ENVIRONMENT AND SUSTAINABILITY HEADLINESEnvironment and Sustainability
Outokumpu Invests in Projects to Combat Climate Change
Jun. 11, 2009 Outokumpu launched last year a competition to combat climate change as part of its corporate responsibility theme year 2008. The winning proposal aims to increase the company’s use of electricity from renewable sources by investing in power generation using wind turbines. The winning proposal suggested that Outokumpu could provide stainless steel for the turbines.
Stainless steel production requires a large quantity of energy. At Outokumpu the main energy source is electricity where the share of renewable sources is currently around 50%. Not only would the proposed wind turbines generate renewable power, they also would help to reduce carbon dioxide emissions.
The second prize was given for detailed engineering of recycling hydroxide sludge in Avesta, Sweden, to produce a useful product instead of sending the material to landfill. The third prize was given for creating a virtual meeting room to reduce corporate travel and to enable more efficient ways of working.
As part of the corporate responsibility theme year, Outokumpu also decided to invest five million euros in an environmental target to be identified through a group-wide competition to combat climate change. The innovations were to reduce direct or indirect carbon dioxide emissions caused by the use of fuels or to facilitate the recycling and utilization of by-products instead of virgin natural resources. Outokumpu's internal jury decided that the five million euros will be divided between the best initiatives.
Pekka Erkkilä, Executive Vice President of Outokumpu and member of the jury, said that he was pleased with the commitment of employees. “The investment proposals are well in line with our long-term goals - energy and material efficiency both contributing to combating climate change,” said Erkkilä. “They also contribute to reaching our concrete goals set for 2009 to reduce energy consumption and waste.”