In line with the company’s strategic focus areas, Glaston focused on reducing its carbon footprint in 2022. The greenhouse gas emissions from Glaston’s own operations decreased by 43% year-on-year. The result was mainly achieved by shifting to the use of renewable electricity at Glaston’s production facilities in Finland and Germany and by investing in a new heat distribution system in Switzerland.
In order to promote sustainable business, Glaston’s strategy for 2021‒2025 sets as one of the non-financial targets reducing the direct and indirect emissions from its own operations (Scope 1 and 2 emissions) in relation to net sales by 50% from the level of 2020 by 2025.
In order to reach the goal, Glaston made investments in energy efficiency and increased the use of renewable electricity last year. As a result of these measures, greenhouse gas emissions (Scope 1 and 2) decreased by 43% compared to 2021, totaling 1,491 tonnes. Greenhouse gas emissions in relation to net sales decreased by 57% compared to the baseline (year 2020) and the strategic objective of 50 per cent was achieved.
The result was achieved by shifting to the use of renewable electricity at the production facilities in Finland and Germany in early 2022. In addition, the heat distribution system of the Switzerland unit was renewed, considerably decreasing gas consumption.
The Switzerland production facility, which has been using renewable electricity for a long time already, invested further in reducing electricity consumption by installing close to 400 solar panels with a total capacity of over 150 kWp on the roof of the production unit. The solar panels have been producing energy for the factory's own use since November 2022, and from the beginning of December some electricity has also been fed into the grid. The number of solar panels will be increased further this year.
“Sustainable business is one of the focus areas of our strategy. We took a significant step forward in 2022 by reaching our emissions reduction target of 50% already early into the strategy period. Even though our emissions have decreased significantly, we will continue our work to reduce our emissions. Moreover, considering the nature of our business, the majority of the emissions relating to our operations are generated in our value chain. We have calculated the upstream and downstream climate impact of our value chains for 2021, and the results will be the foundation of our future work. Our next objective, covering the emissions of the value chain as a whole, is already underway. We want to be a frontrunner in this area and also encourage our customers and suppliers to include emissions reduction in their own agendas,” says Glaston’s CEO Anders Dahlblom.
