Proactive sustainability work – FB Ketju calculates emissions as part of the EU's new reporting standard
At FB Ketju, responsibility plays a key role in all operations. Summer employee Joonas Huhtanen has been calculating emissions for FB Ketju for the past two summers, which is part of more responsible sustainability standard reporting in the future.
According to Joonas Huhtanen, reporting on responsibility is a competitive advantage that can add value in the eyes of financiers, customers, and employees. He considers it as a good matter that FB Ketju has already begun the transition to standardised reporting.
Emissions calculations map the emissions generated by a company's operations. The emissions calculations carried out by Joonas Huhtanen for his master's thesis are linked to a broader EU reporting standard, according to which companies will in future be required to report their sustainability data in accordance with ESRS standards. Initially, the reporting obligation will apply to larger companies, but it will later be extended to smaller ones as well.
This is the CSRD (Corporate Sustainability Reporting Directive), which will be implemented using the ESRS E1 climate standard (European Sustainability Reporting Standards).
“The purpose of my work is to create guidelines for reporting, which include a transition plan and an emissions calculation table. This will enable FB Ketju to prepare for the upcoming mandatory reporting in good time. The first mandatory reporting is due in the 2028 financial year,” Huhtanen explains.
Reporting adds value
Emissions calculations have been made by collecting data as extensively as possible on all of the company's own operations. The most important emission categories are electricity and heat, whose consumption is converted into carbon dioxide equivalents. Transport emissions are also taken into account in the calculations. For the time being, the calculations focus on FB Ketju's internal emissions, but the aim is to expand them in the future to cover the entire chain, including emissions from raw material production.
The transition plan, on the other hand, takes a position on how the company will reduce emissions in the coming years and sets targets for this.
Huhtanen considers it positive that FB Ketju has started to consider reporting at an early stage, as preparation will facilitate the transition to standardised reporting.
“Responsibility reporting is a competitive advantage that can add value in the eyes of financiers, customers, and employees. Companies have produced responsibility reports before, but without a common standard,” Huhtanen points out.
Responsibility is a matter of course
According to CEO Mika Suomi, responsibility is an important part of FB Ketju's strategy. Emissions accounting is a natural extension of FB Ketju's quality systems and environmental certifications.
"Our owner, Addtech, wants to be a ‘sustainable company’, and that is the direction we at FB Ketju want to take as well. Responsibility figures have become as important part of our operations as financial figures," says Suomi.
According to him, large companies' requirements for sustainability reporting have begun to increase, and FB Ketju's key figures are already being sent to certain companies, sometimes based on their own customers' requirements.
"Emissions are an important part of responsibility, just as quality systems are part of our processes. Sustainability can also affect our customers and employees on a personal level. It has become obvious to us that we need to take responsibility into account."
