Responsible Care is the chemical industry’s voluntary sustainability programme. The 2020 results of the Finnish programme tell of good development towards an increasingly more sustainable production.
Responsible Care, the chemical industry’s voluntary sustainability programme.
In Finland since 1992.
In Finland since 1992.
Responsible Care covers 80% of production in Finland. Companies are committed to continuous development, sharing best practices, and annual reporting.
Responsible Care, the chemical industry’s voluntary sustainability programme.
In Finland since 1992.
In Finland since 1992.
Results
Carbon neutral chemistry
The chemical industry in Finland has set an ambitious goal. We strive for carbon neutrality. We aim to reach our goal by both reducing carbon footprint and increasing handprint. In practice this means reducing our own carbon footprint, that is, our greenhouse gas emissions. It also means increasing our handprint through products and solutions that reduce our customer’s emissions. New raw materials, new technologies, and circular economy will play an important role in this process.
News
2019 European Responsible Care Awards dominated by projects promoting digitalisation and circularity in chemical industry
Finnish companies Neste and Kemira won their categories, and Kiilto was given a special mention.
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Case
Neste sets an ambitious target for carbon neutral production by 2035
Neste is committed to reaching carbon neutral production by 2035. The commitment complements Neste’s other strategic climate commitment of reducing customers’ greenhouse gas emissions by at least 20 million tons annually by 2030.
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Case
Heating a large factory with waste heat
Kiilto has set itself clear environmental goals and aims to make all its operations carbon-neutral by 2028.
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Case
The Finnish chemical industry’s Safety Award 2019
Centria University of Applied Science developed a module featured safety as one of the main themes. The course was realised in close collaboration with local industry.
Watch the video
Case
Cooling an enzyme plant with outdoor air
Roal is a biotechnology company that takes full advantage of Finland’s climate to save energy in its manufacture of industrial enzymes.
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From an employee’s point of view, Responsible Care has given us great results with work life development. Information flows easily and understanding increases.
Jenni Uljas, Member of the Finnish Responsible Care Steering Group, Industrial Union
Energy consumption
The companies committed to the Responsible Care programme in Finland have improved their energy efficiency gradually during the past years. Many of them have signed the national energy efficiency commitment too.
Many processes in the chemical industry require high pressure and high temperatures. This leads to high overall energy consumption. The majority of consumed electricity is bought from energy producers.
Results of 2020
Since 1995, energy consumption proportionated to total production has decreased by 21% in Finland. In 2020, 26% of the energy used is electricity, while most are other forms of energy, such as heat. Totally 29% of the electricity consumed and 7% of other forms of energy consumed was produced using renewable energy sources.
-0%
Energy consumption
from 1995
from 1995
0%
of electricity from
renewable sources
renewable sources
Responsible Care guides holistically the sustainable management of the entire company, covering all areas of responsibility in the areas of personnel, chemicals and environmental safety.
Anne Helenius-Heir, Vice President of EHSQ, Kemira Ltd
Safety
Long-term development of safety culture has lead to good results in the Finnish chemical industry. The aim is in continuous development of safety towards a zero-incident goal.
Since 1988 lost time injuries have decreased by 93%. The lost time injury frequency rate (LTI) of the chemical industry is significantly lower than in general in the Finnish industry. A good sign of an active safety culture is the constantly growing number of safety observations.
Results of 2020
The lost time injury frequency rate of companies committed to Responsible Care in Finland decreased by almost 33% from 2019 (more than 3 days, LTI3). Correspondingly the lost time (more than 1 day, LTI1) injury frequency rate decreased by 28% since 2019. In 34% of the companies there were no lost time injuries among employees or contractors. In 2020 there were around 2 near miss reports and safety observations per person.
-0%
lost time injuries frequency rate
(LTI3) from 1988
(LTI3) from 1988
0
lost time injuries frequency rate (LTI3)
Lost time injuries frequency rate and work hours lost
per million man-hours worked
1000 hours/million man-hours worked
0
1
2
3
4
1988
1991
1995
2000
2005
2010
2015
2020
Work hours lost
Responsible Care highlights the longterm development of safety. If last year a quarter of companies were in the "zero injury club", I am sure the direction is towards 100% through collaboration and sharing best practices.
Elisa Tuhkanen, Health, Safety, Environment and Security Manager, Kraton Chemical
Circular economy
Circular economy is in the heart of chemical industry and materials are used very efficiently in the industry. The raw materials differ as much as the end-products, which tells about the heterogenity of the chemical industry.
Lately, the utilisation of waste as raw material in other processes as well as energy utilisation have increased, which means the amount of materials going to waste has decreased significantly. Molecules are reused more and more.
Water is used both in chemical industry processes as well as in products as a raw material. Focus on water consumption has lead to an even further efficient use of resources.
Results of 2020
Resources are used efficiently in the Finnish chemical industry’s processes and the work develops constantly. In 2020, 51% of the companies reported to use recycled materials in their production. In 2020 roughly 3% of materials leaving the production are by-products and waste materials.
0%
of materials used are
recycled or renewable
recycled or renewable
-0%
Water consumption
from 1995
from 1995
With chemistry we can solve the climate crisis. Responsible Care has been guiding our work for almost 30 years and offered tools for building a more sustainable future. The work continues!
Sami Nikander, Director, Responsibility, the Chemical Industry Federation of Finland
Greenhouse gas emissions
The Finnish chemical industry’s greenhouse gas emissions keep on declining, while advancing towards carbon neutrality. The chemical industry is accountable for around 5% of the total greenhouse gas emissions from Finland.
In the chemical industry, the work to decrease the greenhouse gas emissions has been done by developing processes and switching to using as low-emission energy as possible. To reach the carbon neutrality goals, we need innovative new solutions alongside continuous improvement.
Results of 2020
The work to reduce the Finnish chemical industry’s carbon footprint has been ongoing for a long time and greenhouse gas emissions have fallen by 27% since 1999. In 2020 the total direct and indirect greenhouse gas emissions were 5.4 million tons CO2e.
-0%
Greenhouse gas emissions
from 1999
from 1999
-0%
Greenhouse gas emissions
from 2019
from 2019