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Making our operations carbon neutral
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%.