GRI-Appendix

Specific Standard Disclosures

  • Materials

    301 Materials

    103 - Explanation of the material topic and its Boundary
    The management approach and its components

    The use of materials is an important topic within the organization, especially for our producing companies. It is also important outside the organization, as we work with to secure our products from hazardous substances and conflict minerals. It means that we have to start from the sourcing process to be able to fulfil our customers’ demands for product safety and legal compliance.


    Minimizing use of materials and care for natural resources starts in our product development. Minimizing the use of materials in our products lowers not only costs for material and transportation, but also waste generation.
    NIBE has increased its total use of material, but if we compare it with sales, the material intensity is lower than it used to be.

    301-1 - Materials used by weight or volume

    Metals such as iron, steel, copper and brass represent 73 (73) percent of our total inputs. Other inputs are stone, concrete, enamel, plastic, composite components and chemicals such as dye and glue.
    In 2017, 16 496 (9 580) tons of packaging material were used, consisting of wood, board, plastic and steel.
    Refrigerants used to fill our products amounted to 368,6 (139) tons. The increase in refrigerants
    is due to newly acquired companies’ consumption and a slightly different reporting method.

     

    Materials

    301-2 - Recycled input materials used

    Not reported.

    301-3 - Reclaimed products and their packaging materials

    Not reported.

  • Energy

    302 Energy

    103 - Explanation of the material topic and its Boundary
    The management approach and its components

    Energy use is a very important topic within the organization concerning both lowering the usage and shifting to renewable energy. Energy is also the backbone in our business strategy, as our core business is to provide the market with sustainable energy solutions.

     

    The approach is to work internally with our own energy use and to develop products that can support a transition to a low carbon economy and less climate impact. NIBE targets are to reduce energy intensity by 30% within our own operations and to minimise the use of oil to heat our properties by 2020 (baseline 2013). Another of our target is to have at least 55% of our sales from products that are LCE classified according to FTSE's LCE[1]-index.

     

    [1] FTSE LCE ICS ™ (Financial Times Stock Exchange-Low Carbon Economy Industrial Classification System) is a quantitative model, developed for investors to be able to evaluate companies based on their ability to adapt to a low carbon economy. The LCE data model measures the green revenues of 13,400 public companies, representing 98.5% of total global market capitalization. FTSE Russell's Green Revenues framework, based on the LCE data model, allows users to track revenues from goods, products and services that help the world to adapt to, mitigate or remediate the impact of climate change, resource depletion or environmental erosion.

    302-1 - Energy consumption within the organization

    NIBE total energy consumption, direct and indirect (excluding transportation), was 218,9 (167) GWh. Of this, 5,0 (3,1) GWh consists of electricity, heat and cooling we generated from solar and wind power and heat pumps.


    Our indirect energy consumption, i.e. purchased electricity and district heating, amounted to 143,7 (112) GWh. Of this, 135,8 (105) GWh was electricity consumption. Almost all our purchased electricity comes from renewable sources. We have started to measure emissions from transportation and now we have comparable data for our own vehicle fleet for consumption of diesel and petrol. The consumption of petrol was 2,0 (3,2) GWh and diesel 19,7 (20,3) GWh.

    302-2 - Energy consumption outside the organization

    Not reported.

    302-3 - Energy intensity

    NIBE target is to reduce our energy intensity by 30% compared to 2013 before end of 2020.

     

    Energy intensity

    302-4 - Reduction of energy consumption

    30 percent corresponds to a reduction from 14 MWh per SEK million in sales in 2013 to less than 10 MWh per SEK million in sales 2020. Consumption of purchased energy has remained at 11,3 (11,2) MWh per MSEK total sales during 2017.

     

    Performed energy audits on production unit' s equals 74 percent.


    NIBE target to phase out fuel oil burning from all our own properties and replace it with heat pumps or other fossil free technology has progressed. For 2017 year reporting, six companies where the Group own the building are still using light fuel oil, fully or as a compliment.

    302-5 - Reduction in energy requirements of products and services

    Product examples:
    Heat-pumps: A ground-source heat pump can save up to 80% compared with a situation in which the building was heated with direct-acting electricity. Both economical and environmentally friendly.

    Wood burning stoves: Our modern stoves have far lower wood consumption and emissions into the environment than older stoves.
    A test carried out in 2016 by the Swedish Energy Agency showed that wood consumption can be reduced by around 20% and emissions into the environment halved or reduced by up to 85%. Most of the modern stoves tested have an efficiency of 75-80%, while the older stoves in the test are at 59-66%.

    Eco-design directive is affecting end customer products. NIBE products have been upgraded to fulfill the eco-design directive or been obsolete.

  • Water

    303 Water use

    103 - Generic Disclosures on Management Approach

    NIBE know that water scarcity is a global problem that is increasing. Today we use relatively small quantities of water and our production sites are located where there is access to water. However, the circumstances can change, and that is why we want to monitor our water use.

