S Group’s climate work

We combat climate change by reducing emissions from our operations and including our partners in this work. We also provide solutions and help for reducing our co-op members’ own emissions.

Our goal is to achieve carbon negativity by the end of 2025 and a 90% reduction in emissions by the end of 2030. These goals apply to our own operations (Scopes 1 and 2).

Key factors in reducing emissions from our own operations include improving the efficiency of energy use, increasing the share of renewable energy, minimising refrigerant leakages and replacing old refrigeration equipment with equipment that uses carbon dioxide.

• The international Science Based Targets initiative has confirmed our 90% emission reduction target to be science-based, and the target is in line with the 1.5 degree target of the Paris Agreement.
• In 2021, emissions from our own operations increased by 5% year-on-year. From 2015, the emissions have already decreased by almost 70 per cent.
• We have over 100 outlets with zero emissions. In other words, they do not increase the amount of greenhouse gas emissions in the atmosphere. In addition, Shopping Centre Lohi is our first carbon-negative real estate property.
• The renovations carried out in 300 S-market stores have improved their energy efficiency. In addition to the appropriate doors and LED lights in refrigerated cabinets, more and more stores are heated with the waste heat generated by refrigeration equipment.
• We are Finland’s biggest producer of solar power. At the end of 2021, there were more than 100,000 solar panels on the roofs of a good 200 S Group locations. The electricity produced on these sites can be used in our own locations. At S Group, guarantees of origin of renewable electricity have been obtained for all electricity consumed within the group. This means that all electricity that we consume is produced with renewable energy.
• Finland’s largest wind farm will be completed at the Sarvisuo area in Simo, Sea Lapland, during the first half of 2022. The Sarvisuo area will encompass 27 wind turbines, which will significantly increase S Group’s renewable electricity production. Following the completion of the Sarvisuo Wind Farm, we are the third largest producer of wind power in Finland.
• We are compensating for the climate emissions from our employees’ business flights for the third year running.
• We support the Carbon Action project that promotes carbon farming in Finland, as well as the research work that facilitates emission compensations.
• Every year, we participate in the climate assessment of the international CDP initiative. According to the assessment S Group has carried out pioneering climate work, and in 2021, our climate work received an A- rating.

Our starting point for carbon offsetting

We are moving towards our climate targets by reducing the climate emissions from our own operations, using our own renewable energy and investing significantly in energy efficiency at our sites. The remainder of our carbon neutrality target will be achieved through carbon offsets.

We have already started offsetting in our carbon negative buildings, which were built to be energy efficient or where energy efficiency has been improved for a long time by various measures. One prerequisite for starting offsetting is systematic energy management. S Group’s carbon-negative sites include the Suur-Seutu Cooperative Society's Lohi shopping centre in Lohja and HOK-Elanto’s sites in the Sokos property in central Helsinki. The carbon negative sites have used a forest conservation project verified by a third party in Peru for offsetting.

Read more about our long-term climate work from S Group’s annual review and responsibility review.

Almost 98 per cent of our emissions are created in our value chain, i.e. for example in the production of our products. This is why it is important that we encourage our partners to measure the climate impacts of their products and reduce their emissions systematically. Regarding our value chain (Scope 3), we are working together with our partners to reduce emissions by 1 million tonnes by the end of 2030.

The programme includes more than a hundred of S Group’s partners. Approximately two-thirds of the Big Deal programme’s 1,000,000-tonne emission reduction target has been achieved. In addition to the Big Deal programme, we have, as part of our Science Based climate targets, set a goal for two-thirds of our significant goods suppliers (based on purchases) to set their own Science Based emission reduction targets by the end of 2023. By 2021, the target had been set by 68% of the suppliers within the scope of our target.

We were the first retail operator in Finland to join the CDP Supply Chain programme. Through the programme, we encourage our major partners to report their climate impacts and their actions for reducing emissions. During the year, an increasing number of our suppliers reported their own climate work through CDP Supply Chain reporting.