Outotec has today published its 2018 sustainability report. The online report, themed ‘Co-creating for future plants’ illustrates the benefits of various stakeholders collaborating for the sustainable use of Earth’s natural resources. “Outotec’s sustainability work in 2018 included, for example, updating the company values utilising crowdsourcing within the company, conducting a materiality assessment based on a web survey and stakeholder interviews, and establishing science based targets to reduce the climate impacts.”
Outotec says it commits to reduce the absolute scope 1 and 2 greenhouse gas emissions of its own operations by 13% as well as scope 3 emissions by 10% by 2025 from a 2017 base year. These targets were validated by the Science Based Targets Initiative in early 2019. Key achievements in 2018 were the handprint – 6.2 Mt less CO2e emissions generated by the metals industry using six Outotec’s technologies compared to annual industry baselines, as well as inclusion in the Global 100 index of the world’s most sustainable companies for the sixth consecutive year, ranking 5th.
“Customers increasingly seek co-creation and trust Outotec to solve demanding challenges together with them. By working closely with our customers from as early in the project as possible, and by sharing knowledge and combining forces with customers, partners and the scientific community, we create solutions that benefit all parties. In this report, we present a case about battery metals, together with cases of urban infra revolution and our customer’s view on sustainable mining. All these cases are great examples of co-creation. The report also demonstrates our commitment to continuously improving our own performance, data quality and reporting”, says Outotec CEO Markku Teräsvasara.
“It all comes down to sharing knowledge. If you keep knowledge to yourself, it has no value and benefits no one. By sharing information within the organization and with external partners, it can be refined and applied to practice. This is essential at Outotec; we are increasingly working in teams, in research projects as well as delivery projects and even customer meetings. We invite customers to attend test runs and, in turn, audit their processes to understand them better,” says Kari Knuutila, Chief Technology Officer at Outotec.
Co-creation and mutual development projects are often partly publicly funded, with participating businesses investing some money as well. The EU is a particularly strong proponent of such projects. Outotec is currently involved in several raw materials projects of the European Institute of Innovation & Technology (EIT), with participation from a variety of its customers, as well.
“Cooperative development is actually nothing new to Outotec, although it is trending in the world of technology and in other industries, as well. We always engage in close cooperation with customers, because all our solutions are customised to some extent to meet their specific needs and operating environment. It begins with the raw material: no two ores or concentrates are alike, and the characteristics of the feed material define the best processes to treat it,” says Juha Kemppainen, Vice President, Hydrometallurgy at Outotec.
First the feed material sample is analysed and tested in a laboratory, often with the attendance of customer’s metallurgical and process experts. A suitable process solution is developed, and more extensive pilot tests are carried out, while continuously optimising the process. All these stages are necessary to ensure that the process yields the best and most efficient results with the specific raw material.
The report is prepared according to the Global Reporting Initiative (GRI) Standards and is third-party assured by Ecobio Ltd. The report is available in English at www.outotec.com/sustainability-report/2018.
