Sustainability is based on three pillars: ecological, social and economic sustainability. In my role as Metsä Group’s SVP, Sourcing and Logistics, I believe that giving balanced attention to all these areas is key in our attempts to navigate the storms of the global economy and ensure the entire forest industry’s and its operators’ competitiveness.
From the forest to the customer – competitively and sustainably
Economic sustainability means that the company is profitable and able to weather economic challenges. This lays the foundation for other areas of sustainability as no company can be sustainable without enjoying financial stability.
The economic sustainability of the company and its entire supplier network is particularly important when the profitability of its business is put to the test – whether due to trade disputes, geopolitical tensions or weaker consumer demand.
Close and regenerative cooperation with our suppliers is key to the long-term competitiveness, responsibility and sustainability of our entire industry and value chain. In practice, this can mean things such as jointly developed cost-effective and innovative solutions that provide answers to global problems and improve our competitiveness worldwide.
Effective resource management is a key component in making the value chain more competitive. For example, investments in energy-efficient technologies and renewable energy sources can reduce costs – and environmental impact. In turn, by optimising logistics, we can reduce transport costs, geopolitical risks and our carbon dioxide emissions across the value chain. Economic and ecological sustainability are not mutually exclusive – on the contrary, they often go hand in hand.
In terms of ecological sustainability, we are committed to reducing emissions and promoting climate targets across the value chain. We have set ourselves the goal to reduce carbon dioxide emissions from logistics by 30 per cent by 2030. Our suppliers are contributing to this effort as their emissions are included in our Scope 3 emissions.
In addition to economic and ecological sustainability, we must ensure that we do the right thing and respect every operator in our value chain. This means long-term and reliable business partnerships with shared values and goals.
Success in all three areas of sustainability requires cooperation because one weak link in the value chain will undermine the entire chain’s performance. In other words, the saying about the chain being only as strong as its weakest link also applies to value chains and their sustainability.