friendly ones such as plastic, steel and cement. And as a world leader in renewable materials based on wood, we are truly positioned in a sweet spot here. Because at Stora Enso, we are convinced that everything that's made from fossil based materials today can be made from a tree tomorrow. Our products are not only renewable, but also recyclable, and in many cases also biodegradable.
And we constantly look for ways to replace and reduce the fossil content in our products with better alternatives. Stora Enso is one of the world's largest and oldest forest companies. We know and treasure our raw material. By optimizing the use of wood, we can maximize its value and save resources. As an example, we have over the years been able to double the amount of cartons produced from the same amount of wood.
And this development just continues. And last but not least, our products help combat global warming. So this picture illustrates Stora Enso's total climate impact. Our forests annually absorb approximately 1,500,000,000 tons of CO2 from the atmosphere. The carbon remains stored in the wood fibers when made into products and even through recycling.
In 2020, our positive climate impact was 11,500,000 tons of CO2. This calculation considers CO2 absorbed in our forest and by replacement substitution by our products, minus the emissions impact from our value chain, such as, for instance, transports. The largest portion of our benefit comes from fossil replacement. And in 2020, Stora Enso's products saved an estimated of 18,000,000 tons of CO2. That is the same amount as the annual CO2 emissions of 5,000,000 cars.
So not many industrial companies our size can say that they are climate positive. But of course, we are not satisfied and we will continue to strive for increased reductions across all our operations and value chains in the battle against climate change. Now let's dive into some of the financial highlights of 2020. Needless to say, last year was a very different year, colored by the pandemic effects. Through early actions and proactive measures, Sperenso remained resilient.
And given the extreme circumstances, we delivered a solid result that we can be proud of. In 2020, our sales decreased by 15% to €8,600,000,000 Excluding our Paper division, sales was down by 9%. The decrease in Paper was mainly due to changed consumer behavior that accelerated the structural decline in Paper products. Demand in our other segments remained fairly stable with particular resilient results in Packaging, Forest and Wood products. Our operational EBIT was €650,000,000 down by 35% from 2019, which was also a record year.
We are, however, starting to see signs of a recovery, and it was rewarding to report sales in Q4 close to the same levels as 2019, and excluding paper, almost 50% better. For 2021, we anticipate a stronger year. Operational return on capital employed, excluding forest, was 7%, and cash flow from operations was €1,300,000,000 We have a strong liquidity at 2,500,000,000 including cash and committed credit facilities. This adds security and puts us in a very good position to be agile once the market starts recovering. It is also worth mentioning that our total forest assets were valued at EUR7.3 billion since changing to a transaction based forest valuation method for our Swedish holdings.
Now let's take a look at the performance in our long term financial targets. If we start with growth, for the year it was negative 8.7%. As highlighted earlier, this was mainly due to the COVID-nineteen effects on the global economy. Our net debt to operational EBITDA is at 2.3 and still above the targeted maximum of two point zero, but it is now moving in the right direction following the peak during the year. Net debt to equity was at 33%, below our target, and operational return on capital employed, excluding our forest, was at 7%.
If we look at return on operating capital on a divisional level, both our Packaging divisions, Packaging Materials, Packaging Solutions are at about 14%. This is below the targeted levels, but still quite strong taking into account the challenging business conditions. Biomaterials is just above zero, while Wood Products was at 19.1%, not far from our targeted 20% level. Our New Forest division was at 3.9%, above the target of 3.5%. And Paper cash flow was at 10.3% in Q4.
Due to the challenges of the previous quarter, the full year cash flow ended up at 1.6%. To further support our cash flow, we launched a profit protection program in 2019. During the year, we increased our target from three fifty million euros to €400,000,000 of savings. We are proceeding very well, and we will deliver these savings by the 2021. In 2020, we recorded savings of €225,000,000 Now that we have summed up 2020, let's move into our future strategy.
In a nutshell, our business strategy is centered around achieving sustainable and profitable growth for our renewable products. While this core of our strategy remains, we have updated the focus in order to accelerate growth. But before I dig into our strategic focus areas, I'd like to highlight some key achievements in 2020. It makes sense here to start with the biggest one, our €350,000,000 conversion of the Oulu paper mill into packaging kraftliner production. The conversion was completed within budget at the beginning of this year and is expected to reach design production capacity by second quarter this year and full product portfolio by the 2021.
