Hello, and welcome to the annual meeting of shareholders of Mercer International Inc Please note that today's meeting is being recorded. During the meeting, we'll have a question-and-answer session. You can submit questions or comments at any time by clicking on the Q&A icon. It is now my pleasure to turn today's meeting over to Mercer's Executive Chairman, Jimmy Lee. The floor is yours.
Thank you. Good morning. My name is Jimmy Lee. I'm the Executive Chairman of the corporation, and I will act as Chairman of this meeting. Thank you for joining us for Mercer International's 2022 annual general meeting. Today's meeting is also being webcast live through our virtual meeting facilities. We strive to make the meeting as inclusive as possible and are excited to offer our shareholders the opportunity to participate and vote via the virtual shareholder meeting. Joining me at today's meeting are Juan Carlos Bueno, our President and CEO, and David Ure, our CFO. I will start today by addressing the business portion of the meeting and will then make a short presentation reviewing our 2021 results and some of our business initiatives moving forward. After this presentation, we'll have an opportunity for questions and answers.
Online participants may submit questions by clicking on the message icon in the upper right corner of the meeting center screen. As Chairman of this meeting, I have adopted an agenda that will govern the order of business and the rules of conduct for the meeting. If you have not already obtained a copy, copies of the agenda and rules are available from the inspector and are also available through the virtual meeting facilities online in the Files section in the lower left of the screen. I appoint David Ure to act as Secretary of this meeting and Rod Telefer, our Legal Counsel, to act as Assistant Secretary. Anita Bassi of Computershare Investor Services Inc, the corporation's transfer agent, is appointed as the inspector of this meeting. If anyone has not yet registered with the inspector, please do so now.
Most of you have already voted your proxy or your proxy votes have already been tallied. If you're a shareholder of record or a beneficial shareholder holding a legal proxy from your bank or broker and you want to vote your shares now or change your votes, ballots are available from the inspector. And if you're attending the meeting through our virtual facilities, you may do so now with the control number you received. For those of you participating online, if you have not voted or wish to change your vote, you may do so now by clicking on the link provided online. Any shareholder who has already voted and does not want to change their vote need not take any further action. The polls are now open and will close in a few moments after the presentation of the business matters for the meeting.
Notice of Meeting: I have an affidavit of mailing of William Valentine of Computershare Communication Services stating that the notice of this meeting and internet availability of proxy materials were mailed beginning on April 21st, 2022, and were sent to all shareholders of record as of March 28, 2022, the record date for attending and voting at this meeting. Report on Quorum: The report of the inspector indicates that there are 127 shareholders present in person or by proxy at this meeting holding 61,477,076 shares, which represents approximately 92.96% of the outstanding shares of the corporation as of the record date. This means that we have a quorum present and the meeting is regularly called, duly constituted, and ready for the transaction of business. Business of the Meeting: We have four proposals for shareholders to consider at today's meeting.
They were all described in the notice of meeting and proxy statement for today's meeting. The first item of business is the election of 10 directors. The following 10 people have been properly nominated by the board: Jimmy Lee, Juan Carlos Bueno, William McCartney, James Shepherd, Keith Purchase, Alan Wallace, Linda Welty, Rainer Rettig, Alice Laberge, and Janine North. The board recommends a vote for each of them. The second item of business is a non-binding advisory vote to approve the corporation's executive compensation as disclosed in the proxy statement for this meeting. The board recommends a vote for this proposal. The third item of business is the ratification of the selection of PricewaterhouseCoopers LLP as the corporation's independent registered public accounting firm for the 2022 fiscal year. The board recommends a vote for this proposal.
Last, the fourth item of business is the approval of the Mercer International Inc. Amended and Restated 2022 Stock Incentive Plan. The board recommends a vote for this proposal. The discussion of the matters for shareholders' consideration is now closed, and the polls are now also closed. There will be a short pause while the inspector completes the preliminary voting tabulation. I will now share with you the preliminary voting tabulations provided by the inspector based on the preliminary review of the votes cast. First, all 10 nominees on the ballot for the board of directors have been elected. They'll each serve until the next annual shareholders' meeting or until they earlier resign or are otherwise disqualified to act as directors. Proposal two: The non-binding advisory vote on executive compensation has been approved.
