K-Group's carbon dioxide emissions decreased by more than 40% in 2008
KESKO CORPORATION PRESS RELEASE 29.04.2009 AT 10.00 1(2)
Kesko's ninth Corporate Responsibility Report, for 2008, was
published today. The report complies with the criteria set out in the
Global Reporting Initiative's (GRI) G3 sustainability guidelines and,
based on the assessment of the independent assurance practitioner,
follows the highest A+ application level. In addition to meeting the
GRI requirements, the report also contains more everyday examples
than before of Kesko's responsibility work.
Kesko and K-retailers contribute together to local wellbeing. Kesko's
purchases from suppliers operating in Finland were ¤5.4 billion,
accounting for 66.1% of the Kesko Group's total purchases. Finnish
products accounted for more than four billion euros of all purchases.
K-retailers' direct purchases from regional producers increased by 7%
and totalled ¤569 million.
The building of a comprehensive store network continued strong.
Kesko's and K-retailers' investments in regions increased from ¤180
million to ¤413 million. In a good living environment, services are
available within walking distance. Among Finnish trading groups, the
K-Group has the most neighbourhood stores - a total of 679. The
average distance from home to a K-food store is 2.3 kilometres.
In salaries, Kesko paid ¤343 million in Finland and ¤154 million in
other countries, and in income taxes ¤79.4 million in Finland and
¤10.1 million in other countries. Total salaries paid by K-retailers
increased by nearly 18% and totalled ¤324 million. K-retailers paid
¤34 million in taxes.
Number of work-related sick days dropped considerably in Finland
The average number of personnel in Kesko during the year was 21,327.
This represented a growth of 4% from the previous year. In Finland,
the number of employees decreased by 95, while in other countries the
number increased by 902. Kesko terminated 2% of all the contracts of
employment terminated in Finland, while in other countries the
corresponding figure was 12%. The number of sick days caused by
incidents and occupational illnesses decreased by 37% in Finland. The
total number of sick days in Finland per million working hours
decreased by nearly 8%.
According to the personnel survey, equality improved substantially.
The proportion of women in management and specialist positions grew
by 6 percentage units from 42.6% to 48.8%.
Kesko's responsibility programme for 2008-2012 has been published
Kesko's comprehensive responsibility programme for the years
2008-2012 sets concrete targets for the areas of combating climate
change, decreasing wastage, transportation, responsible purchasing
and wellbeing of employees.
As part of the responsibility programme implementation, Kesko signed
a trading sector energy-efficiency agreement and committed to saving
65 GWh of energy by the end of 2016. The savings target is
significant as it corresponds to the annual energy consumption of
about 15 K-citymarket size stores or about 2,600 one-family houses
with electric heating.
K-Group's carbon dioxide emissions decreased considerably
Electricity purchased by Kesko to the K-Group was carbon-free in
2008. Thanks to this, the CO2 emissions of the electricity purchased
by Kesko to the K-Group decreased by over 80%, and those of the total
energy consumed by the whole K-Group by over 40%. In premises in
Finland, the specific consumption of electricity declined by 1.4% and
that of heat by 3%.
Air miles totalled more than 11 million and their CO2 emissions (more
than 2,300 tons) represent roughly 2% of the Kesko Group's calculated
CO2 emissions. Total CO2 emissions of company cars were approximately
3,200 tons.
Monitoring team controls responsible purchasing
China is Kesko's most important high-risk importing country and
Kesko's direct imports from China totalled ¤77 million. Kesko set up
a monitoring team of its own in Shanghai, China in October 2008 to
support responsible purchasing of its division parent companies. The
team guides, trains and monitors Chinese suppliers on matters related
to the compliance with work, environmental and chemical legislation.
Kesko is included in all of the leading responsibility indexes
Kesko was included in the Dow Jones Sustainability Indexes for the
period of 2008/2009 for the sixth time and continues on the list of
'The Global 100 Most Sustainable Corporations' in the comparison made
for the World Economic Forum. In March 2009, Kesko was included in
the FTSE4Good Indices.
Kesko's Corporate Responsibility Report for 2008 is published in the
printed version and in the pdf and Digipaper formats on Kesko's
Internet pages at www.kesko.fi. The Digipaper version contains
information that complements the printed report.
Further information:
Assistant Vice President Ulla Rehell, Kesko Corporation / Corporate
Communications and Responsibility, tel. +358 1053 22464 or +358 50
383 9426, ulla.rehell@kesko.fi.
Kesko (www.kesko.fi) is a retail specialist whose stores offer
quality to the daily lives of consumers. Kesko has about 2,000 stores
engaged in chain operations in the Nordic and Baltic countries,
Russia, and Belarus.
This announcement was originally distributed by Hugin. The issuer is
solely responsible for the content of this announcement.