Completing the Olo Mill conversion is a great achievement and an important step in our transformation in response to the increasing global market demand for eco friendly packaging materials. If we stay with packaging, we have started a feasibility study to evaluate a potential expansion of our pulp and board making capabilities in the Skugal mills in Sweden. Skugal is already today one of the world's largest liquid board and brown kraft board producers, and the study will assess a significant upgrade in pulp and board capacity. After the investment, the mill would be pulp integrated close to 100%, giving a superior cost competitiveness and increasing the board making capabilities. In addition, the potential investment project would enable lower fossil CO2 emissions at the mill.
If we now move over to Wood Products, we decided to invest approximately €80,000,000 in a new production line for cross laminated timber at Asdiras sawmill in Czech Republic. We are already today Europe's leading supplier of CLT, and the investment will further enhance our position as a global market leader. Production is scheduled to begin during the 2022. And to support our growth in biomaterials innovations, we are investing €14,000,000 to build a granulation and packaging plant for Lignin. Lignin is the foundation for our innovation platform for carbon for energy storage, bio binders and carbon fiber.
The granulation plant will be located at Storeiensen Sunilamil in Finland, where we also have our Linden Competence Center. All these events align with our updated strategic focus areas announced last year. The overarching logic of our updated strategy is to focus on key business areas where we already have leading positions. By building on our existing strengths, we can grow more rapidly and create more value from our renewable products and solutions. So in this image, somehow simplified, illustrates the different strategic roles of our business portfolio.
Firstly, we see the forest as the foundation to everything that we do. Our sawmills produce wooden products, supply fiber to our pulp mills and are the foundation for growth in wooden building solutions. Pulp is the base for the packaging materials and paper as well as a strong provider for cash generation. The growth comes from packaging, building solutions and innovations within biomaterials. And paper is primarily a cash business to support these growth areas.
So why have we selected these three focus areas for growth? In addition to strong demand in their respective segments, we have leading market positions of high margin products. We have strong legacy assets and the competence and are in control of our renewable resource, wood. It's also within these three areas that we see the greatest potential for scalable innovation and commercialization of new products. In our two packaging divisions, we see a high demand for plastic free and circular solutions, for example, within hygiene food packaging or e commerce.
Here, we already have leading market positions as well as attractive investment opportunities. Within Wooden Building Solutions, we foresee an annual growth of more than 10% in a market where we already have a leading global supplier. The massive global construction market is shifting more and more towards eco friendly buildings with low carbon footprint. And here, we are in a terrific position to capture a larger share of the value chain with our products. When it comes to biomaterials innovation, we target high growth end product markets, markets where we can replace fossil based materials with bio based solutions and technologies.
Here, Lignin is one of the three's main building blocks from which we can develop new ground making innovations. All strategic focus areas are closely interlinked with our innovation agenda. The focus of our innovation efforts will be in the areas of sustainable barriers, new sustainable packaging materials and, as mentioned, our biochemical platform in lignin. Speed to market is essential, and we will drive this through cooperation with other partners in an open innovation approach. Because innovation does not happen in isolation, It happens through collaboration.
In addition to our own researchers, we work with customers, partners and start ups as well as academic and research institutes. R and D is essential in driving our innovation agenda. And in 2020, our spend was around €150,000,000 with approximately 70 patents filed during the year. We also put a lot of effort into our digitalization. This includes operational benefits like smarter mills, but also supply chain efficiencies and customer experience.
And here are a few concrete examples of digitalization initiatives that we use today in our operations. Within our wooden building concepts, we offer a variety of digital tools and services that support the use of wood as a construction material, making it easier to build green. This includes building design software to help streamline sustainable construction using wooden elements. Another example is digital moisture control in the building materials. We have also launched a new B2B trading platform designed to help companies source packaging online.
We call it BoxInc. In essence, buyers and sellers of corrugated packaging can connect via the platform for secure and convenient transactions. It has been up and running for less than a year now, and we continue to see increased traction on the platform. In our forestry operations, we developed Precision Forestry as a way of creating the best growth conditions for trees using a digital twin of the forest. It allows us to use data from different sources such as climate, soil or growth or conditions to examine the structure of an entire forest site.
