The lowest carbon footprint in the industry
Global megatrends such as population growth, accelerating mobility and urbanization have resulted in increasing carbon emissions and climate change. Stainless steel can help to build solutions for a more sustainable world.
Outokumpu’s carbon footprint is 75% lower than of the global industry average. Key reasons for our low carbon footprint are our own ferrochrome, high recycled content and the use of low carbon electricity.
Outokumpu helps its customers develop solutions that reduce climate burden by means of the right material choices. On an annual level, our clients are able to reduce their carbon footprint by 10 million tons. Outokumpu publishes environmental product declarations (EPDs) on its main products using life cycle inventory data. This means our customers are able to calculate the sustainability performance of their product life cycles.
Climate targets
Our total company carbon profile, including upstream emissions, is the lowest in the industry according to our calculations. We have reduced our emissions by increasing the share of recycled material in stainless steel production to more than 90%. In addition, we have increased the share of low-carbon electricity in energy consumption, improved energy efficiency and reduced transport emissions.
Outokumpu has been a member of the Science Based Targets initiative since 2016. We are committed to the ambition of keeping global warming below 1.5°C and updated our climate targets accordingly in 2021.
The approval of the Science Based Targets initiative for our climate targets means that the targets are aligned with keeping global warming below 1.5°C and meet the goals of the Paris Agreement. Outokumpu is the only stainless steel producer to have climate targets approved by the Science Based Targets initiative.
Outokumpu’s new near-term science-based target is to reduce direct and indirect emissions as well as its supply chain emissions (scopes 1, 2 and 3) by 42% per tonne of stainless steel by 2030 from a 2016 base year. The new target marks a further 30% reduction from the 2020 level. The updated targets cover Outokumpu’s value chain from raw materials to own production and delivery.
In 2023, Outokumpu's total Greenhouse Gas (GHG) emission intensity was 1.52 t CO2/t. Business Area Europe consists of two business lines, Business Line Stainless Europe (BL SE) and Business Line Advanced Materials (BL AM). BL SE's emission intensity was 1.27 t CO2/t steel and BL AM's was 2,12 t CO2/t steel. The difference between the business lines' emission intensities is due to the different product mix.