Reporting principles

Sustainable development at Metso is reflected in our daily work through overall management, including through our business ethics and Code of Conduct, risk management, human resources, and health, safety and environmental work. Important subjects, such as compliance with laws and regulations, human rights, equal opportunities and non-discrimination, safety, sponsorship and the protection of the environment, are explained in more detail in Metso's Code of Conduct and apply to all Metso employees. Metso's sustainability work is based on strategy, policies, targets and objectives as well as performance indicators set at the Group level and implemented in our operating units globally.

Metso has been reporting sustainability goals and principles since 2002. Metso publishes its sustainability data annually and the reporting period is the financial year, i.e. January 1 to December 31. Metso's sustainability data for 2011 can be found mainly in the Sustainability Results section of our Online Annual Report 2011. The other sections of the Online Annual Report and the printed Annual Report serve as supplementary sustainability information.

Metso's sustainability reporting in 2011 is based on the core indicators of the Global Reporting Initiative's updated (GRI) G3.1 Guidelines. The Global Reporting Initiative is a network-based organization that has pioneered the development of the world's most widely used sustainability reporting framework, which is under continuous improvement and is applied worldwide. We have selected the indicators from the G3.1 Guidelines that are most relevant to Metso in terms of our operations, products and stakeholders. We have self-declared our reporting to be Application Level B+ of the GRI G3.1 Guidelines.

The essential focus areas of sustainability for 2011 are illustrated in the materiality matrix in the Sustainability Results section of our Online Annual Report 2011. These focus areas have been carefully analyzed and selected by management representatives together with our sustainability team. The material themes have been identified also based on our encounters with different stakeholder groups.  

The sustainability performance data in the printed Annual Report in Finnish as well as in the Financial Performance and Sustainability Results sections of our Online Annual Report in English have been externally assured by PricewaterhouseCoopers Oy, and congruence between the Finnish and English versions of the printed Annual Report 2011 has been checked. PricewaterhouseCoopers Oy has also checked our reporting against GRI guidelines and has confirmed it to be Application Level B+ of the GRI G3.1 Guidelines. A comparison of this report's sustainability content against the G3.1 Guidelines and the UN Global Compact initiative is presented in the section containing the GRI and Global Compact Index.

Scope of our reporting

The scope of our reporting is Metso Group, unless otherwise stated. Reporting excludes associated companies, joint ventures or companies that are our suppliers. The sustainability data is commonly presented at the Group or segment level. Any other division of the data reported is noted separately.

Metso's previous Sustainability Results publication and Annual Report were published in March 2011. Metso's Sustainability Results 2011 should be read together with the printed Annual Report and the other sections of the Online Annual Report 2011. Additional sustainability information can be found on our website www.metso.com/sustainability.

We present the comparable figures for 2010 in parentheses. Wherever the data for 2010 has been changed it is indicated with a separate note.

Financial reporting

In our financial reporting, we follow International Financial Reporting Standards (IFRS). Our financial reporting system data covers all Metso units. Each unit submits its financial report to the Group-wide reporting application, and the data is consolidated, validated and analyzed at both the reporting segment and corporate levels. Figures describing economic responsibility, excluding procurement data, are based on accounting and audited financial statements. Procurement data is unaudited. Purchases in the table describing the value added by stakeholder group have been derived from the reported numbers. To a certain extent, total purchases may include also other expense items. Purchases by country data has been collected separately from reporting units and the “by country division” is defined as the location of the supplier's domicile.

Sponsorship and donation expenditure data are collected annually from relevant Metso units.  

Health, safety and environmental reporting

The environmental data is collected according to the GRI G3.1 indicators and according to what we see as material to our business. The environmental data is collected from all our production facilities, which include 97 (99) of our units excluding one unit that was not able to deliver the data in time. Along with Metso’s energy-efficiency targets, the energy data is reported quarterly and all other environmental data annually. Data collection is carried out using a web-based reporting tool and the reported data is approved by the unit manager. At the corporate level, the data is consolidated, validated and analyzed. The data is used e.g. as an environmental risk management tool, for planning operational improvements and as a base for the Metso Energy Efficiency Program. As a result of our constant development work in our environmental reporting, the revision of estimates as well as some errors found, we have made several changes to our historical data.

Reporting of environmental expenses and responsibilities is based on the Finnish Accounting Act. Data related to our research and development activities is collected from our research and development units every six months. This is accomplished through a reporting chain that includes management at the unit, business line, segment and corporate level. Our reporting segments are responsible for the accuracy of the figures, after which the data is consolidated at the corporate level.

Our CO₂ emissions are calculated according to the principles of the GHG protocol.
Metso's Health and Safety (HS) data is collected from all worldwide locations and covers 90 percent of Metso's operations. Data is managed and reported by each business line's HSE Manager. The Metso-level report is collected by the General Manager of HSE.

In 2011, Metso continued implementation of a worldwide health and safety data reporting system, the HSE Monitor, which enables further improvement of HSE reporting. The ‘Lost-time incident factor’ has been calculated based on incidents resulting in one or more days of absence and the estimated hours worked. The factor is calculated per million hours worked.

Reporting personnel data

Metso HR management is responsible for collecting and reporting personnel data with the help of HR Services, our internal support function established in 2010. The data covers the entire Metso Group. The personnel and wages data published in the financial statements is obtained in conjunction with financial reporting and managed by Metso’s reporting specialists in a Group-wide database. In 2010, Metso began implementing a global HR information system that will allow access to more versatile and comparable HR data once the implementation is completed in 2012. Already during 2011, Metso HR reporting became more detailed and versatile as a result of the SAP HR system, which now covers 77% of Metso employees, and our revised and harmonized global HR reporting principles that were introduced in 2011. The HR data reported in our Annual Report 2011 covers all of Metso, including the units that are not yet covered by the global SAP HR system. The few HR figures with lower data coverage are reported with a statement clarifying the share of personnel covered.

The number of absence days per employee has been calculated with the formula 1 day = 8 hours in units where data is available only in hours. The calculation method has been revised since 2010 to assure better data comparability. The data is collected from units and covers 80% of all Metso employees.

The personnel turnover rate is calculated as follows: total outflow of personnel - fixed term contracts that expired / total active at the end of the year. The calculation method has been revised and the 2010 figures have been restated according to the new method to ensure data comparability.