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YLVA Irresponsibility Report 2023
What on Earth went wrong in Ylva's sustainability efforts in 2023?
You have to take the good with the bad. We compiled our key irresponsible actions into a reportable form, so anyone can judge our list of sins. Our report is, of course, not verified by any third party, and comparing it to any of our competitors would be impossible, as no-one has of yet embarked on such foolishness.
Besides, one must also hope that others perform better than we do, otherwise, we'll soon be in over our heads, so to speak. On the other hand, if no-one else does it, why should we
- right?
1. We will
break our
carbon neutrality promise
We make money by building and renovating buildings and renting them out as facilities, as well as by cooking food and selling it. Both activities require a lot of raw materials, and for now, even the most environmentally friendly products on the market still produce emissions - either more (the steel structures of our new Lyyra building, 4,000 tCO2e) or less (a kilo of domestic carrots for UniCafe's salad bar, 0.78 kgCO2e).
Therefore, we can't make our operations emission-free. Our carbon neutrality promise is then based on the possibility of offsetting the emissions we can't eliminate through our own choices. However, according to upcoming EU legislation, carbon neutrality can't be claimed if it's achieved through offsetting. So in plain English - it's not going to work.
So what now? We are revising our promise. We will continue to reduce emissions as much as we possibly can, and make noise in the industry to ensure more responsibly produced raw materials enter the market. We also commit to make environmental and climate actions at least on the same level to the harm we cause. We will also openly explain what "as many emission reductions as possible" and "at least as many environmental and climate actions" actually mean in practice.
2. We Calculate Our Carbon Footprint the Best Way for Ourselves
There is currently no binding international or even national guideline for calculating carbon footprints that companies must strictly follow. In practice, all firms desiring information on their carbon footprint must improvise on some level. Some base their calculations on third-party databases, others rely on information given by their partners, and some calculate their emissions from scratch using their own methods. Therefore, you can't compare our numbers with those of other companies in the same field. Sorry about that!
Believe it or not - you can't even compare Ylva's carbon footprint data across different years. We refine our calculations constantly as we identify new sources of emissions. In 2023, for instance, we included the emissions of our property waste management into our calculations, which we didn't consider in the 2022 report. In 2023, we also calculated the carbon emissions for our renovation project, Grand Hansa, according to the updated YM50 method and compared the results with calculations made in 2020. As a result, the amount of the construction phase emissions increased by 50 %, solely due to the change in the calculation method.
That's it - or is it?? Fortunately, the industry-wide standards are in development. Starting in 2024, we at Ylva will begin to calculate our emissions directly from purchase data in collaboration with Carbonlink. We will then report (link in Finnish) how to interpret the long-term development of our carbon footprint. The aim is to have our carbon footprint calculations audited by a third party by the end of 2025.
3. We Don't Know If Our Partners Act as Promised
Ylva has a sustainability appendix that all our partners and tenants sign. In the appendix, we require them to meet certain standards related to the environment, human rights, and governance. Thanks to this appendix, our premises are free from exploiters and abusers, and no-one harms nature or the climate. World (and reporting obligations) saved?
Not quite. The sustainability appendix is a good tool for us to communicate our values and way of working to our partners, and to have related discussions during the contracting phase. However, in practice, we have no way of ensuring that our partners act as they promise.
Should we just let it be? We can't monitor everything, but we can start from somewhere. Reports on the grey economy in construction sites have been circulating for years. When our Lyyra and Grand Hansa projects began in 2019, we launched an Inclusive Worksite pilot (link in Finnish) at both sites. In the pilot, we tested various tools to increase worker equality and eliminate any abuses. Through our anonymous reporting channel (link in Finnish), anyone can give us a hint about issues in our operations. During 2024, we will then assess which parts of our operations are most at risk from a social responsibility perspective, and decide what our further actions should be based on that.
4. We Don't Know Where Our Raw Materials Come From
POV: you buy carrots from wholesale and would like to know where they come from.
