Sustainability components
Bergs has a strong financial position
Economic growth creates financial conditions for achieving the other sustainability goals. This is expressed in SDG 8 (Decent work and economic growth) and SDG 9 (Industry, innovation and infrastructure). This sustainability component is dealt with in greater detail in the section on the company’s business strategy.
Efforts during the year
The economic outcomes for the year were impacted by a weaker market, primarily in the DIY sector, where Bergs’s subsidiaries deliver timber with wood protection and construction timber for building and renovation. Demand remained strong for custom windows and doors as well as the pellet operation, which produced on a three-shift rotation for most of the year, with good earnings as a result.
Clear targets for raw materials
Bergs is a major operator on the European wood products market, and takes responsibility for ensuring the timber comes from sustainably managed forests. The company’s goal is to certify at least 82 per cent of raw timber material by 2025 under one of two established programmes: the FSC® C106624 (Forest Stewardship Council®) or the PEFC (Programme for the Endorsement of Forest Certification). These systems verify the forest owner’s responsibility for social and environmental values. Responsible forestry is linked to several of the 17 SDGs, which is shown in the UN Strategic Plan for Forests from 2017. Proper forestry management and properly conducted harvesting are particularly relevant to SDG 15 (Life on land) and, more indirectly, to SDG 14 (Life below water).
Efforts during the year
The strategy at Bergs is to gradually increase the proportion of processing. It also means that the subsidiaries are dependent on raw materials other than wood. Glass, aluminium, and ceramics comprise an increasingly large portion of the value chain, which is why these products and suppliers are surveyed in accordance with the requirements in the Group’s sustainability strategy. For example, priority is given to the purchase of window glass that has been produced from recycled glass, where degree of recycling from the Group’s supplier is currently between 25 and 40 per cent. This year, Bergs also reports Controlled Wood, as it provides a truer and fairer outcome related to the production being carried out at eight subsidiaries.
Towards outcomes
One of the greatest challenges for our society is drastically reducing humanity’s impact on the global climate. The forestry sector is one of several that have an important role to play in climate initiatives by facilitating a circular bioeconomy, which can reduce our dependence on fossil fuels. Properly managed forests capture and store a great deal of carbon from the atmosphere. In addition, renewable forest products replace fossil fuel-based materials and energy. Construction in wood is particularly effective for a transition to a more fossil fuel-free society, and Bergs thereby leverages a significant climate benefit. Climate-smart products from wood – and bioenergy – are directly related to SDG 13 (Climate action) and SDG 7 (Affordable and clean energy). At the same time, the forestry sector must reduce its own fossil fuel emissions – not only as climate action as such, but also to be a consistent and reliable supplier of climate-positive products. Bergs has adopted two goals: completely eliminating its own fossil fuel emissions in its operations by 2030, and halving the 2020 emissions levels from procured transportation by 2030.
Efforts during the year
Follow-up indicates clear improvements, and that many operations have a closed system where dependence on fossil fuels is gradually decreasing. Investments in solar panels are also making a contribution.