     

    303-1 - Water withdrawal

    The main source of our used water, more than 90%, is municipal water. Water volumes are summarized from invoices or from flow meters at source.

    Water withdrawal, cubic meters

    Europe

    North America

    Asia and Australia

    Municipal water

    132 686

    109 431

    90 962

    Surface water

    657

    0

    0

    Collected rainwater

    0

    0

    0

    Ground water

    22 571

    0

    1 000

    Waste water from another organization

    0

    0

    0

    Total per region

    155 914

    109 431

    91 962


    The total water withdrawal was 357 307m2 during 2017

     

    Water withdrawal
    Water use

    303-2 - Water sources significantly affected by withdrawal of water

    No water sources are significantly affected.

    303-3 - Percentage of total volume recycled

    The water is mostly used as cooling water that is recirculated for a long time in a closed system. Process water is also recirculated to a large extent.


    Work is ongoing to be able to calculate the recycled volumes. The result for 2017 is 14 percent recycled water. 6 out of 90 companies have reported recycled water (7%).

  • Emissions

    305 Emissions

    103 - Generic Disclosures on Management Approach

    NIBE atmospheric emissions consist of GHG, NOx, SOx and VOC.


    Besides generating GHG emissions from energy use, we also use refrigerants in our products and our own installations, which generate some diffuse emissions of refrigerants to the atmosphere.

     

    Transportation is an area where we are developing the reporting of GHG emissions. Today we can track and report the GHG emissions from our own vehicles. We are beginning to get data for purchased transportation and business travel but do not have enough accurate data to be able to report it yet.


    Depending on the type of production process, other types of emissions can be more or less material, but since some of the companies have atmospheric emissions as a significant environmental topic, we regard it as important for the whole NIBE Group and something that we should work to minimize.


    NIBE has an indirect target to reduce our GHG emission intensity. The target is expressed in terms of reducing energy use by 30% from 2013 to 2020 less than 10 MWh/MSEK total sales.


    NIBE buy GoO:s that cover all purchased electricity, which means that it is generated from renewable sources. We have a target to phase out all fossil oil burning from our own facilities.


    Our reported carbon emissions are calculated based on GHG protocol emission factors.

    305-1 - Direct GHG emissions (Scope 1)

    In 2017, carbon dioxide emissions from energy use in our own production plants generated 90 (88) percent of our total GHG emissions, or 16,900 (12,100) tons.

     

    The total emissions from diesel and petrol amount to 5,300 (5,800) tons, an decrease of 500 tons on the previous year. Our ambition is to gradually switch to vehicles fueled by renewable energy.

     

    GHG emissions

    305-2 - Indirect GHG emissions (Scope 2)

    Purchased electricity is to 100 percent covered by GoO:s. Purchased heat and cooling amounted to 1614 tons.

    305-3 - Other indirect GHG-emissions (Scope 3)

    The reported GHG emissions from business travel was 2,102 tons. 24 companies out of 90 has been able to report GHG emissions from business travels (27%).


    The reported GHG emissions from purchased transportation for incoming goods was 7,371 tons and from purchased transportation for outgoing goods was 17,819 tons.

    305-4 - GHG emissions intensity

    GHG emission intensity

    305-5 - Reduction of GHG emissions

    The foremost reduction is due to the purchasing of green electricity certificates with guarantee of renewable origin.

    305-6 - Emissions of ozone-depleting substances

    Not reported.

    305-7 - NOx, SOx and other significant air emissions

    Not all operations have measurable air emissions, but all report what they measure. For NOx and SOx no data was available for 2014.

     

    VOC
    NOx
    SOx
    Dust
  • Effluents & Waste

    306 Effluents & Waste

    103 - Effluents and Waste

    Waste is an important topic for all our production companies and there are ongoing efforts to minimize waste generation as well as recycling more.

    306-1 - Water discharge

    Water discharge is considered material for a few of our production companies* from a monitoring perspective. We have chosen to ask all production companies to report their water discharge to be able to see trends and take action against negative changes. We are attempting to get data that are more reliable on water discharge.

     

    The total discharge to water, all regions was 300 266 cubic meters during 2017.

    Water discharge, cubic meters

    Europe

    North America

    Asia and Australia

    TOTAL

    To municipal water treatment plant

    144 797

    39 902

    60 595

    245 294

    To an adjacent water body

    7 204

    0

    46 000

    53 204

    To external treatment

    1268

    0

    500

    1 768

    To another organization for reuse

    0

    0

    0

    0

    Total per region

    153 269

    39 902

    107 095

    300 266

     

    The total discharged amount of all metals to water was 8,9 kg during 2017.

