Höganäs reveals the results of its first annual sustainability report
April 18, 2018
Höganäs CEO Fredrik Emilson (right), Sustainability Director Nicklas Lång (right) and Cortus Energy CEO Rolf Ljunggren (centre) broke ground on a plant for production of renewable energy gas and green coke in 2017 (Courtesy Höganäs AB)
Sweden’s Höganäs AB has released the details of its first annual sustainability report, which will now be issued once a year according to new EU requirements. The company signed the UN Global Compact in 2017 and states that it has applied its ten principles to increase sustainability across the organisation.
In 2017, the report stated that 77% of the company’s process-related residual materials were reused or found a new use. The company also reported a 7.1% reduction in energy use per produced tonne of metal powder within its direct operations since 2010. In addition, water used by the company recirculated an average number of sixteen times before becoming wastewater.
In a statement on sustainability at the company, Fredrik Emilson, Höganäs President and CEO, stated that in 2017, “Höganäs’s sustainability work continued with deeper integration of sustainability as an aspect of the business strategy and planning process. Increasingly, sustainability is seen as a natural part of discussions and development projects throughout the company.”
“Our main focus areas are to reduce our climate and environmental impact; responsible sourcing and use of materials for production; and offering a safe and meaningful workplace,” he continued. “We do this by responsibly producing resource-efficient products that benefit both our customers and society.”
“In late 2017 we took an important step away from fossil fuels and towards renewable energy,” he added. “In Höganäs, Sweden, we broke ground for a plant for production of renewable energy gas and green coke. The goal is to transform biomass into renewable energy, and prove the technology so it can be used widely in the iron and steel industry.”
In addition to signing the UN Global Compact and moving to eliminate its use of fossil fuels, in 2017 Höganäs stated that is employees participated in an e-learning course covering general sustainability knowledge and our own sustainability work, that it implemented a tool for reporting group-wide sustainability data and key performance indicators (KPIs) and that it conducted a pilot project for a supplier evaluation tool.
“We will continue to work with sustainability at a high pace during 2018,” Emilson added. “We plan to update our Code of Conduct, launch the supplier evaluation tool for our suppliers of direct material, continue work on the climate roadmap, and establish a partnership with Plan International concerning water purification technology in countries in great need of support.”
“It is clear that we have a strong vision of what characterizes Höganäs as a sustainable business, and what positive impact we and our customers can have in society. Our employees are ready to take on this task,” he concluded. “The next step is to set challenging, yet realistic goals to guide us in our future work.”
