Climate Change Data

Environmental Metrics

ESG Focus Areas

• People
• Offering
• Planet

Environmental Achievements

• Four sites are now 100% powered by renewable energy, and three sites are located in premises which have renewable energy production. 40% of the global operations´ purchased energy originates from renewable sources.
• Saving 64,600 animal lives in 2023

Social Achievements

• Code of Conduct training and policy implementation supporting and Respecting the International Labour Organization’s (ILO) Declaration on Fundamental Principles and Rights at Work and UN Guiding Principles on Business and Human Rights
• 58% of BICO Group employees participated in the employment engagement survey.

Governance Achievements

• Improving the alignment to the requirements in the new EU Corporate Sustainability Reporting Directives and the adjacent European Sustainability Reporting Standards, which is expected to be introduced from fiscal year 2024.
• Update the sustainability policies and internal communication, and training.
• Implement double materiality assessments in our value chains
• Stakeholder dialogues with investors, customers and employees regarding BICO:s sustainability agenda

Climate Goals & Targets

Environmental Challenges

• Softer market and sales in line with previous year
• Weaker sales than expected from some instrument-sales oriented companies, mainly attributable to reduced grants within Academia and Research segment.
• Weak demand from the Diagnostic industry which resulted in hampered sales in Bioautomation.
• Goodwill impairment of SEK 480m in MatTek, Nanoscribe, QInstruments, SCIENION, and Visikol.
• Increased weighted average cost of capital (WACC) as well as lower growth projections.
• Supply chain disruptions
• Talent retention when major restructuring initiatives take place
• Risks of personal injuries in workplace accidents or mental illness, including stress or work-life imbalance
• Risks related to human rights or corruption can arise in our business relationships and production facilities
• Risk for lack of transparency regarding conditions for workers in the upstream value chain due to BICO being a small customer in the global supply chain
• Lack of tracking or control when purchasing materials used in production from high-risk countries
• Changes in legal requirements may adversely affect the supply and prices of materials used in production
• New or amended requirements like circular business models from stakeholders or legislators related to BICO’s activities or products.
• Pollution of air, soil and water has its main impact in the upstream value chain at the source of origin, 2nd tier suppliers and inbound shipments. Downstream: outbound shipments contribute to air pollution.
• Biodiversity and Ecosystems and water use impact is limited to the upstream source of origin and 2nd tier suppliers.
• Climate change is mainly impacted by the selection of materials in our products and the energy consumption in our operations
• Climate change such as global warming, extreme weather, pandemics, and natural disasters can lead to economic risks and, for example, sharply increased overhead and energy costs.

Mitigation Strategies

• Right-sizing and cost control improved profitability
• Completed the cost savings programme in Q3 2023 and were able to turn three out of four loss-making companies profitable over the year.
• Initiatives related to Operational Excellence during 2023 which targeted lower costs both on a short-term and long-term basis e.g., inventory management, mapping of supply chain synergies, and re-negotiation of our supplier commitments.
• Decreased net working capital from 32 to 23 percent (net working capital/sales last 12 months).
• Actions related to inventory management have been carried out.
• Larger supplier commitments have been reviewed to phase and/or reduce commitments for 2023 and upcoming years.
• Group-wide purchase processes have been introduced during 2023 such as common supplier agreements, preferred supplier portfolio, and mapping of opportunities within the Group to bundle volumes and share suppliers.
• The Group has had a cost control focus during 2023 which will also follow in 2024.
• Strict cost control, right-sizing and cost optimization delivered an adjusted EBITDA of SEK 217.7m for FY 2023.
• The Group had 884 full time equivalents (FTE’s) by year-end 2023 compared with 1,061 by year-end 2022, a decrease of 17 percent.
• Strengthened the relationship with our preferred suppliers around our BICO Business Partner Code of Conduct.
• The business ethics incident reporting has been extended with corruption, legal incidents and harassments on a company level.
• Our emphasis on digitalization of entire workflows enables savings in labor and energy costs, as well as reduction of travel.
• Creating more circular processes (Reuse, Reduce, Refurbish, Resell), validated by CO2e data.
• Improved the quality of data regarding indirect emissions (scope 3) to identify areas where we could improve the climate impact of our value chain.
• Energy saving initiatives took place and the company Biosero moved into a solar powered manufacturing facility.
• BICO has improved the number of data points covering the Scope 3 CO2e emissions.
• BICO provides possibilities of re-using instruments.
• Low carbon products like cleaning instruments for well plates are offered.

Supply Chain Management

Responsible Procurement

• BICO Business Partner code of conduct

Climate-Related Risks & Opportunities

Physical Risks

• extreme weather, pandemics, and natural disasters

Transition Risks

• changes to the environmental legislation

Reporting Standards

Frameworks Used: GHG Protocol, EU Corporate Sustainability Reporting Directives (CSRD), European Sustainability Reporting Standards (ESRS)

Certifications: ISO 14001, ISO 9001

Third-party Assurance: Deloitte AB

UN Sustainable Development Goals

• 3
• 5
• 9
• 10
• 12
• 13

BICO is committed to the Ten Principles of the United Nations Global Compact, treating all workers with respect and dignity, ensuring safe working conditions, and conducting environmentally responsible, ethical operations.

Sustainable Products & Innovation

• refurbished instruments
• cleaning instruments for well plates