Introduction and objectives
Metsäliitto Group is committed to promoting sustainable development, to continuously improving its operations and to conducting its business in a responsible way. Environmental care is an integral part of corporate responsibility and sustainable development. Metsäliitto Group has integrated environmental management into its entire range of business activities.
The goal of this Environmental Policy is to set principal guidelines and base for respective policies and operations by Group’s businesses.
Scope of application
This Environmental Policy shall be applied globally in all companies and legal entities belonging to the Metsäliitto Group, including individual production units.
Policy guidelines
1. Everyone at Metsäliitto Group shares responsibility for our environmental performance. We meet our legal obligations. We ensure that we have the necessary competence and skills to carry out our environmental responsibilities. The members of our working community know the environmental
impacts associated with their work and recognize their own opportunities and obligations to influence matters.
2. We improve our environmental performance continuously. We recognize the environmental impacts related to our operations throughout the entire value chain of our operations. Our objective is to minimise the adverse environmental impacts of our operations throughout the entire value chain
and the life cycle of our products and services. We develop our products, processes and working methods according to the principles of sustainable development and continuous improvement to improve our environmental performance and energy efficiency. In developing the production processes, we use highly developed production and cleaning methods with maximum efficiency and best availability with regard to their technique and economy. We enhance both our own environmental know-how and our stakeholders’ environmental know-how.
3. We utilise our production resources responsibly. We utilise raw materials, water and energy efficiently and ensure that chemicals are used with caution and according to regulations. Our wood raw material is renewable and we also utilize recovered fibre as raw material in production when applicable. Residual waste and by-products of operations are utilised as raw material for various applications or for their energy content, when feasible.
4. We are committed to sustainable forest management. We utilize renewable wood raw material that originates from sustainably managed forests. Together with our wood suppliers we are committed to taking into consideration the economic, social and environmental aspects of forest management and procurement in accordance with the principles of sustainable development. We know the origin of the wood we use and we
aim at increasing the share of certified wood.
5. We expect our suppliers to follow a responsible environmental policy. Environmental aspects shall be taken into consideration in procurement contracts and supplier audits.
6. We communicate transparently with our stakeholders. We handle environmental issues openly in cooperation with our customers, the general public and the authorities. Transparent and straightforward environmental communication is part of this. We publish product- and production-related environmental information and utilise environmental labelling in our products as a proof of their environmental quality. We actively engage in dialogue about our environmental work with customers and other stakeholders, including environmental non-governmental organisations.
7. Environmental impacts are assessed when considering company acquisitions and other investment projects as well as divestments and activity cessations.
Supplementing guidelines
Supplementing instructions will be given in context with environmental management systems of business areas.
Ownership, approval process, changes and deviations
This Environmental Policy was approved by the Board of Directors of Metsäliitto Cooperative in January 2011. The policy is owned by the Senior Vice President, Sustainability and Corporate Affairs and all updates, changes, deviations and supplements thereto shall be authorised by Sustainability and Corporate Affairs. The environmental policy will be reviewed on an on-going basis and environmental objectives for Metsäliitto Group’s business areas are defined based on this Environmental Policy.