Sustainability is integrated into all our operations, activities and decision making, from the purchasing of the materials to production and logistics and we expect our business partners, subcontractors and suppliers to follow similar standards.
Leader in sustainable steel production
Outokumpu is the world leader in sustainable stainless steel production. We have significantly reduced our carbon footprint and we are clearly below industry average. Outokumpu has set ambitious targets on this field and recently we have committed to even more stringent climate targets. This means reducing our CO2 emissions by further 30% from 2022 by 2030. Outokumpu is committed to the Science-Based Targets Initiative.
The Science-Based Targets initiative considers companies’ greenhouse gas reduction targets “science-based” if they are in line with the level of decarbonization required to keep global temperature increase below 1.5°C compared to pre-industrial temperature. The new target covers over 95% of scope 1 and 2 and over 95% of scope 3 emissions as required in the new SBTi standard. In the long-term, Outokumpu is committed to reaching carbon neutrality in its own operations by 2050.
Business based on circular economy
As a material, stainless steel is strong, corrosion-resistant, durable and hygienic: in many ways, it is the perfect answer to global challenges such as resource scarcity, urbanization, and global climate and water challenges. Steel is the world’s most recycled material. In fact stainless steel is 100% recyclable and suffers no degradation during reprocessing.
Our business is based on the circular economy, as our most important raw material is recycled steel. Together with metals recovered from waste products and by-products of the production process, it enables the recycled content of our stainless steel to be raised to the highest recycled content level in the market. In 2021, the recycled content was 90%, significantly higher than the global industry average of 50%.
Chrome makes stainless steel stainless. Outokumpu has its own chrome mine and ferrochrome works and that makes us uniquely self-sufficient. As our ferrochrome operations CO2 footprint is only 42% of industry average, it gives us a sustained competitive advantage in our carbon emissions.
Outokumpu is a signatory to the UN Global Compact and has committed to contributing to the United Nations' Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs). We have defined five SDGs that are the most material to our operations and sustainability themes.