Proposal three: The ratification of the selection of the corporation's auditors for fiscal 2022 has also been approved. Finally, proposal four: The approval of the Mercer International Inc.'s Amended and Restated 2022 Stock Incentive Plan has been approved. With the formal business of the meeting concluded, I declare that this meeting is now terminated. Now, I would like to make a short presentation reviewing our 2021 fiscal year and certain business initiatives going forward. We're pleased with the record year Mercer achieved operationally in 2021. Making this achievement even more impressive is that we were able to do so while navigating the pandemic, supply chain issues, and refining our sustainability targets. As a result, we would like to thank our employees for continuing to uphold our safety protocols, which have kept our people safe and operations running without interruption. Like many businesses, the pandemic indirectly affected Mercer in 2021.
The global supply chain disruptions created by the pandemic and exacerbated by extreme weather made moving our products challenging, especially late in the year. However, our logistical strategies and related investments proved to be resilient and improved our competitiveness in certain areas. Throughout the pandemic and its uncertainty, we have taken a conservative approach to our financial position to ensure we had enough dry powder if the pandemic were to create an unforeseen negative impact. This approach has served us well as we begin 2021 in a strong financial position and leaves us with enormous financial flexibility for future growth as we continue to focus on our four-pillar strategy, which are: operate world-class assets, grow and diversify where we have core competencies, manage the integrity of our balance sheet and liquidity, and lastly, sustainable operations.
Overall, in 2021, the markets for our products were generally strong, and our record financial results reflect this. Pulp markets peaked in the middle of the year but remained strong with some regional weakness late in the year. Lumber prices in most markets hit record highs during the year, then fell sharply in the summer before strengthening again late in the year. Operationally, 2021 was a record year for Mercer. We achieved record revenues from our pulp, lumber, and green energy businesses that drove both record EBITDA and record net income. In 2021, our total revenues were a record $1.8 billion, up $0.4 billion from 2020. Operating EBITDA totaled a record $479 million, up $286 million from 2020. Our record net income in 2021 was $171 million or $2.59 per basic share, compared to a net loss of $17 million or $0.26 per share in 2020.
In 2021, industry-coded average list prices for NBSK pulp increased by approximately 46% in Europe and 30% in North America compared to 2020. In 2021, average net prices for NBSK pulp in China increased by approximately 45% compared to 2020. The increases reflected steady demand and low customer inventory levels, principally from the pandemic and other factors creating logistics issues, which reduced shipments to China and Europe, and storms and winter conditions in Western Canada, which reduced supply. Average lumber realizations increased by approximately 74% to $699 per 1,000 board feet in 2021 from $402 per 1,000 board feet in 2020, primarily due to the higher pricing in the U.S. and European markets. U.S. lumber pricing increased due to strong housing and home renovation demand. European lumber pricing increased due to steady demand and reduced supply as producers shifted products to the U.S. market.
We recognize the importance of integrating sustainability into our value system and business strategy to improve our competitiveness and social responsibility. We believe we have a unique platform in terms of raw materials and mills to maximize climate benefits from our forest and forest products as replacements for fossil-based products. Recently, the Science Based Targets initiative, a leading evaluator of sustainability performance, validated our greenhouse gas reduction targets to reduce greenhouse gas emissions by 35% by 2030. This target is consistent with the levels required to meet the Paris Agreement goals. The approval formally recognizes Mercer as a leading company and the first in Canada and one of the first North American companies in the forest and paper product sector with approved targets. We have published our 2030 aspirational sustainability objectives and targets on our website and in our upcoming sustainability report, which I encourage you to review.
