Metsaliitto Osuuskunta (Metsä Group)

Lobbying
Metsaliitto Osuuskunta (Metsä Group) discloses a list of trade associations of which it is a member wherever it operates.

Sustainability strategy and accountability
The company discloses its process for identifying and prioritising its most relevant sustainability impacts as well as the outcome of this process, in relation to its sustainability strategy. Also, it has group-wide targets on key sustainability topics for the most material parts of its value chain and reports consistently against all its targets.

Ecosystem conversion and restoration
The company discloses the proportion of high-risk commodities which are conversion-free.

Furthermore, the company has a time-bound target for its ecosystem restoration activities. It discloses details and outcomes of ecosystem restoration projects in areas affected by its own operations or by its suppliers, as well as efforts beyond these areas (e.g. through compensation or offset mechanisms).

GHG emissions
The company’s scope 1, 2 and 3 emissions reduction targets are aligned with a 1.5-degree trajectory.

Resource exploitation and circularity performance
The company discloses its inputs according to an international standard.

Solid and air pollution
The company discloses the proportion of hazardous waste treated to reduce pollution compared to total waste, the hazardous waste diverted from disposal and the waste directed to disposal. It also reports regularly on air quality parameters of emissions of harmful air pollutants.

Water
The company discloses its processes for managing and monitoring discharge water quality, regularly reports on water pollution, and reports a decrease in water pollution. Furthermore, the company demonstrates reducing water withdrawal in its own operations.

Safe, clean, healthy and sustainable environment
The company is committed to zero tolerance for acts of violence, threats, intimidation or judicial harassment committed against land and environmental rights defenders.

Act ethically
The company discloses a privacy statement on the use of personal data and a public commitment to protect personal data. Also, it describes a global tax strategy. Furthermore, it discloses a policy on bribery and corruption and a grievance mechanism allowing stakeholders to raise related concerns.

Provide and promote decent work
The company disclose a policy commitment to respecting the health and safety of workers for its operations and supply chain and provides evidence of how it monitors its suppliers’ performance on health and safety standards. Additionally, the company discloses how it works to support its suppliers in paying a living wage.

Furthermore, it discloses the proportion of its total direct operations workforce covered by collective bargaining agreements and that of women in its total direct operations workforce for each employee category. Lastly, the company discloses a target to increase the proportion of women in management positions to 30% by 2030.

Respect human rights
The company discloses a policy statement committing to respecting human rights and the fundamental rights at work declared by the ILO in its operations and supply chain. Also, it indicates that it has a human rights grievance mechanism accessible to all workers and external stakeholders who may be adversely impacted by the company.

Lobbying
The company has an opportunity to disclose a clear and detailed framework for assessing alignment of its trade associations with its sustainability targets and to report (potential) misalignments.

Stakeholder engagement
The company does not disclose how it engages with stakeholders, nor the issues it raises during such activities.

Sustainability strategy and accountability
While the company discloses a remuneration policy related to sustainability, it has an opportunity to link this policy to improvement in nature-related objectives and social issues. Also, the company states that the board of directors has expertise in sustainability. However, it could disclose whether its highest governance body has expertise with respect to the company’s most material sustainability topics.

Ecosystem conversion and restoration
No evidence was found regarding the company’s efforts to avoid ecosystem conversion, including deforestation, or promote restoration. The company has an opportunity to develop a strategy and publicly report on specific, time-bound targets.

GHG emissions
Although the company has targets to reduce its emissions, it should set time-bound targets that covers all its scope 1, 2 and 3 greenhouse gas emissions as well as report progress against them.

Impact and dependencies assessment
The company demonstrates a proactive approach towards biodiversity through its 2030 sustainability targets, introducing numerous actions aimed at environmental enhancement. However, it does not provide evidence of assessing its own operational impacts on nature, including biodiversity, and also lacks disclosure regarding the assessment of impacts and dependencies on nature within its supply chain.

Invasive species
The company has not identified any activities that could lead to the introduction of invasive alien species in its own operations.

Key areas and species
The company lacks transparency across several biodiversity-related aspects, not disclosing species populations near its operations, locations adjacent to biodiversity-important areas, suppliers’ locations related to crucial biodiversity areas, and the conservation status of species identified in its locales according to various conservation standards.

Resource exploitation and circularity performance
The company does not report quantitatively on its group-wide circularity performance.

Solid and air pollution
The company should commit to avoid developing or marketing new chemicals or products with SVHC (substance of very high concern) properties, as well as work on reducing the production of hazardous substances and waste. It has an opportunity to disclose time-bound targets to reduce air pollutants across the most material parts of its value chain. The company could also provide quantitative evidence regarding plastic use reduction and use of sustainable packaging, including the amount of plastic waste generated and proportions directed from or to disposal.

Water
The company has an opportunity to set time-bound targets and engage with suppliers to reduce water withdrawal. Additionally, the company has an opportunity to set targets to reduce water pollution. The company does not disclose a commitment to respect the right to water. The company does not disclose its processes for implementing preventive and corrective action plans for identified specific risks to the right to water and sanitation in its own operations.

Indigenous Peoples’ and land rights
The company does not show if it is committed to respecting Indigenous Peoples’ rights or land rights of local communities.

Safe, clean, healthy and sustainable environment
The company has an opportunity to commit to respecting local communities’ right to a safe, clean, healthy and sustainable environment. Moreover, it should track its actual or potential negative impacts on the health of local communities.

Act ethically
The company has an opportunity to include anti-bribery and anti-corruption clauses in its contractual agreements with business relationships. Also, it could disclose its processes for identifying and addressing bribery and corruption. Furthermore, the company also has an opportunity to disclose its approach to lobbying and political engagement in a public policy document and formally state that it does not make political contributions and divulge its lobbying expenditures. Additionally, it could disclose that it requires third-party lobbyists to comply with its lobbying and political engagement policy.

Provide and promote decent work
The company has an opportunity to disclose quantitative information on health and safety of its workers. Additionally, it could disclose a time-bound target for paying all workers a living wage or state that it has achieved paying all workers a living wage. Also, it could describe how it determines a living wage for the regions where it operates.

Furthermore, while the company is committed to gender equality, it has an opportunity to explicitly commit to women’s empowerment and disclose related targets. It could also describe that it has at least 30% women on the board and disclose the ratio of the basic salary and remuneration of women to men.

Respect human rights
Although the company conducts a human rights impact assessment for its own operations and supplier assessments, it could describe a comprehensive process for assessing and identifying human rights risks and impacts across all its activities and supply chain, and its salient human rights issues. It could specify what it considers to be salient human rights issues, how relevant factors are considered such as geographical, economic and social factors, and how it acts to prevent, mitigate or remediate its salient human rights issues through a global system.