Annual overview of Sustainability Developments in 2019
Action for sustainability has never been a topic of such magnitude as in 2019. Concerns about the environmental issues has awaken the consumers and businesses to address these consequences more seriously than in the past. High-growth, low-responsibility business models and regulations are slowly beginning to change.
The UN embarks 2020 as a ‘Decade of Action’ to encourage the world to work together through thoughtful collaboration and teamwork to meet the Sustainable Development Goals by 2030, with only ten years left to achieve. We are ready to engage and contribute to the better world envisaged by the 2030.
Researching and implementing new cleaner practices into the business is always on the agenda for Estanc. When we hear about new, more efficient solutions, we are usually eager to hop on board and learn more. Hereby we share Estanc’s developments in sustainability from 2019.
1. Creating Estanc’s Sustainability Team
Greatest results happen when working in teams. In the beginning of 2019 we put together a team of five people from different departments to create the A-team of Sustainability. Our intention was to bring different views on the table to come up with creative solutions and create a stronger culture of sustainability across the company. The team mapped out the steps that had been taken towards sustainability so far, set new goals and commitments through the framework of UN’s Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs) and developed a Sustainability Strategy for 2019-2022.
We set our primary focus to six most important SDG’s – these are areas, where we can deliver the greatest positive impact:
The strategy involves all departments and embeds sustainability into our core business, helping us to be even more ambitious and responsible in many areas. These SDG’s are showcased in our presentations, production halls and office building to start the conversation as well as display our practices.
2. Joining the United Nations Global Compact
In May we gave our promise to fulfill the 17 Sustainable Development Goals (SDG) and therefore take responsibility to operate in a way that protects human rights, labor, environment and anti-corruption.
To show our progress, we annually submit a Communication on Progress (CoP).
The CoP aims to give a transparent information to our stakeholders and shows our company’s commitment to the UN Global Compact, where the reports are publicly available.
3. Concretizing our Mission
With the aim to make the abstract mission more clear ‘to manufacture process equipment that supports the creation of a more sustainable world’ we concretized our mission through practical sustainability approaches. What does it mean though? As a result of the workshops we defined the mission of Estanc and possible business outputs mainly through the framework of UN Sustainable Development Goals and Corporate Responsibility. How we extend and give context to our mission statement applies through the three pillars: Our own management and processes, our products and services and additional contribution, and is described as following:
By acting in a responsible manner, we manufacture products that allow our end customers to operate sustainably. To save energy, natural and living environment and health.
4. Launching Sustainability page on our website
As mentioned earlier, sustainability is integrated to our core business strategy and embedded into our organizations’ culture. In the Sustainability page we give context of what sustainability means to us, showcase our goals and promises as well as communicate the practical steps we have implemented to reduce our ecological footprint. This page should also relate to future members of Estancteam, to whom future-oriented sustainable behaviors should be an inspiring topic and being a part of sustainability issued conversations beyond question.
5. Issuing Estanc’s Code of Conduct
To embody the standards that Estanc as a company sets for itself, our employees and partners, we created Estanc’s Code of Conduct. The CoC was issued to help ensure that we can more effectively implement our mission and take responsibility for our words and actions. This document embodies Estanc as a company, our culture, vision and it is based on our core values such as: Sustainability, Developmental attitude, Environmentally friendly, Honesty, Expertise and Goodwill.
6. Energy and resource efficiency auditing
For better overview of our energy consumption we ordered an energy and resource audit. We used the results of the audit to create an investment plan to make our production even more energy efficient, that would help in longer perspective to cut our costs and save the environment, for example, installing solar panels by the end of 2021.
7. Going 100% fossil free
For running daily errands and business trips, we became free of 8 company cars with internal combustion engine and invested in electric car. 
We also installed two charging points to our premises.
The extra charging point was installed to help increase the convenience among environmental stewardship-minded employees and visitors who are welcomed to charge their electric cars during the visit. The electricity used to charge the vehicles comes from 100% renewable sources.
When it comes to fuelling our industrial equipment and heavy machinery, we switched to 100% fossil free Neste My diesel fuel and installed the fuel tank to our premises.
8. Networking with different stakeholders to strengthen the environmental community
We were visited by many businesses and institutions, amongst others, the Swedish Institute, Rohetiiger, Estonian Association for Environmental Management etc, to learn from others and share our knowledge in sustainable approaches and practices. We believe in co-operating rather than competitive society and we are pleased that the interest taken in our company is so big. Imperceptibly we have become in way an example of a sustainable business and we hope to encourage others to follow.
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