At the begin­ning of this year, Ponsse’s first emis­sions reduc­tion goals were set for Scope 1 and 2 emis­sions (our ope­ra­tions and purc­ha­sed energy). Our goal is to achieve car­bon neut­ra­lity in our pro­duc­tion ope­ra­tions regar­ding Scope 1 and 2 emis­sions by 2025, and car­bon neut­ra­lity in all our ope­ra­tions in the Nor­dic count­ries, as well as emis­sions reduc­tions of 55% throug­hout Ponsse Group by 2035. In prac­tice, this trans­la­tes to emis­sions reduc­tions of roughly 5% per year.

Achie­ving these emis­sions reduc­tion goals requi­res the sup­port of various calcu­la­tions and the col­lec­tion of diverse data. A couple of years ago, when Ponsse set car­bon neut­ra­lity as its goal for the future, both in our ope­ra­tions and pro­duct solu­tions, not many at Ponsse were fami­liar with the idea, and we did not know what our emis­sions were at the time. We calcu­la­ted our Group’s emis­sions for the first time in 2021 for 2020 and 2019.

In only two years, Ponsse has also expe­rienced rapid deve­lop­ment in cli­mate acti­vi­ties. We are more conscious of our impact on the cli­mate, the road­map of our cli­mate pro­gramme is cla­ri­fying all the time, and the theme is discus­sed at all levels of our orga­ni­sa­tion. Even though our company’s mana­gers make deci­sions on our tar­get state, the programme’s success depends on the daily work and deci­sions of every emplo­yee. As cli­mate change is in the news nearly every day, it is a rele­vant and impor­tant theme to all of us.

WE ARE HEA­DING IN THE RIGHT DIREC­TION

In 2022, Ponsse’s car­bon footprint (Scope 1 and 2) dec­rea­sed by 1% to 4,310 t CO2-eq. This was due to the fact that our acti­vi­ties and we added two new areas to the calcu­la­tion Ponsse Chile and Ponsse Czech. Howe­ver, we are hea­ding in the right direc­tion. After all, com­pa­red to our ini­tial car­bon footprint calcu­la­ted in 2019, the drop was 38% from the pre­vious year.

Our car­bon footprint rela­tive to the scope of our ope­ra­tions was an even bet­ter success than our total emis­sions reduc­tions. Regard­less of the inc­rease in busi­ness ope­ra­tions, our car­bon footprint rela­tive to net sales, i.e. our emis­sion inten­sity, fell by 20% from the pre­vious year to 5.7 t CO2-eq. per EUR mil­lion.

The majo­rity of our car­bon footprint comes from Scope 1 emis­sions caused by our ope­ra­tions, accoun­ting for 85% of total emis­sions. The percen­tage of fos­sil fuels was sig­ni­ficant in the results. Of our emis­sions, 60% came from the use of vehicles, 14% from the test drive process for manu­fac­tu­red forest mac­hi­nes, and 11% from hea­ting. Geo­grap­hically, the most sig­ni­ficant part of our car­bon footprint came from Nort­hern Europe (45%) and North Ame­rica (25%).

We have reduced the car­bon footprint of our pro­duc­tion by 90% since 2019. The switch to renewable energy and district hea­ting from renewable energy sources and the use of the renewable die­sel have reduced emis­sions. In 2022, the car­bon footprint of Ponsse Group’s fac­to­ries was 259 t CO2-eq., repre­sen­ting a dec­rease of 4% com­pa­red to the pre­vious year. When we talk about a car­bon neut­ral fac­tory, we mean our pro­duc­tion ope­ra­tions that do not include the test drive process for manu­fac­tu­red forest mac­hi­nes or the use of our vehicles, and when we talk about our fac­to­ries, we mean our forest mac­hine manu­fac­tu­ring ope­ra­tions in Vie­remä and the pro­duc­tion of our tech­no­logy com­pany Epec Oy in Sei­nä­joki.

It is obvious that our most sig­ni­ficant envi­ron­men­tal impact comes from the use of the pro­ducts we manu­fac­ture. They are inclu­ded in Scope 3 emis­sions, i.e. emis­sions com­pa­nies cause indi­rectly through their value chains. We have not yet set any goals for Scope 3 emis­sions, as we will only calcu­late them for the first time next year. In our research and deve­lop­ment acti­vi­ties, we are wor­king cons­tantly to reduce the fuel con­sump­tion of forest mac­hi­nes and deve­lopcar­bon-neut­ral power sources. A year ago, Ponsse int­ro­duced the PONSSE EV1 forwar­der, an elect­ric forest mac­hine concept, which leads the way for the deve­lop­ment of forest mac­hine tech­no­lo­gies.

ENERGY CON­SUMP­TION

In 2022, Ponsse Group’s total energy con­sump­tion (inclu­ding fuel) was 39.0 GWh, of which 56.5% came from renewable energy sources. Com­pa­red to the pre­vious year, our con­sump­tion and the share of renewable energy both inc­rea­sed by 2%.

Of our elect­ricity con­sump­tion, 12.9 GWh, or 95%, came from renewable energy sources. The elect­ricity con­su­med in our loca­tions in Fin­land was 100% gua­ran­tee-of-ori­gin hydro­power.

In the car­bon neut­ra­lity road­map, energy savings mea­su­res play the lea­ding role. Cur­rently, a new fac­tory is being built for our tech­no­logy com­pany Epec in Sei­nä­joki, in which energy efficiency has already been addres­sed from the very first steps of the design process. The fac­tory roof will be fit­ted with 400 solar panels to pro­duce elect­ricity, hea­ting sys­tems will be based on geot­her­mal heat, and the fac­tory will be equip­ped with heat reco­very sys­tems and solu­tions that reduce the need for coo­ling energy. All purc­ha­sed elect­ricity and heat will come from renewable energy sources.The goal is for the new fac­tory to be car­bon neut­ral during its ope­ra­tions.

In addi­tion to the Epec fac­tory in Sei­nä­joki in Fin­land, we will also ins­tall solar panels in Ponsse’s other loca­tions in Fin­land this year – Kou­vola, Jyväs­kylä, Mik­keli, Joen­suu and the Iisalmi logis­tics and ser­vice centre. All the 884 solar panels are expec­ted to gene­rate roughly 294 MWh of elect­ricity per year. The addi­tion of solar panels is expec­ted to quadruple our own elect­ricity pro­duc­tion.

Car­bon-neut­ral energy means energy gene­ra­ted using renewable energy sources, inclu­ding bio­energy, and nuclear power. In 2022, the share of car­bon neut­ral (Scope 2) energy in our elect­ricity and hea­ting inc­rea­sed to 89.3%.