Examples of projects we have targeted to help us reach our sustainability targets include our two wood-room projects, one at our Peace River Mill and the other at our Celgar Mill. These projects are designed, among other things, to reduce our carbon emissions associated with fiber collection at these facilities and will lower our fiber costs. The environmental benefits are so compelling that local governments have provided financial incentives to support these projects, and it will be completed in 2022. As we advance global climate change mitigation efforts, aboard on paradigm shifts in various sectors, which are benefiting our markets. We've already seen this effect with energy markets in Europe, which has significantly increased their green electricity revenue in recent periods. We believe this trend is likely to occur in our pulp, wood products, and other bioproduct markets, including green energy.
The climate-related focus on embodied carbon is also materially influencing the building product space. Today, steel and cement are still dominant, and the construction industry accounts for about 11% of global greenhouse gas emissions. We believe that displacement of just 1% of the global structural steel market with wood-based solutions represents a $10 billion market opportunity, which would be a tenfold increase over the 2020 mass timber market. We believe that with our 2021 acquisition of Mercer Mass Timber, we're well positioned to take advantage of a switch away from traditional construction materials, as mass timber is a more environmentally friendly construction material than traditional materials like cement and steel. Our new mill is capable of producing roughly 30% of the North American mass timber capacity.
In March 2022, the United Nations Environment Assembly of 175 nations endorsed a historic resolution to end plastic pollution and establish a binding global agreement by 2024. Today, plastic production has reached 348 million tons, which includes growing products like synthetic textile fibers and single-use packaging. By 2050, plastic is expected to account for 15% of global carbon emissions. We believe renewable fibers such as pulp are a logical sustainable replacement. A 5% displacement could create about 17 million tons of new pulp demand, which is equivalent to the total supply of MVSK market pulp today. Capturing even a small portion of the sector's annual growth could see tremendous shifts in demand for our products. Lignin and other extractives are about 40% of the wood we consume, and today, this material is used to make bioenergy.
As industries move to alternatives to petrochemicals, we believe these materials will become essential carbon-neutral chemical building blocks. We also continue to utilize the German government's wastewater fee incentives. These investment projects will not only lower emissions, but our mills will be more cost-effective and benefit from reduced wastewater fee expenses. These investments are a win for both the environment and our shareholders. I have no doubt that the increasing use of renewable products will be part of the climate answer. However, the shifts we're seeing to date in paper-based sustainable packaging and products are just the beginning. We believe the potential of these markets for our products is massive. As a shareholder, I'm excited by the future prospects of significant growth as the world shifts to more sustainable solutions.
At this time, I would like to thank all of our shareholders for their continued support and my fellow board of directors for their strategic and thoughtful oversight, our very capable management team, and all our employees for their initiative and dedication. I would also like to take a moment to thank David Gandossi for the leadership he has brought to Mercer as he transitions to retirement after over seven years as CEO and over 18 years of providing executive leadership for the company. It has been a pleasure working with David, and I wish him continued good health and success. Now, I'm proud to introduce our new president and CEO, Juan Carlos Bueno. Juan Carlos joins Mercer's leadership team as a seasoned global leader in forestry and our industry space.
Together with Juan Carlos, our employees, customers, and shareholders, we look forward to further developing Mercer for future profitability, growth, and innovation. And now, Juan Carlos will say a few words. Juan Carlos.
Thank you for the introduction, Jimmy. I am very pleased to join Mercer in the capacity of CEO and, more importantly, to have the opportunity to work with such a great team. Together, we will continue to grow our company by further developing our different business platforms while exploring new opportunities. Thank you, Jimmy. Thank you. That concludes our prepared remarks. We would be happy at this time to take any questions from shareholders. As a reminder, you can register your questions by clicking the messages icon in the upper right corner of the virtual meeting center screen. We will pause for a moment to queue any questions.
Mr. Chairman, there are no questions at this time.
Okay. It appears that there are no questions. That being the case, we will conclude the web conference. On behalf of the board, I would like to thank you all for joining us today and for your continued support of Mercer. We look forward to speaking to you again as our year progresses. Thank you.
This concludes the meeting. You may now disconnect.