Consumables

ABITIBIBOWATER THOROLD MILL CERTIFIED TO FSC

Wednesday 17. September 2008 - AbitibiBowater announced today that its Thorold, Ontario newsprint mill has been certified to the Forest Stewardship Council chain-of-custody standard (FSC CoC). This certification tracks FSC certified material through the production process - from the fiber sources to the consumer, including all successive stages of processing, transformation, manufacturing and distribution.

All of the Thorold mill’s 100% recycled newsprint production will be eligible to carry the FSC logo as a result of the certification (certification number SW-COC-003422). Smartwood – Rainforest Alliance, who recommended the mill be registered under the FSC CoC (FSC-STD-40-004 v2) standard, conducted the audit of this operation.

“Certification under the FSC CoC standard demonstrates AbitibiBowater’s commitment to transparency of the Company’s fiber sourcing practices,” commented David J. Paterson, President and Chief Executive Officer. “With this announcement, AbitibiBowater will now operate the largest FSC certified 100% recycled newsprint mill in North America.”

This decision builds on the Company’s existing commitments to certify 100% of its managed forests to one of the three predominant North American certification standards, including the Canadian Standards Association, Sustainable Forestry Initiative and FSC standards. The Company has an inclusive approach to certification recognizing each of these standards. AbitibiBowater has already implemented FSC CoC at its Mersey, Nova Scotia mill.