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Finnish Minerals Group summarises its sustainable development goals

Sustainable development goals have been summarised in our Responsibility Program based on three themes. The information collected earlier in a stakeholder study was useful for setting the program goals.

Published

15. January 2020

Finnish Minerals Group has prepared a responsibility programme for 2020–2024. According to the programme, the company’s objective is to act as a trailblazer by creating responsible growth for the Finnish battery value chain and mining industry. The programme has three themes: social impact, sustainable value chain, and responsibility for the environment and climate.

The sustainability programme covers new high-tech jobs generated by planned investments and the economic value added resulting from enhancing the degree of processing. The responsibility of the value chain and partnerships will also be developed, and the acceptability of operations enhanced by engaging in dialogue with stakeholders. In its role as an owner, Finnish Minerals Group will encourage its portfolio companies to make strategic plans and take actions to minimise environmental impact, promote the circular economy and reduce carbon dioxide emissions.

As a state-owned special-purpose company, Finnish Minerals Group acts as an active owner of Finnish mining companies and a technological developer of the mining industry, while promoting the building of a battery value chain in Finland. According to CEO Matti Hietanen, the work is strongly linked to responsibility.

“The World Economic Forum has identified the value chain for batteries used in electric cars and renewable energy storage to be one of the key means of combating climate change in the coming years. With our expertise, we Finns can contribute to this work by increasing the degree of minerals processing and developing the Finnish and European value chain for lithium-ion batteries. At its best, a circular economy-based battery value chain will generate new high-tech jobs for us while supporting the UN Sustainable Development Goals,” says Matti Hietanen.

To serve as background for the responsibility programme, Finnish Minerals Group conducted a survey on the expectations of its stakeholders in autumn 2019. According to the survey results, the stakeholders expect the company to operate as a long-term owner in the mining and battery industry and participate in the building of the European battery value chain. Furthermore, Finnish Minerals Group and its portfolio companies are expected to direct their efforts to minimising environmental impact and ensuring the profitability of business.

“Putting together the responsibility programme has been a challenging and enjoyable task for us. The feedback from our stakeholders has given us valuable background information for the programme and helped us clarify our objectives,” Hietanen concludes.

Later on, a progress summary on the achievement of objectives will be included in the company’s annual report. Furthermore, news on responsibility will be published throughout the year. One of the first steps will be to launch the environmental impact assessment (EIA) procedure of the precursor and cathode active material plants under the company’s subsidiary, Finnish Battery Chemicals Oy, in the spring of 2020.


Responsibility Programme 2020–2024

The goals and indicators of the Responsibility Programme from 2020 to 2024 are based on three themes.

Theme 1: Social impact
New high-tech jobs to Finland.
  • Indicator: More than 1 000 new jobs directly and thousands indirectly based on decisions to invest in the battery value chain
Economic value added from raising the degree of processing raw materials.
  • Indicator: EUR 1.5 billion increase in GDP based on decisions to investment in the battery value chain.
Channelling expertise to the development of responsibility in the mining and battery industry.
  • Indicator: Upward development curve or continuous good feedback from the corporate image research results on expertise.
Theme 2: Sustainable value chain
Responsible actions throughout the value chain and in partnerships.
  • Indicator: Sustainable development goals set by Finnish Minerals Group, the portfolio companies and main partners, and the companies agree with generally accepted statements.
Structured stakeholder work and dialogue to strengthen acceptability.
  • Indicator: Upward development curve or continuous good feedback in the corporate image research results on stakeholder work. 
Theme 3: Responsibility for the environment and climate
Initiatives to minimise environmental impact and promote the circular economy.
  • Indicator: The Boards of portfolio companies annually approve strategic development plans concerning environmental impact and the circular economy.
Support for the Paris Agreement and achieving a carbon neutral Finland by 2035.
  • Indicator: The Boards of portfolio companies annually approve strategic development plans for the reduction of carbon dioxide emissions.
Published

15. January 2020