Ruukki Construction has made remarkable progress in cutting its operational emissions (Scope 1 & 2), achieving a 76% reduction by the end of 2024 compared to 2019. This milestone surpasses our 2030 target of a 70% reduction, reinforcing our commitment to sustainability.

"In 2024, we continued our systematic and long-term work to reduce emissions from our own operations. We want to transform the construction industry together with our customers. Our Ruukki LowCarbon offering, launched last year, plays a key role in reducing the carbon footprint of buildings. The choice of low-carbon raw materials significantly reduces product-specific emissions, but we want to do our part to eliminate the emission impacts of our own operations as much as possible," says Sami Eronen, CEO of Ruukki Construction.

Transition to fossil-free energy well underway

Our transition to fossil-free energy is well underway. Currently 9 of our 14 plants run on fossil-free electricity. Additionally, we are increasing our renewable energy production, with solar power installations expanding at several sites.

Beyond energy, we have enhanced sustainability in logistics by extending the use of electric trucks and reducing diesel forklift usage. We have also improved energy efficiency by upgrading heating, ventilation, and air conditioning systems, expanding LED lighting, and replacing outdated machinery.

Journey towards carbon neutrality continues

Even if we have successfully reduced our operational emissions in 2024, we are by no means ready.

“While we have already exceeded our target, it's important to note that we expect the energy consumption to increase as the construction market rebounds and production volumes grow. This year, we will expand carbon footprint accounting to include two more plants, as some of the most recent acquired subsidiaries have not yet been in the scope. These additions will lead to a rise in our total emissions, but our baseline and targets will remain unchanged. We will continue our systematic work to achieve even lower and more ambitious emission levels," says Tuovi Palojärvi, Sustainability Manager at Ruukki Construction.

As we continue to manage our own emissions effectively, the next step is to broaden our focus to include our total carbon footprint across the entire value chain (Scope 3).

"Later this year, we will commit to new value-chain carbon footprint targets. With this commitment, we ensure that we will keep Ruukki at the forefront of sustainable development in the construction industry also in the future," Tuovi Palojärvi concludes.