(September 20, 2010)

Today, SKF announced a pilot project to kick off its five-year afforestation initiative at a contract signing ceremony in northeastern China. The pilot SKF forest project, covering around 260 hectares, is located in a remote area heavily damaged by wind borne sand, in Fuxin Mongolian Autonomous County, Liaoning province.

"Forests play a vital role in our global ecosystem. As a key part of world forestry, China's forestry plays an important role in global ecological improvement. As a response to address climate change, China is aiming to increase 40 million hectares of its forest area and 1.3 billion cubic meters of stock volume by year 2020 from a 2005 basis. To achieve this, we must make a huge joint effort in all sectors of society," said Mr. Su Ming, Vice Director General of International Forest Cooperation Center under State Forestry Administration (SFA) of China. "As a responsible company, SKF intend to contribute great efforts to the development of China forestry and the improvement of global environment. We welcome companies like SKF to join in this campaign. After several rounds of consultations and field visits, both parties have decided to conduct afforestation in the city of Fuxin, Liaoning Province as a pilot for cooperation. SKF's move has set up a good example for other companies to contribute in global ecological conservation. "

SKF signed a framework agreement with SFA at the 60th anniversary of Sino-Swedish diplomatic relations in Beijing (21 May 2010), "The contract signing of the Fuxin pilot project symbolizes the deployment stage of SKF's 5-year afforestation project in China." said Mr. Magnus Johansson, Senior Vice President, Group Business Development and Government Relations, SKF Group. "China is a very important market for SKF, we will continue to carry out a variety of corporate social responsibility programs following our SKF Care and sustainability initiative, as well as sharing knowledge with local professionals."

Fuxin Mongolian Autonomous County is located in northwest Liaoning province, south of Horqin Sands. This part of Fuxin County is defined as Class 1 Ecological Sensitive, an area that is severely impacted by wind borne sand. Planting trees in Fuxin County will help reduce the damage caused by sand and curb the expansion of the Horqin Sands to the south, improving the quality of life for local residents. "A forest planted in Fuxin County will act as an ecological barrier for cities in the middle of Liaoning. I believe this project will have benefits not only for today but also for the future, contributing to the ecological development in Fuxin and Liaoning province," said Mr. Ma Zhigang, Deputy Director General of Forest Department.

When asked why SKF prefers to create a new forest instead of protecting existing forest areas, Mr. Magnus Johansson said, "Protecting an existing forest is also important and the environmental outcome is immediate. However we believe that to achieve long-term, sustainable forestry management or protection, we need to create a learning opportunity. SKF would like the Fuxin project to also serve as a meeting place where knowledge in sustainable forestry can be exchanged."

SKF has a robust plan to constantly improve the energy efficiency in both its manufacturing operations and other facilities. For SKF this has resulted in a carbon emissions reduction of more than 150,000 tonnes, a nearly 27% absolute reduction over the past four years. With the long-term protection of the environment in mind, SKF embeds sustainable growth into every procedure across its organization. At the end of 2009, SKF Group earned a Group-wide ISO 14001 Environmental Management certificate comprising 97 sites in 28 countries, including all the manufacturing facilities in China.

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