Climate actions must be transparent. Monitoring and reporting emissions is important not only to us as a company, but also to our stakeholders, such as customers and investors. Reporting emissions increases openness and transparency about the environmental impact of our company, while encouraging us to reach our emission reduction targets.
Emission reductions are also significant at the wider societal and global levels. When we succeed in reducing our carbon dioxide emissions, the carbon footprint of our products decreases. This is important to us and our customers. At the same time, emission reductions achieved by companies contribute significantly towards reaching country-specific and EU-level emission reduction targets. The EU is seeking carbon neutrality by 2050 which would make it the first continent in the world to do so.
The message of the Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change (IPCC) is crystal clear: to mitigate climate change, all industries must reduce the use of fossil energy. Metsä Board is advancing at a good pace in this respect: 83 per cent of the energy we use today is already fossil-free.
However, our work continues. As part of Metsä Group, we are committed to significant climate targets. For example, we are aiming to make our mills and products fossil-free by 2030. Our targets in the reduction of greenhouse gas emissions are approved by the Science Based Targets initiative, and they meet the strictest requirements of the Paris Agreement, seeking to restrict the warming of the climate to 1.5 degrees. The targets are ambitious. To achieve them, we need to adopt new technologies, expand our research and development work and make investments. The largest of the planned investments is the renewal of the Husum pulp mill, which is a major step towards fossil-free mills. Investments are also made at our other mills to enable replacing fossil fuels with renewable fuels or fossil-free electricity.
In the best case, companies can combat climate change by becoming active forerunners. Leading the way provides a company with time to implement long-term plans and investments in a controlled manner, meeting the requirements of the latest regulations. In addition, being a forerunner creates a competitive advantage. For example, improving energy efficiency creates cost savings.
Climate change is affecting the whole world and is a cause of concern for people everywhere. Companies can see this, for example, in the changing needs of consumers – often faster than legislation and regulations.
Because of this, the time for a new kind of thinking and action is now.