All the carbon we cannot see

“Environmental impacts cannot be considered only from one perspective or area of operation. When improving a specific area of operation, we have to make sure that we are not transferring environmental impacts elsewhere. We must continuously improve our ability to assess environmental impacts outside our own operations.”

– Otto Järvinen, EHS Specialist at Orion

One of Orion’s strategic targets is continuous improvement in sustainability. Environmental responsibility plays a key role. It is our obligation to monitor the entire life cycle of our operations and products. This means that we must know the environmental impacts of our products, even after they leave our production plant and end up in consumers’ hands.

In the life cycle of a drug, the greenhouse gas emissions outside our own operations are an important issue. In cooperation with Fortum Waste Solutions, our main waste management partner, we have explored more effective approaches to emissions outside our own operations.

Why raise the bar?

Waste management plays a significant role in total emissions. The carbon footprint calculation enables us to assess which waste fractions have the highest environmental impacts and why. Emissions from waste management are Orion’s indirect emissions, which are now being analysed to gain more data and a better understanding.

How are we raising the bar?

We are using this data to select projects aiming at the reduction of hazardous waste. In other words, the data helps us to target our measures more accurately and effectively than before. We have previously produced estimates based on tables and theories, but using the data collected from Fortum’s plants, we can increase the reliability of our estimates.

Orion seeks to achieve carbon neutrality in its own operations by 2030.