    Metal discharges to water, kg

    Europe

    North America

    Asia and Australia

    TOTAL

    Aluminum

    0

    0

    0

    0

    Copper

    0,062

    3,86

    0

    3,921

    Zinc

    0,555

    2,505

    0

    3,06

    Cadmium

    0,013

    0,012

    0

    0,024

    Lead

    0,2

    0,022

    0

    0,223

    Mercury

    0

    0,002

    0

    0,002

    Chromium

    0,061

    0,012

    0

    0,002

    Nickel

    0,111

    0,016

    0

    0,127

    Other metals

    1,49

    0,01

    0

    1,502

     

    Organics and nutrients to water, kg

    Europe

    North America

    Asia and Australia

    TOTAL

    Biochemical Oxygen Demand

    417

    4 576

    20

    5014

    Chemical Oxygen Demand

    2 442

    8 519

    40

    11 001

    Total Organic Carbon

    0

    0

    0

    0

    Oil and Grease

    0,02

    599

    0

    599

    Nitric nutrients

    208

    0

    2

    210

    Phosphoric nutrients

    23

    18

    0

    41

    Total solids

    3 090,02

    13 712

    62

    16 864

     

    306-2 - Waste by type and disposal method

    In 2017, we recycled 85 percent (85) of our waste, 11 percent (11) of which as energy recovery by means of incineration. A total of 17 390 (18 050) tons of waste were generated, 760 (1 680) tons of which were hazardous waste.
    We sent 1 220 (1 360) tons to external landfill, which represents 7 percent of the total waste volume. This consists, for example, of process waste, which may contain contents of heavy metals that are too high for recycling or materials that cannot be incinerated, such as stone ceramics and composites.

    Non-hazardous waste, kg

    Europe

    North America

    Asia and Australia

    TOTAL

    Reuse

    8 314

    183 639

    0

    191 953

    Recycling

    16 178 009

    5 867 226

    65 000

    22 110 235

    Recovery

    276 145

    0

    0

    281 045

    Energy recovery

    1 716 563

    78 200

    20 000

    1 925 473

    Incineration

    357 665

    0

    0

    357 665

    Landfill

    1 017 542

    1 344 881

    285 878

    2 648 301

    On-site storage

    3 100

    20 485

    0

    23 585

    Other destination

    122 713

    25 124

    55 590

    203 427

    Total

    19 680 051

    7 519 555

    426 468

    28 070 941


    Hazardous waste, kg

    Europe

    North America

    Asia and Australia

    TOTAL

    Reuse

    5

    0

    0

    5

    Recycling

    36 190

    20 462

    217 044

    273 696

    Recovery

    12 119

    0

    0

    12 119

    Energy recovery

    20 969

    19 461

    10 101

    50 531

    Incineration

    120 780

    384 436

    41 318

    546 534

    Landfill

    73 197

    27 216

    26 701

    127 114

    On-site storage

    3 001

    569

    0

    3 570

    Other destination

    388 508

    43 020

    1 960

    433 488

    Total

    654 769

    495 164

    297 124

    1 464 618

    Waste categories

    306-3 - Number and volume of significant spills

    No significant spills were reported during 2017.

    306-4 - Transport of hazardous waste

    Not reported.

    306-5 - Water bodies affected by water discharges and/or runoff

    Not reported.

  • Environmental Compliance

    307 Environmental compliance

    103 - Generic disclosures on Management Approach


    Legal compliance is considered one of the most important topics as NIBE cannot operate otherwise. All our production facilities shall have environmental management systems in place, and if there are more than 10 employees, the system shall be certified according to ISO 14001. The systematic approach, control systems and regular monitoring of environmental performance makes it possible to be proactive and comply with environmental legislation.


    Environmental grievance mechanisms are part of NIBE environmental responsibility and our stakeholder dialogue. We take all complaints seriously and strive to prevent reoccurrence of any event that might have caused a complaint. Evaluation of the effectiveness of the grievance mechanism is done locally within the framework of each company's environmental management system. Complaints are also reported at Group level. Should there be an unreasonable quantity of complaints, or repeated complaints about the same issue, there would be cause for an investigation and a site visit from Group sustainability. All operations have local grievance mechanisms where neighbors can contact a responsible person that will file their complaint and make sure it is handled correctly.

    307-1 - Non-compliance with environmental laws and regulations

    In 2017, two incidences of environmental limits being exceeded were reported and measures were taken.

  • Supplier Environmental Assessment

    308 Environmental supplier assessments

    103 - Generic Disclosures on Management Approach

    NIBE expect the suppliers to follow the same principles concerning precaution and environmental responsibility as we do, and therefore we evaluate suppliers on their environmental performance. We still need to increase the number of environmental evaluations and work is ongoing to introduce our common tool to support the purchasing departments to carry out evaluations in a less time consuming but still effective manner. NIBE target is that all sites will use the new tool by 2020 and that 100 percent of our new suppliers of direct materials are evaluated accordingly before onboarding.

    308-1 - Percentage of new suppliers that were screened using environmental criteria

    Of our new suppliers of direct material, 26 (12) percent were evaluated on environmental performance. That is a large increase compared to 2016.

    308-2 - Significant actual and potential negative environmental impacts in the supply chain and actions taken

    Not reported.