HKScan reports a 35% year-on-year reduction in the Group's emissions of greenhouse gases in 2015.
"We improved our performance in most areas in 2015. We achieved a 35 per cent year-on-year reduction in greenhouse gas emissions in 2015, which amounts to 83 thousand metric tonnes. This is a significant achievement for only one year. Two thirds of the reduction came from HKScan’s own activities, and one third is attributable to new method of calculating emissions from electricity", says Vera Söderberg, HKScan's Corporate Responsibility Manager specializing in environmental affairs.
The biggest improvement was achieved in reduction of indirect (Scope 2) emissions, like purchased electricity and district heating, largely thanks to the Group’s operations in Sweden and Poland switching to hydroelectricity, which resulted in a reduction of 42 thousand metric tonnes. A decrease in the emission factor for the Nordic and Estonian residual mix resulted in a reduction of 28 thousand metric tonnes. Electricity use was down 4% from the 2014 level.
The greatest relative year-on-year reduction in emissions resulted from preventing leakage of refrigerants, totalling 64%. Heating emissions were reduced by 7 000 tonnes. Emissions from transports, travel and refrigeration were of the same order as in 2014.
“HKScan has made an active effort to replace fossil fuels with renewable energy sources at its production plants during 2015, which has contributed to reducing greenhouse gas emissions. For instance two of our farms in Estonia switched from fossil fuels to wood pellet burners, and one of our Estonian production plants has increased the use of animal and vegetable fats for heating. In Sweden, we started using biogas and district steam produced from renewable energy sources," adds Söderberg.
Environmental work is part of continuous improvement
Commitment to environmental responsibility is important to HKScan and its stakeholders. Stakeholder expectations and new, stricter regulations call for continual improvement in environmental issues.
“Our entire Group has made a systematic effort to reduce emissions of greenhouse gases – and we plan to continue working even harder to improve. Environmental responsibility is an integral part of our daily work. We are for instance working together with our personnel to come up with new ideas for saving energy,” says COO Aki Laiho.
The Group has been measuring its emissions of greenhouse gases in line with the Greenhouse Gas Protocol (GHG Protocol) since 2014. This is the global standard most widely used for quantifying, managing and reporting emissions of greenhouse gases.
Scope 1 relates to greenhouse gas emissions from sources owned or controlled by the company. These include emissions from oil burners and the company's own vehicles. The indirect sources in Scope 2 are the company's consumption of purchased electricity, steam and district heating.
Scopes 1 and 2 account for less than ten per cent of total greenhouse gas emissions from meat production, from farm to fork (i.e. emissions of HKScan's commercial activity). Scope 3 (i.e. the value chain of activities before and after HKScan's commercial activity) accounts for over 90 per cent. Animal primary production is the biggest source of emissions in Scope 3. In order to assess products from a life cycle perspective (and partly emissions of Scope 3), HKScan uses life cycle analysis (LCA) to measure various environmental aspects.
For further information:
Vera Söderberg, Corporate Responsibility Manager, HKScan Group.
Kindly submit a callback request via Marja-Leena Dahlskog, SVP Communications, HKScan Corporation, tel. +358 10 570 2142 or marja-leena.dahlskog(at)hkscan.com
HKScan is the leading Nordic meat expert. We sell, market and produce high-quality, responsibly-produced pork, beef, poultry and lamb products, processed meats and convenience foods under strong brand names.Our customers are the retail, food service, industrial and export sectors, and our home markets comprise Finland, Sweden, Denmark and the Baltics. We export to close to 50 countries. In 2015, HKScan had net sales of approximately EUR 1.9 billion and some 7 400 employees.
www.hkscan.com