In 2022 we continued our efforts to drive down our environmental footprint

 We strive for environmental efficiency in our own operations and target net zero emissions by 2030, a goal that is much more ambitious than what most of the industry is aiming for. We have a strategic commitment and roadmaps setting out the concrete actions and resources needed to achieve these ambitions.

Metso Outotec has a pipeline of environmental projects - actions related to energy, CO₂, water and waste to help reduce our overall environmental footprint and achieve cost savings. In 2022 we published a new e-learning focused on defining environmental projects to drive down our emissions and engaging our people to think of possible actions from different angles.

In 2022, we decreased our own CO₂ emissions by 60% compared to the baseline year 2019. This was partly thanks to close to 40 environmental projects that were completed. Last year’s projects included multiple solar panel installations at manufacturing locations, increasing our renewable energy generation by 80% from the previous year, and improving the overall energy efficiency of processes and facilities. Almost all Finnish locations moved to green district heat and several other initiatives were completed globally - for example electric induction furnace modernizations, preheating of ladles, switching to LED lighting and investing in modern air compressors. Going forward there are more than 50 new projects in the pipeline.

In addition, we completed a waste oil recycling project in China and a green-gas certificates initiative in Brazil that reduced CO₂ emissions from the use of natural gas. The certificate ensures that each megawatt-hour is generated from a renewable energy source, in this case biomethane produced from concentrated vinasse, a byproduct of ethanol that can substitute natural gas and diesel.

Supplier engagement is the key to success

An integral part of our sustainability journey is our cooperation with the suppliers. We have over 12,000 suppliers in around 80 countries, including around 7,000 direct suppliers. Our procurement spend totaled EUR 4.1 billion in 2022. We actively educate, advise and audit our suppliers regarding their sustainability performance. Last year we conducted 131 supplier sustainability audits to make sure our suppliers operate according to our standards. In addition, we assessed 399 newly onboarded suppliers on their sustainability practices and launched a new supplier eLearning focusing on human rights topics.

We encourage our suppliers to commit to science-based targets. Our target is that 30% of our suppliers should have SBTi-approved emissions reduction targets by 2030. In 2022, over 800 of our suppliers committed to SBTs and we ended the year with a 20% commitment rate. Out of all the suppliers that have made commitments, we engaged with close to 400, supporting them with this change. This engagement work is especially important with smaller suppliers. In Metals, we have now engaged with all high-volume suppliers and Aggregates reached the 30% supplier engagement group target three years ahead of schedule.

The overall ambition level of the Aggregates supplier engagement program has been high from the start. As a result, our Aggregates business supplier engagement improved from 5.5% to over 30% in less than a year and more than 30 high-spend suppliers registered with SBTi as part of the Aggregates engagement approach. The program is built on an approach of emphasizing the positive aspects of SBTi and gradually building supplier collaboration. Engaged suppliers have been highlighting that they are already getting business benefits due to energy consumption reductions and optimizing their operations.

The program benefits both us and our suppliers because the engaged suppliers are usually smaller companies that would not have their own SBT programs without our support and we, on the other hand, get to purchase parts that are produced in the most responsible way.

We must know our logistics numbers and their environmental impacts

With effective logistics management, we can ensure correct service levels with competitive costs by leveraging our global economies of scale. Did you know that when one full container travels 22,500 kilometers by ocean it generates 2,290 kilograms of CO_2, but by airfreight, the same distance travelled generates 6,500 kg of CO₂? Using road freight with a full trailer over a distance of 1,900 kilometers generates 4,000 kilograms of CO₂ and by airfreight, the same distance traveled generates 15,000 kg of CO₂. So, the means of transport matters.

In 2022 we decreased our logistics CO₂ emissions by 12% compared to the 2019 baseline. Last year we focused on payload optimization, which means utilizing container space more effectively. While these initiatives supported in driving down emissions, the overall growth in the business and our strong commitment to always deliver on time, which sometimes makes it necessary to use more carbon intensive means of transport, meant that our logistics emissions increased from 2021. We will continue to focus on implementing ways to reduce these emissions.

Our ambition level is high

In 2023 we will continue our actions to decrease emissions in our operations, logistics and supply chain. All businesses are building sustainability roadmaps, setting out the path towards the net zero target. We will also continue with our supplier engagement programs and work with all our logistics service providers to report actual emissions on an individual shipment level and engage service providers to align their sustainability targets with ours.