Elanders AB (publ)
Climate Impact & Sustainability Data (2021, 2022, 2023, 2024-01 to 2024-03)
Reporting Period: 2021
Environmental Metrics
Renewable Energy Share:70%
ESG Focus Areas
- Environment and climate
- Employees
- Social conditions and human rights
- Ethics and anti-corruption
Environmental Achievements
- Continued work on reducing environmental impact, including measures to reduce energy consumption and greenhouse gas emissions and generating less hazardous waste.
- Switching to an electrical truck reduced emissions by more than 30 tons annually.
- Increased the proportion of renewable electricity in operations to 70%.
Social Achievements
- Launched a joint occupational health vehicle for employee COVID-19 vaccinations.
- Donated one million surgical masks, 100,000 face shields and isolation gowns to hospitals in Singapore.
- Continued work on equality, equal opportunity, and diversity, including developing a formal Equal Opportunity Plan.
Governance Achievements
- Hired Nathalie Bödtker-Lund as Sustainability Director.
- Implemented a global digital platform for sustainability data collation.
- Preparing to report according to the GRI Standards.
Climate Goals & Targets
Long-term Goals:
- Reduce direct and indirect emissions of greenhouse gases.
Medium-term Goals:
- Create a common perspective on sustainability and a sustainability strategy with concrete goals.
Short-term Goals:
- Improve sustainability data collation.
- Prepare to report according to GRI Standards.
- Start reporting greenhouse gas emissions.
Environmental Challenges
- Semiconductor shortage leading to irregular capacity utilization.
- Disturbances in global supply chains due to the COVID-19 pandemic.
- Tough price pressure, contracting total volumes and surplus capacity in the print market.
Mitigation Strategies
- Optimizing processes and renegotiating unprofitable business in Supply Chain Solutions.
- Consolidating production capacity in Print & Packaging Solutions.
- Adding supply chain management services to existing print operations.
Supply Chain Management
Responsible Procurement
- Elanders’ Code of Conduct comprises suppliers and business partners.
Climate-Related Risks & Opportunities
Reporting Standards
Frameworks Used: GRI Standards (preparing to report)
Certifications: ISO 9001 and ISO 14001 (almost all companies)
UN Sustainable Development Goals
- Goal 7
- Goal 13
- Goal 8
- Goal 5
- Goal 10
- Goal 4
- Goal 9
Elanders contributes to these goals through various initiatives described in the report.
Reporting Period: 2022
Environmental Metrics
Total Carbon Emissions:37,616 tCO2e/year (Scope 1 & 2)
Scope 1 Emissions:24,750 tCO2e/year
Scope 2 Emissions:12,866 tCO2e/year
Renewable Energy Share:53%
Total Energy Consumption:176,416 MWh/year
ESG Focus Areas
- Greenhouse gas emissions
- Material and waste
- Health and safety
- Employee relations
- Diversity, equity and inclusion
- Human rights
- Business ethics
- Data ethics
- Sustainable procurement
- Responsible taxpayer
- Society
Environmental Achievements
- Reduced greenhouse gas emissions in scope 1 and 2 by more than nine percent from last year.
- Increased the portion of purchased renewable electricity from 51 percent to 53 percent.
- Implemented energy-saving measures at Elanders’ facilities.
- Life Cycle Management handled over 85,000 units, resulting in emissions savings of around 24.5 thousand tons CO2e.
Social Achievements
- Continued work on developing a formal, group-wide gender equality plan.
- Initiated an extensive employee survey throughout the Group.
- Elanders’ subsidiary Mentor Media works with the Swedish Chamber of Commerce in Singapore in a mentorship program for certain female managers.
Governance Achievements
- Updated Anti-Corruption Policy and Code of Conduct communicated to all companies in the Group.
- Elanders’ Binding Corporate Rules (BCR) were approved by the Swedish Authority for Privacy Protection (IMY).
- Elanders acts responsibly and with integrity in all tax matters and ensures it fully complies in all jurisdictions worldwide.
Climate Goals & Targets
Long-term Goals:
- Reduce GHG emissions within scope 1 and 2 by 75 percent by 2040.
- Achieve net zero GHG emissions over the entire value chain by 2050.
Medium-term Goals:
- Reduce GHG emissions within scope 1 and 2 by 50 percent and scope 3 emissions related to our own operations by 30 percent by 2030.
- Increase the portion of women in leading positions.
- Increase diversity in leading positions.
Environmental Challenges
- Fluctuating demand geographically and between customer segments.
- Disturbances in customers’ supply chains due to material and component shortages (semiconductors, etc.).
- Inflation, cost increases, and energy crisis.
- COVID-19 shutdowns in China.
- Shortage of material (paper) and skyrocketing prices.
- The war in Ukraine and its consequences (supply chain disruptions, inflation, energy crisis).
Mitigation Strategies
- Price increases and ensuring material supplies.
- Closing down unprofitable sections of road transportation operations in Germany to improve margins and free up capital.
- Reducing low-margin buy and sell business.
- Broadening customer base to cover more industries and increase geographic reach.
- Developing new facilities in Netherlands, Germany, Mexico, UK, and USA.
- Accelerating work on sustainability and setting climate targets.