Easy - just a call to the wholesaler and you're all set? In reality, many pioneers in the industry are just beginning to grasp more where their raw materials come from, and to get to know about the pressure that the production causes on the nature.
Often, the investigations stumble over the complexities of global supply chains. For example, the fish in the fish fingers served in our restaurants might have been caught in the Indian Ocean, processed in China, baked in Denmark, and finally packed in Estonia. Even though we use raw materials that can be traced to as many as 3,000 geolocations, our subcontractors, citing confidentiality, cannot provide us with the locations of the production sites.
A dead end? Measuring environmental impacts is a relatively new thing, which companies and international organisations are just beginning to tackle. We joined the Science-Based Nature Targets program (link in Finnish) of the UN Global Compact Network Finland among Finnish pioneer companies in spring 2024. Through this, we will investigate our operations' environmental impacts during 2024 and set goals to reduce them. As more companies demand traceability from their suppliers, tracing the origin of raw materials will become easier. So, we have decided to demand it.
5. We Boast About Our New Construction Project, Even Though We Know It Is a Climate Villain
The lifecycle emissions of a renovated building are lower than those of a new construction - at least for the next 30 years. The EU aims to be carbon neutral by 2050, so anyone who has passed elementary school math can calculate which construction method is more climate-friendly at this point.
A whole block was demolished to make way for the new buildings of our Lyyra project in 2019-2020. Yet, we tout it as Finland's most responsible construction project at every opportunity. Fun fact: the emissions from the steel embedded in Lyyra's structures alone exceeded those of the entire Grand Hansa renovation project.
There are still weak incentives to curb new construction that involves demolition. For example, the energy certificate used in Finland doesn't consider the actual energy consumption of buildings but is based on theoretical calculations, thus automatically favouring new buildings. Finland is actually one of the EU's most active building demolishers, and simultaneously the weakest in utilising demolition materials.
Can anything be done about this? At Ylva, we reduce the lifecycle emissions of our properties by purchasing only carbon-free energy for their use (link in Finnish). In Lyyra, we managed to cut the construction emissions by 16 %. That's not enough: the industry needs more circular economy solutions, especially to produce climate- and nature-consuming concrete and steel. The timeline from decision to completion for construction projects, including Lyyra, is usually measured in years. During that time, opportunities to implement sustainability practices can develop. We're committed accelerating our actions even during projects, asking our suppliers for low-emission alternatives, and to use them whenever possible.
6. We Oppose Russia's War of Aggression - and Do Damage to the Climate in the Process
We stopped offering products made from Alaskan pollock in our restaurants in 2023 when it was revealed that the species' fishing is linked to Russia's war of aggression. We switched from pollock to cod, which increased our carbon footprint: a Catch-22.
Many sustainability efforts are conflicting. For instance, geothermal wells produce clean energy, but their construction affects soil and groundwater. From a climate perspective, growing tomatoes in Finland is not particularly sustainable, but from a social responsibility point of view, tomatoes grown under the Spanish sun and picked by undocumented workers are also a poor choice.
Throw in the towel? Knowledge increases pain - but ultimately helps make better choices. Since February 2022, we have removed and replaced over 30 brands from our selection that originate from Russia or whose parent companies still trade with Russia. As we gain more information about the impacts of our operations, we can make informed choices - and demand more responsible practices from our subcontractors.
7. The Better We Perform, the More We Emit
Better performance almost automatically means more harm to the environment. The more buildings in our portfolio, the more energy they require. The more lunches we sell in our restaurants, the more the raw materials needed for their preparation burden nature worldwide.
Is the only solution to put up the shutters? Hardly. Our main services - food and shelter - are basic human needs now and in the future. We commit to provide them as responsibly as possible. In addition to absolute emission reduction, we measure the carbon intensity of our business. This describes the relationship between our carbon footprint and business growth, i.e., how much emissions it "costs" to earn one euro. If our carbon intensity continues to decline, we are on the right track. To justify our operations, we also need to stay ahead of our competitors. If someone else can provide the same service more responsibly, we must correct our course and outpace them.
