Sustainability

Sustainability – a prerequisite for long-term value creation

We are committed to promoting responsible business practices in our portfolio companies and to conducting sustainable asset management of our real estate and forest investments. Ahlström Family values – ambition and responsibility – guide all our operations, and we have established a Sustainability Policy to define the framework for our sustainability work. In addition, we have chosen to comply with the United Nations Global Compact and Sustainable Development Goals. We are also an active participant in the Ahlström Collective Impact initiative, which brings together the Ahlström network companies, Ahlström foundations and UNICEF Finland.

ESG at the core

We continuously strive to improve the Environmental, Social and Governance (ESG) impact in our own operations and investments. As an owner, we contribute through the capital we provide, the engaged ownership role we take and furthermore, through the employment, innovations, products, and services provided by our portfolio companies. In the portfolio companies, our primary influence is carried out through the board work. We also have an active dialogue with the management of each portfolio company about development of their ESG work, the targets and action plans for the future. During the investment process, we evaluate whether there is an opportunity to support the target company´s development towards sustainable business.

ESG Management System Maturity

ESG Management System Maturity is a tool developed for us, which we use to assess and monitor how each of our portfolio companies are proceeding in their sustainable business journey. The companies provide a self-assessment which covers the pre-defined, material processes in each of the five levels of ESG Management System Maturity. ESG Management System Maturity is reviewed in annual sustainability discussions between A. Ahlström management and the company management. At the same time, companies’ progress in sustainability work, action plans and target levels are discussed.

During 2022, great progress was seen throughout our portfolio. Two of our portfolio companies have reached level 5 and two have reached level 4. Some of the portfolio companies are still working with their policies and processes to be able to monitor the development as a basis for decision-making, but most of them were able to concentrate on ambitious target-setting, developing processes to include the material sustainability KPIs also in the remuneration and two companies have also done a limited assurance for the ESG information.

Learn more about our three ESG focus areas, actions, KPIs, and 2022 progress below.