And eventually, it will also support more influential sustainability actions, such as the development of improved biodiversity practices. And sustainable forestry is indeed central in our contribution to a circular bioeconomy. We believe that a circular economy is only possible when the raw materials are also circular, materials that can be renewed and regenerated over and over again. In a circular bioeconomy, products are bio based. They are also being shared, reused, remanufactured and recycled.
Finally, they biodegrade or are used for renewable energy production. Trees grow back, absorbing CO2, and so the cycle continues. A circular bioeconomy requires collaboration across the value chain to drive change at all stages, from reducing the use of resources and waste, from product design and recyclability infrastructure such as collection and recycling systems. In Stora Enso, we continuously explore circular ways of working at our many production sites. And here are just a few examples from 2020.
Together with Tetra Pak, Stora Enso is exploring the possibility of building a new recycling line for used beverage carton at our Ostroleka mill in Poland. During 2020, we continued to explore the recycling potential of paperboard cups for magazine paper production at Langebrugge mill in Belgium. And in Sweden, Stora Enso and energy company Gasum have built a biogas plant at Nymella paper mill. The plant turns the mill's wastewater into liquefied biogas. In addition to operational circularity, a fully circular bioeconomy is dependent on products that stem from renewable sources.
Wood fiber based products have a smaller carbon footprint than fossil based ones. The products on this slide are available in our product portfolio already today and represent research based example of low carbon alternatives to fossil based or nonrenewable materials. Lignin can replace fossil based phenol in adhesives with a carbon footprint that is roughly 80% smaller than that of phenol. Studies show that our Fond Fiber products for the foodservice sector, Pew Fiber, they enable a carbon footprint that's 75% lower compared to alternative packaging materials. And the CO2 emissions of a CLT frame are 75% lower compared to a concrete frame building.
Our wood fiber biocomposites have an ability to reduce the carbon footprint by up to 80% compared to fossil based plastics. All these are innovations that have one thing in common: they originate from forest. Our ability to create value has its foundation in the forest. The forest is a valuable growing asset that facilitates long term fiber supply for our products. We ensure that our forests grow to a greater extent than they are harvested and that biodiversity is promoted as part of everyday forest management practices.
Our customers can be assured that our products originate from sustainably managed forest, as 98% of the lands we own or manage are covered by forest certification. Today, Stora Enso is one of the largest private forest owners in the world. Globally, we own or manage lands covering a total area of 2,300,000 hectares. About 30% of the Stora Enso wood raw material needs are covered from own sources or long term supply agreements globally. To have control of our own resources and wood fiber plays a critical role in our transformation.
Forests play a central role in combating climate change. Our young forests absorb carbon dioxide when they grow, and old forests release it as they decay. Carbon is stored in our wood based products even through recycling. Renewables, our key selling point, requires sustainable forestry that keeps forests healthy and productive and growing forever. That is why we always make sure that we harvest less than the growth.
Last year, we planted 41,000,000 tree seedlings in The Nordics, Baltics and Russia alone. In our new ambitious forest sustainability strategy, biodiversity is one of the focus areas. This picture presents examples on how we conserve and manage biodiversity in northern forests. As trees take several decades to mature, long term forest planning is essential. This involves biodiversity assessments to identify, conserve and restore vital ecosystems.
We work together with forest owners to identify sensitive forest areas in need of protection and regularly consult the authorities and scientific institutions on these matters. Our plantations outside of Europe, such as in Brazil and China, typically consist of a mosaic of areas of both wood production and biodiversity conservation. Plantations are, however, established only on areas of low biodiversity value. Our ambition is to regenerate lost biodiversity. As an example, at our joint venture operations in Brazil, approximately half of the land is dedicated to rainforest conservation and restoration.
In addition to forest carbon storage and product substitution effects, we ambitiously work on reducing greenhouse gas emissions in our own operations. We continue to work with science based targets in order to contribute to the 2030 climate goal. In 2020, we achieved a decrease of 26% of our operational emissions. In 2021, we will update our climate targets to be aligned with the 1.5 degree scenario. As we see it, the forest industry is part of the solution to climate change, and Stora Enso aims to contribute to a green future.
