Exploring sustainability at Metso: A Summer Trainee’s perspective

I’m Johanna Johansson and I work as a Sustainability Summer Trainee in Metso’s Sustainability & QEHS team. I’m originally from Espoo, and currently studying environmental technology in Lappeenranta University of Technology. I have a previous degree as Bachelor of Business Administration. I worked in a bank for a while after graduation, until my passion for the planet and all things sustainable lead me to a career change and I ended up in Lappeenranta.

I’ve always had a positive image about Metso as an employer, even before I knew many details about the company. When I started the search for a summer job, exploring Metso a bit further won me over. What impressed me the most was Metso’s honest commitment to sustainability and understanding their impact.

Mining industry has a visible impact on climate-change and the environment, and this job would allow me to be a part of a company that can truly make a difference. Metso being a huge, global company was also a bonus.

My main tasks as the Sustainability summer trainee all stem from the aim to reduce Metso’s carbon footprint and improve sustainable operations. They’ve mostly been related to environmental reporting, internal or external. I’ve ensured the accuracy of our environmental KPIs across the various locations and kept an eye for potential errors or inconsistencies. One focus point has been supplier sustainability. Metso has a myriad of suppliers, and we want to ensure that their working principles are aligned with our sustainability mindset. This is a project that involves different functions in Metso, and I’ve been involved in following and reporting all progress and improving the data quality.

One bigger project during my summer was regarding EU legislation. EU is launching a new legislation related to environmental reporting, the Corporate Sustainability Reporting Directive CSRD. It’s something that will affect every big company operating in EU to make reporting about sustainability issues more detailed, reliable and comparable. My part has been doing an analysis on how we comply to these new standards in our current reporting, and what should be the main focus points for improvement. This project has introduced me to a whole new language and world of legislation, and what I’ve learned will most likely be utilized time and time again in the future.

The most interesting thing about my position in corporate sustainability is how it’s giving me a viewpoint of how sustainability work is done across the whole organization. Metso is a global company and different locations can have different challenges. Sometimes it might be hard to focus on the bigger picture, especially as a newcomer in the company. It has been great to notice how by the end of the summer my tasks, one piece at a time, have actually started to relate to the bigger picture and be a part of the whole.

During the summer I’ve learned loads about sustainability work in global corporations. This was my first summer job that focuses purely on sustainability topics, and it’s been great deepening my knowledge and seeing how these themes come to action, both in strategy and in concrete actions.

I also improved my skills working with different tools and programs. My proficiency in the most loved office program, Microsoft Excel, grew considerably. New and interesting addition to my skillset is that I’ve gotten a glimpse to data analytics and Power BI, and how to utilize it in day-to-day work.

My team has been a great support through all of this. I have a supporting manager and colleagues, that have taken the time to coach me through my tasks and the working environment. Everyone I’ve worked with has made me feel welcome and as a part of Metso.

One of my highlights of the summer was the Summer Trainee Day that HR organized for us. All Metso summer trainees gathered in Espoo, and we had a fun day full of activities. It was great to hear from different people in different locations about their positions and how our jobs might be linked to each other. Another highlight that’s personal to me, has been noticing the growth of my professional confidence. I’ve gotten to a point where I’ve started to trust my abilities and observations more and act on them.

To anyone considering applying to Metso: Do it. During my summer here I’ve received real responsibilities and real tasks and been given support and room to grow. That’s all I could ask for, and I’m excited to be a part of this team and Metso.