Towards Sustainable Business
We need to change our path if we want to end up somewhere else. It is no secret that climate change is one of the greatest challenges of our time. And we are determined to be part of the solution.
For the first time, our 2021-2025 strategy has sustainable targets as well as financial targets.
We want to minimise our environmental impact, and there will be a sustainable focus across our entire organisation. We have great ambitions, and we need skilled partners to succeed.
We have made 12 concrete areas we want to work with. In our sustainable strategy, we have chosen to work with 3 of the sustainable development goals, and all 12 areas relate to one of the three goals.
Timeline
100% sustainable certified wood
Forests should be for all and all generations to come. By committing to using 100% sustainable certified wood we help promote responsible forestry. That means that the wood comes from either sustainable forests or other responsible sources. Our first goal was to have our own factories FSC certified. That was achieved in 2022. Our next goal is to use sustainable certified wood in all our products containing wood by 2025.
Responsible packaging
Packaging material is important. We need to make sure that our furniture is well protected during transport. However, we do believe that we can reduce our environmental impact with responsible packaging. This means that we will minimise our packaging material consumption and still protect our furniture. We will strive to use recycled and/or recyclable materials and look for alternatives for some of the materials we use today.
Sustainable supplier management system
We have always taken our responsibility seriously and have been a member of amfori for years. Now we will implement the amfori BEPI platform across our supplier portfolio. Doing this will give us a better understanding of the environmental impact embedded in our supply chain operations. The BEPI platform is managing environmental issues and gives us the information we need to act and ultimately map the CO2e in our Supply Chain.
Responsible fabrics
We want to use responsible fabrics and our goal is to have our range of fabrics OEKO-TEX® certified. OEKO-TEX® textiles are tested for more than 300 different substances that are harmful to our health and the environment. In March 2022, 52 % of our fabrics were already OEKO-TEX® certified, but we are working to get our entire range of fabrics certified. In addition, we want to ensure that a greater share of our fabric assortment is sustainable certified. For example, we have introduced our Latina fabric made from recycled PET plastic bottles and is GRS certified.
CO2 data on all materials
We want to do more, and we want to improve. That is why we are working on Life Cycle Assessments, which means mapping the CO2 emissions directly related to the product materials such as packaging, materials and components. This requires a lot of data, but we are determined to create more transparency of the environmental impact caused by our products. This will enable all stakeholders in our supply chain to take the necessary responsible choices.
Life Cycle Assessment
We want to be transparent regarding our product’s carbon footprint. By 2024 all our new products will have a Life Cycle Assessment - LCA. It will illustrate how much CO2 each product emits from materials to production and transport. It gives our customers the chance to make an informed choice when they buy our furniture.
Sustainable design & manufacturing
We need to start thinking sustainability into our design and production. To kickstart this process we will make a ‘showcase’ on sustainable innovation. It will be a piece of furniture where sustainability is designed into the product and thought into every step. Sometimes the only way to start thinking differently is to set the bar high and learn as you go. We acknowledge that there is no such thing as a 100% sustainable product, but we need to make it as sustainable as possible. We will no doubt do some valuable lessons and create a basis for future products.
Design for disassembly
We will rethink the way we design our furniture. Our furniture is designed for private homes, to be used and loved for years. By applying Design for Disassembly principles to our products we will lengthen the life cycle of our products. When at some point, the furniture has done its job, the furniture will be easily disassembled making it possible to re- or upcycle the different parts.
Cut CO2 from our own operations
We want to reduce our environmental impact. One of the most effective ways to reduce our carbon footprint is by looking at our own operations. In line with the international standard (GHG protocol), we will start by monitoring the carbon emissions from our own operations and then we will implement initiatives to cut our CO2 emissions in half by 2025. Concurrently, the initiatives will be closely monitored for a longer period to evaluate the actual effect on CO2e. We are determined to reduce the environmental impact caused by our operation and act more responsible going forward.
Carbon footprint across the supply chain
Sustainability will need to be considered in every part of Actona Group. To make an impact our whole organisation must show authentic and holistic behaviour. Therefore, we acknowledge that CO2 is not just linked to our direct operation but extends into our supply chain. Therefore, we want to encourage all Actona Group supply chain stakeholders to act responsibly. However, for us to set the scene and encourage both upstream and downstream, we need to map the CO2 emitted in our supply chain activities.
Recycling
Waste is an unavoidable part of all operations, and it simply just makes sense to recycle waste. When materials are recycled it does not end up in landfills, but it also reduces the need for new material and thus reduces greenhouse gas emissions. That is why our target is to ensure that we recycle more waste from our production internally and the waste we do not reuse internally must be upcycled for new purposes externally i.e., creating new products. We already reuse the foam waste from our upholstery production at our Chinese and Ukrainian factories internally for new purposes.
Load optimisation
Our products must go from A to B via sea or road. Shipping empty space has a big environmental impact and for years we have worked with load optimisation to minimise empty space. Now we will focus on rethinking our packaging so that we can load more products into each container, thereby shipping fewer containers and saving CO2. When we are able to transport a higher amount of goods but with a reduced number of containers, we will reduce the impact caused by our transportation considerably.