Now I'll leave you with a picture that sums up the year of 2020. We continue our transformation journey of becoming a leader in renewable materials in the bioeconomy. And I want to thank you, our shareholders, for your trust and our customers and people for your commitment. We delivered a solid financial result in 2020 in spite of unprecedented turmoil in the global economy. We have a strategy in place to take the next step in our transformation.
We keep building a strong foundation with our Forest, Pulp and Wood Products businesses. We generate solid cash flow from our Paper business and we deliver on investments in our key growth areas: packaging, building solutions and biomaterials innovations. The renewable future grows in the forest. Thank you.
Thank you, Annika. And now we will open our Q and A session. Annika, while we are waiting for audience questions to come in, one question to you on our climate goals. You mentioned that since 2010, we have reduced our operational emissions by 26%. Are we on track to reach our 2030 goal of 31%?
Hello, Mikaela. Yes, I'm very happy to say that we are definitely on track and we will reach our target that we have set. It is important that this is an improvement journey that we will continue working on. And as we said, we have the ambition to reduce our carbon footprint to reach the 1.5 degree commitment that we are doing in the world to hinder climate change. So we want to be one of the solution providers in this area.
Thank you. Thank you, Annika. And we will now start with the questions that we have received from the audience. And our first question goes to Antti. How does the new Board view the share split as a tool for increasing the attractiveness of our share of the Stora Enso share?
A large part of the market is in Sweden, and usually SEK 100 is a psychological limit when it comes to buying shares. A split of one to two would be a good try.
Thank you for the question. A little bit unexpected, but nevertheless, a good question. I think the share price hovering around 16 to 18 around here in Finland, it's not an unusual, level for a Finnish company in Finland. When it comes to the stockholm stock exchange, I I think that if you look at the large cap share list, I think, many shares, if not most of the shares on the large capitalist, actually trade at prices north of a $100,100 crowns per share. Our our peers in in in in Sweden, Holloman and SCA, SCA is around 160, 170 and Holloman actually at around 400.
So it doesn't sound that we deviate so much from the market, but thank you for the question. I think as board, we will consider all things that are good for the shareholders and this might be one amongst those. Thank you.
Thank you, Antti. Our next question goes to Annika. What is special in lignin granulation? As a student, I was packaging it in Holmensburg in 1971, fifty years ago.
Well, what is special is that it enables us to build on our innovation platform. We want to use lignin for one of our three areas of innovation, which is carbon for energy storage, that is using lignin to make sure that we can replace carbon in batteries and to enable electrification. So this is one of our big innovation platforms that we see can be a big business for the future. So doing this granulation and packaging step for us makes sure that we can utilize our LinkedIn in a good way and get access also on the market. And then if we look at the two other innovation areas, it is to use lignin for carbon fiber and then it is lignin for biochemicals like adhesives and glues.
So to be able to then decide on where we would want to have a pilot plant and scaling up this business, it is important that we can compact our linen. So this is just a step in that journey that we're doing to drive growth in biomaterial innovations.
Thank you, Annika. And our next question is also for you. How widely has the coronavirus hit Storenze's employees in the divisions and geographically?
Well, if we look at COVID, we very early acted after the signals we got in China. So we are very fortunate that we took the knowledge that we had from our China operations and then in February, already a year ago, applied very restrictive rules to make sure that we limit the spread of our of COVID within our employees and operations. So I'm very happy to say that we have banned traveling, we have banned physical meetings, we have made sure that we keep the groups and teams as small as possible, and our operations have not been affected. We have been able to produce and supply for our customers, many in the health care industry or in the food industry, essential end uses that needed our material during last year. And through this proactive action, COVID has actually been quite limited in our company.
We have had a few clusters, but we have been able to manage them, and we have not had any major serious cases among our people. We do not comment how the spread is on-site by site. But of course, having different circumstances in different countries and the spread is different geographically, it is about managing it on a local level. And we have done excellent work, I thank our people. The commitment has been very high to protect the safety of all our employees.
Thank you, Annika. And with this, we conclude our questions that we have received and thereby also conclude our Q and A session and this event. And I want to say a warm thanks to all of you for joining us at this event and for sending us your questions. We wish you a great evening and a great weekend. Thank you.