Glaston Invests in Reducing its Carbon Footprint; Achieves First Emissions Reduction Target

In line with the company’s strategic focus areas, in 2022 Glaston began focusing on reducing its carbon footprint. It started by shifting to the use of renewable electricity at its production facilities in Finland and Germany and by investing in a new heat distribution system in Switzerland. The company reports that, by doing so, the greenhouse gas emissions from its operations decreased by 43% year-on-year.

To promote sustainable business, Glaston’s strategy for 2021‒2025 includes such non-financial targets as reducing the direct and indirect emissions from its own operations (Scope 1 and 2 emissions) in relation to net sales by 50% from the 2020 level by 2025.

By investing in energy efficiency and increasing the use of renewable electricity last year, the company not only decreased greenhouse gas emissions by 43% compared to 2021 – a total of 1,491 tonnes – but its greenhouse gas emissions in relation to net sales decreased by 57% compared to the baseline (year 2020) and the strategic objective of 50% was achieved.

The Switzerland production facility, which Glaston says has been using renewable electricity for a long time already, invested further in reducing electricity consumption by installing nearly 400 solar panels with a total capacity of more than 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 company also plans to increase the number of solar panels 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,” said Glaston’s CEO Anders Dahlblom.