An environmental journey towards carbon neutral Fintraffic

5 June is the World Environment Day. The purpose of this day launched by the United Nations General Assembly aims to encourage people to act for the nature and to reflect on their own attitudes towards the nature. This year’s theme is ecosystem restoration. This is an important subject since major changes are currently taking place in our environment as a result of climate change, global warming and greenhouse gas emissions that, in part, cause a loss of biodiversity in various biotopes at an alarming rate. We are currently consuming natural resources more rapidly than they renew!

Each of us can evaluate their relationship to the changes in the environment in a new, maybe different way, and help control environmental changes in their part both at home and at their place of work.

We can promote a more sustainable development and the realisation of the circular economy at our places of work by using less materials (e.g., office paper), increasing the product recycling degree and sorting waste materials correctly. The circular economy and the promotion of material efficiency will also become more common in the future. This is really not that different from how we are already acting in our own homes. 

We can reduce the emissions resulting from our journeys to and from work by using a bicycle or public transport or by switching to a vehicle that causes less emissions. In terms of meetings and the travel required for them, we should try to consider whether the meeting can be arranged as a remote meeting. Sometimes we do have to travel, and in such cases, we should also consider “the greenest option”. Should we also reconsider the way of working from the environmental perspective? Remote work can reduce the company’s negative environmental footprint significantly.

As a concrete example, the COVID-19 pandemic has forced people and companies to find new ways of staying in contact. Something good came out of something bad. Remote working increase in 2020 also reduced the need for work-related travel at Fintraffic. Based on a theoretical calculation, the emissions caused by the commute between home and work of Fintraffic’s employees reduced by approximately 545 tCO₂ last year. In terms of carbon footprint, this is equivalent to 3,000 journeys over the length of Finland using a combustion engine vehicle. In general, commuting to work reduced by at least one third from the normal level last year. Our actions truly make a difference in terms of environmental burden!

According to the objective stated by the State as the owner, Fintraffic’s climate work also aims at achieving carbon neutrality as a company by 2035. The objective is based on the current energy and environmental goals in the EU, the increased expectations of our stakeholders and the Carbon neutral Finland 2035 objective set by the Government. Fintraffic expects to achieve this goal substantially sooner, however, since almost all the electricity we use, for example, is already produced from renewable sources. Concrete means of achieving a carbon neutral Fintraffic business environment include, among other things, increasing energy efficiency in our operations, new technologies, the use of renewable energy, solutions improving the efficient use of premises as well as promoting the circular economy. Solar panels and LED lighting are some of the practical actions available for using energy more sensibly from the nature’s perspective.

Fintraffic also has the opportunity to influence and strongly support the carbon neutrality goals of its stakeholders in the traffic sector by executing and investing on so-called supplementary climate actions that promote environmental work and climate action in the traffic value chains. Practical examples include different digitalisation projects aimed at connecting and streamlining travel chains. By developing our own traffic control operating models more optimal and environmentally sustainable, we are doing important work to ensure the vitality and acceptability of transport modes.

The road to zero emissions also means that all Fintraffic procurements must be considered from the perspective of the environment, too. The goods, products and services procured must be in line with our environmental objectives, supporting our work towards zero emissions and the principles of sustainable development. In terms of procurements, the lifetime environmental impacts of goods, products, buildings or services should be assessed, and the entire procurement chain should commit to zero emissions.

Fintraffic’s most important climate priority and our carbon neutrality claim is implementing emission reductions in line with the goals of the Paris Agreement. Our emission reductions must include both our own operations and the value chains. The remaining emissions will be minimised using the supplementary climate actions mentioned above, by financing the necessary new climate solutions and, as a last resource, by supporting compensation projects of good quality. It should be noted that all the actions listed above must meet the Paris Agreement goal of reducing the average global temperature by 1.5–2 degrees.

Carbon neutrality is also linked the corporate sustainability work started at the end of last year. Environmental sustainability is one of the most relevant subsectors of sustainability, and as a result, relevant themes have been specified for it. Our relevant environmental perspectives include making the carbon neutrality goals of our own actions and our stakeholders as well as our own eco-efficiency related to sustainable development as a part of profitable business important matters that will be promoted in the company. 

At the moment, Fintraffic’s environmental work focuses on implementing the steps necessary for introducing our own environmental system. We have already established an environmental management group for the group and its subsidiaries, which is a concrete and relevant part of Fintraffic’s environmental management system. The purpose of the group is to prepare concrete environmental actions at the group and subsidiary level and to promote environmental work at all levels in the company.

The group’s environmental strategy was created in 2019 and updated this year. The objective of the strategy is to be a pioneer in the field of environmentally friendly traffic control. The objectives of Fintraffic’s environmental strategy in 2021–2024 are:

• enabling an environmentally efficient and smooth traffic system; new data management solutions, services and operating methods will promote efficiency and smoothness. In practice, the solutions will enable more optimal traffic control, thereby reducing emissions, noise and vibration.
• an influencer in environmentally sound traffic; Fintraffic helps promote environmentally sound traffic through working with its stakeholder.
• preventor of environmental damage and accidents; traffic control also helps prevent serious environmental disasters in natural environments, such as the delicate maritime environment.
• an environmentally oriented Fintraffic group; Fintraffic will introduce its own environmental system to promote its goals related to sustainable development, the climate and the circular economy. Energy, material and spatial efficiency as well as carbon neutrality are our objectives during the journey towards an environmentally sustainable Fintraffic. 

This year, we created an environmental policy for the group to steer our operations towards an environment generating less emissions. Fintraffic’s environmental policy

“Our objective is to, through the services we produce, create preconditions for environmentally friendly traffic and thereby reduce the environmental burden caused by traffic in Finland. We help reduce the emissions caused by different transport modes and environmental damage resulting from accidents by promoting the safety and smoothness of traffic, combining travel and logistics chains and providing updated information and insights.

We observe Finnish environmental legislation as well as international environmental regulations and treaties.

Our management commits to observing the environmental impacts of its operations and to ensuring that the group’s personnel have the opportunity to work in a sustainable manner, taking the environment into account. Our environmental strategy guides our actions and we monitor the realisation of our environmental goals regularly.

We promote the environmental sustainability of traffic control to the best of our ability. We take care of the energy efficiency of our premises and recycle waste. We measure the environmental impacts of our operations and commit to continuous improvement in cooperation with other operators in the field.”

We constantly improve our operations for the benefit of the environment and will return to these themes later in the autumn.

The author is a forester currently working as Fintraffic’s environmental manager. Pekka Tiainen has more than 30 years of experience in the aviation sector. He is currently supplementing his law studies as a degree student at the University of Eastern Finland, majoring in environmental law.