Holmen’s mill in Iggesund, which produces Invercote paperboard, is one of the most advanced, fully integrated pulp and paperboard mills in the world. It is also one of the most sustainable, which is why it has been receiving the highest level of rating from EcoVadis ever since the mill joined the global independent sustainability assessment platform.
EcoVadis, the world’s leading provider of sustainability ratings, assesses companies around the world on how they work with sustainability management in the fields of environment, ethics, sustainable procurement and labour and human rights. Companies are rated on these areas and attributed an overall score. This results in a bronze, silver, gold, or since four years ago, platinum rating, which is only awarded to 1% of the 130,000 companies that EcoVadis assesses. In 2024, Holmen’s mill in Iggesund once again received the platinum rating.
“We have been a member of EcoVadis for a long time, and we have always been rated at the top level,” says Fredrik Puranen, Sustainability Manager at Holmen Board and Paper. “And for the fourth year in a row, since it was created, we have again achieved the top Platinum rating.”
Holmen’s mill in Iggesund joined EcoVadis at an early stage in order to compile and communicate its sustainability performance in a transparent way with customers and stakeholders.
“EcoVadis is an independent organisation that tells us if we are doing a good job or not,” says Puranen. “So by working with EcoVadis, we get an independent voice assessing the sustainability work that we do. This gives our statements about our good sustainability platform more credibility.”
“This is increasingly important because there is ever-growing knowledge about the importance of sustainability. This means that more of our customers and end consumers want to make a difference by purchasing products from a supplier with an EcoVadis platinum rating. It is a form of risk mitigation for them. They know that if they buy from an EcoVadis platinum supplier, they are buying from someone who has good union cooperation, business ethics, environmental policies and a good approach to sustainability in general.”
But with EcoVadis assessing more companies each year, achieving the platinum rating is getting harder and harder. “The score you need for platinum is relative to all the other companies,” says Puranen. “And they are all improving too, so that score is getting higher each year. This is a good thing. It means that the whole corporate sector is getting better at working with sustainability issues. And that pushes us to be better and make sure that our management systems get more and more robust and refined.”
It is through continuous improvement that Holmen’s mill in Iggesund has been able to always achieve the highest EcoVadis rating.
“We constantly push ourselves to improve. And an additional advantage of the EcoVadis assessment is that they have a service that identifies improvement areas, a service we utilise in our work with continuous improvement.”
Fredrik Puranen, Sustainability Manager at Holmen Board and Paper.
“We have a systematic approach to working with sustainability,” says Puranen. “That means we have policies for all the pillars that are covered by EcoVadis. Then we have measurements for the areas covered within these policies. So we measure, for example, our emissions and the number of women in leadership positions. We then have targets for these measurements, and then we review the KPIs. So we have continuous improvement by looking at what we have achieved, what new goals to set and how to reach them. We constantly push ourselves to improve. And an additional advantage of the EcoVadis assessment is that they have a service that identifies improvement areas, a service we utilise in our work with continuous improvement.”
“The pace of improvement from other companies is fast,” adds Puranen. “The score needed for a platinum rating was higher this year and will likely be even higher next year. But that is a good thing. It pushes us to improve and do even better.”