Sustainability – A life-long, genuine commitment

As a company we strive to be as resource-efficient and environmentally aware as possible with regard to our products, but also in our operations and in the value chain. Long-term business conduct and innovation are fundamental concepts that run like a red thread through our business as we seek to develop society and gain its trust and legitimacy. By continuously improving these concepts and further building on our company culture, we include these aspects in our daily work.

Honesty and transparency

In a world where it is becoming increasingly difficult to know what is real and what is artificial, stakeholders are looking for transparency, authenticity and honesty. To an ever greater extent, this is reflected in requirements for sustainability information of various kinds and of ever greater complexity.

At the same time as technological development is improving the opportunities for transparency, we are also seeing a growing demand for sustainability information to be produced more quickly and be more easily accessible to various stakeholders.

We are also seeing a shift in the requirements from fundamental information to insight into value chains and the business, covering everything from suppliers and manufacturing processes to life cycles and use, and also strategic initiatives in areas such as social sustainability both internally and externally. Overall, this requires the collection of more detailed information throughout the value chain, and, moreover, this must be carried out on a recurring basis to create a sense of security and place a premium on ownership of the company and products. 

It is important to be careful and report facts while also retaining internal unique information involving competitive advantages. However, we are committed to being genuine, taking responsibility and offering good insight to avoid the risk of “greenwashing”. 

Phasing out of fossil CO2 emissions

In our own operations, we are constantly working on strategies that will enable us to become fossil-free. Currently, we have a good idea of our own direct and indirect carbon dioxide emissions (Scope 1 and 2). In 2024, we continued our steadfast work on converting our factories and operations to become fossil-free. The next step is to continue to improve the collection of data, particularly under Scope 3, and to continue working on creating activities that will also reduce these indirect emissions.

Towards a circular economy

The transition from a linear to a circular economy does bring challenges, where new business models need to be evaluated and incorporated into existing models to be able to implement the change while maintaining or improving the business. We are aware that the entire value chain needs to be involved to meet future demand and new regulatory requirements in the EU. This is why we are continuously developing new collaborations with e.g. university colleges and various suppliers. We are also continuously working on improvements in our focus areas, paying particular attention to product content, risk analyses, evaluations, energy efficiency and stakeholder consultations. We are also collaborating with suppliers on projects involving reuse of components. 

Ecodesign and life cycle perspective

We are seeing an increase in environmental requirements for our products. One of the requirements is the Ecodesign Directive, which is being continuously updated with stricter requirements for resource efficiency.

We assess our products from a life cycle perspective. This contributes to optimal use of resources and drives circular flows and waste generation throughout the useful life of the product. Conducting life cycle assessments of our most sold products forms a key part of our sustainability efforts.

Increased product liability

The detailed requirements for product liability are continuing to grow with regard to product safety, environmental impact, inputs and packaging, which is also a natural part of the development process. Our products comply with agreed norms, standards and legal requirements. Each product manufactured within the Group meets the requirements for product and service information in each country of sale.

Quality and environmental certification

We work with certified quality and environmental management systems for all our production units with more than 25 employees. In acquired companies the target is for these systems to be implemented within two full years of completion of the acquisition. To create the same structured, systematic approach to improving the working environment and reducing the risk of accidents, certification is being expanded to also include the working environment in some parts of our operations.