Weather and environmental measurement specialist Vaisala has been ranked in the top five places of the Financial Times’s European Climate Leaders 2022 listing.
The list includes European companies that achieved the greatest reduction in their greenhouse gas (GHG) emissions between 2015 and 2020. Vaisala has increased its ranking to fifth, up from 14th the previous year.
Kai Öistämö, president and CEO, Vaisala, said, “Sustainability really is at the core of Vaisala, and it is a great honor to be included on the top of Financial Times’s Climate Leaders list once again. Our ranking last year was 14th, which is excellent, but it is a true honor to take place five this year. As the latest IPCC report states, climate change is an even more urgent global challenge than we have originally thought. This calls also for actions from the private sector to step up and drive the change for our planet.”
Financial Times focuses on the reduction of core emissions intensity over the five-year period. The core emissions include direct GHG emissions (Scope 1) and purchased-energy emissions (Scope 2). The intensity, on the other hand, calculates emissions in relation to revenue. The Financial Times list shows that Vaisala keeps its top five position, whether ranked by emission intensity reduction or total reduction of emissions. Vaisala’s figures on these scales are 41.3% (average reduction of intensity per year) and 91.7% (total reduction).
Marjo Hietapuro, sustainability manager at Vaisala, said, “Our emission reduction is largely thanks to the fact that Vaisala uses 100% renewable electricity in its facilities globally – a target that we achieved in 2020. We take great measures to reduce our environmental footprint continuously. Now our emission reduction targets will focus especially on Scope 3, that is left out of the Financial Times’s list, and these upcoming targets will be highly ambitious.”
In March, Vaisala committed to setting a science-based target to reduce its Scope 3 emissions in the coming years, aligned with the Science-Based Targets initiative (SBTi).
“In addition to reducing our own emissions, sustainability is tightly integrated into Vaisala’s strategy and offering. It is truly extraordinary that we are able to do good for our planet in every part of our value chain: while we reduce our own environmental footprint, we also help our customers to do the same for their business and reach their sustainability targets. In this day and age, all companies wanting to succeed in the future need to look at how their business relates to the world’s challenges and to renew their business accordingly,” added Öistämö.