Supply Chain Management
Responsible Procurement
- Supplier Code of Conduct
Climate-Related Risks & Opportunities
Physical Risks
- Extreme weather
Transition Risks
- Regulatory changes
- Market shifts
Opportunities
- Development of energy-efficient products and services
Reporting Standards
Frameworks Used: GRI, Greenhouse Gas Protocol, EU Taxonomy
Sustainable Products & Innovation
- Renewed Tech
Reporting Period: 2023
Environmental Metrics
Total Carbon Emissions:231,981 tCO2e/year
Scope 1 Emissions:25,900 tCO2e/year
Scope 2 Emissions:10,793 tCO2e/year
Scope 3 Emissions:195,288 tCO2e/year
Renewable Energy Share:61%
Total Energy Consumption:154,604 MWh/year
ESG Focus Areas
- Environment
- Social
- Governance
Environmental Achievements
- Reduced total greenhouse gas emissions by more than four percent from last year (scope 1 and 2). This is mainly due to fewer fossil-fuel driven road transports, less consumption of natural gas for heating purposes and continued investment in energy efficient lighting and e-savers.
- Increased the portion of purchased renewable electricity from 59 percent to 61 percent compared to the previous year.
- Reduced scope 3 emissions by 11 percent from last year. The change was most pronounced in the freight forwarding services due to fewer transports in Air & Sea.
- Mapping of the Group’s value chain emissions (scope 3) completed.
- Climate targets set for the Group. Committed to setting climate targets in line with Science Based Targets initiative (SBTi).
Social Achievements
- Continued to create new jobs globally, reaching almost 8,000 employees across 20 countries.
- Maintained a continuous and constructive dialogue with employee representatives, including the European Works Council (EWC).
- Developed a version of its Code of Conduct which is communicated to its suppliers and business partners.
- 99% of all white-collar workers completed courses on the Anti-Corruption Policy and Code of Conduct.
Governance Achievements
- Adjusted the Group’s whistleblower system in line with EU’s new whistleblower directive.
- No material incidents of fraud, corruption, bribes or money laundering were reported in 2023.
- Elanders signed on to the United Nations Global Compact.
Climate Goals & Targets
Long-term Goals:
- Achieve net zero emissions over the entire value chain by 2050.
Medium-term Goals:
- Reduce emissions within scope 1 and scope 2 by 75 percent by 2040.
Short-term Goals:
- Reduce greenhouse gas emissions within scope 1 and scope 2 by 50 percent and reduce emissions within scope 3 related to own operations by 30 percent by 2030.
- Develop action plans for emission reductions.
Environmental Challenges
- High inflation, decreasing consumption, and normalized freight rates for Air & Sea negatively impacted organic growth.
- Decline in demand within a majority of Elanders’ customer segments and on all continents.
- Weaker market for durable goods, fashion, and automotive industry component supply issues.
- Overcapacity in the USA and Europe after investments made before inflation soared.
- Weaker demand in all major customer segments and markets in the fourth quarter.
- Several customers in Automotive still struggling with disturbances regarding material and component flows.
- The market continues to be uncertain in general.
Mitigation Strategies
- Diversification moderated the worst effects of the decline in demand.
- Discontinued low-profit business operations.
- Renegotiated client contracts and implemented cost initiatives.
- Substantially improved cash conversion.
- Reduced working capital by over MSEK 370.
- Continued work to reduce working capital and improve cash flow.
- Strategic acquisitions (Kammac and Bishopsgate).
Supply Chain Management
Supplier Audits: Annual audits, self-assessments and documentation reviews of certain suppliers.
Responsible Procurement
- Code of Conduct for suppliers
Climate-Related Risks & Opportunities
Opportunities
- Development of energy-efficient products and services
- Strategic business partner that can help the customer to get control of and reduce its emissions in the value chain.
Reporting Standards
Frameworks Used: GRI, EU Taxonomy, GHG Protocol, UN Global Compact
Reporting Period: 2024-01 to 2024-03
Environmental Metrics
ESG Focus Areas
- Climate Change
- Sustainability
Environmental Achievements
- Commitment to Science Based Targets initiative with ambition to get climate targets approved in coming years
- Comprehensive disclosure of greenhouse gas emissions (scopes 1, 2, and 3) in the 2023 Annual and Sustainability Report
Climate Goals & Targets
Long-term Goals:
- Reduce GHG emissions within scope 1 and 2 by 75% by 2040
- Achieve net zero emissions over the entire value chain by 2050
Medium-term Goals:
- Reduce GHG emissions within scope 1 and 2 by 50% from 2021 base year and scope 3 emissions related to own operations by 30% from 2022 base year by 2030
Environmental Challenges
- Weak market demand, particularly from customers in durable and consumable goods
- Lower freight rates and volumes in Air & Sea freight forwarding operations
- Overcapacity in warehousing due to previous investments and weaker demand
- High interest expenses due to high interest rates and net debt
Mitigation Strategies
- Improving operating cash flow through reduced working capital
- Discontinuing unprofitable businesses (road transportation in Germany, buy and sell business in components)
- Working to optimize capacity utilization (consolidating storage facilities, offering short-term storage, subletting)
- Actively working to improve cash flow and reduce working capital