SUSTAINABILITY:
Systematic work for sustainable corporation
SUSTAINABILITY:
long-term work for the benefit of society
Edita Group helps its customers communicate more effectively and provides them with reliable printed and digital information.
The Group consists of three business areas: Edita Prima specializes in technology and production services for customer communication of companies and organizations. Edita Legal Information provides legal information experts with the latest legal professional information in the form of online services, training and books. Edita Learning provides high-quality learning materials and training in the field of teaching and education to support learning and teaching.
We can rightly say that our companies influence our society in many ways.
sustainability
Edita Group’s sustainability strategy was updated and approved at the end of 2022. We strive to have a positive impact on society and run our business in a responsible manner. Delivering value to our stakeholders and maintaining their trust is at the core of our operations. We strive to work closely with our customers and want to offer them solutions that contribute to their business growth and increase their customer satisfaction.
Edita Group’s sustainability activities correspond to the areas of environmental and social responsibility and good governance, which form the basis of our corporate social responsibility (ESG) efforts. Edita Group also strives for profitable growth that supports sustainable business. This includes financial responsibility and good corporate citizenship.
The development of sustainability is guided by the company’s policies, guidelines and commitments, as well as guidelines defined by third parties that are central to the company’s business. We assess the risks related to sustainability as part of overall risk management. Sustainability risk management includes an assessment of financial and any reputational risks.
In our operations, we comply with legal requirements and act transparently. We have conducted systematic sustainability work since the early 1990s.
Our Code of Business Ethics guides the activities of each employee of Edita Group with all of our stakeholders, which include employees, customers, partners and shareholders. We also expect our partners to comply with our Code of Business Ethics.
In our own operations, we follow the international trade sanctions issued by the UN, EU or US authorities to the extent they are related to our operations, and we expect our subcontractors to comply with these export-related laws and regulations as well.
Finland is one of the most successful countries in the world by many indicators. This would not have been possible if not for two things. Our legal system is the bedrock of the functional society. Education has made it possible for Finland to become one of the most successful countries in the world.
Edita Learning and Edita Legal Information are involved in building both of these. Our goal is to make excellent education even better by providing the best learning materials for teachers and students. Our legal information services provide up-to-date legal information to professionals and citizens so that society and business can thrive.
Edita Prima helps companies and organizations communicate better with their stakeholders. Communication is important to people, businesses and society. Communication also plays an essential role in improving social well-being and promoting environmental awareness.
Creating value for our stakeholders and maintaining trust is at the core of our operations.
Environmental responsibility:
Towards carbon neutrality
In our operations, the biggest environmental impacts are caused by the production and logistics of printed products. We reduce our own and our customers’ environmental impact by investing in sustainability in our operations and services. We strive to select domestic environmentally certified suppliers and minimize the environmental impact of logistics.
In our production, we carry out systematic environmental work and focus on the continuous improvement of the level of environmental protection. One important step in reducing our carbon footprint has been the transition to electricity from renewable sources. Besides improving energy efficiency, we avoid unnecessary travel and prefer video meetings when it is the most efficient way to do business.
We strive for carbon neutrality in accordance with the objectives set for state-owned companies.
Social responsibility:
Inspiring and inclusive leadership
We are committed to building a growth culture by providing employees with learning opportunities, nurturing their talent, as well as supporting inspirational leadership and fair rewards for achievement. We believe that a working community based on trust and transparency, in which individuals from different backgrounds and experiences work together, is essential for the success of our company. Promoting equality is an important goal for us. We also promote respectful and inclusive leadership.
We encourage our employees to work together to strengthen our culture and our ability to meet customer needs. Our guiding principles are an integral part of our day-to-day work, and they guide our operations and develop our culture.
Employee well-being and family friendliness are important values to us. We measure the well-being of employees and develop our operations in cooperation with the personnel in order to provide a good working community. Our concept of the family is diverse and aims to take into account our employees’ individual situations and work/family balance. We also want to influence the future of young people in society by offering traineeship and work opportunities for young professionals.
Good governance:
Transparent and honest operations
Edita Group adheres to the principles of good governance. Our goal is to be honest, transparent and responsible in everything we do. We comply with statutory requirements and honestly and transparently communicate about our business.
Our Code of Business Ethics guides the activities of every Edita Group employee with all of our stakeholders: employees, customers, partners and shareholders. We also expect our partners to comply with our Code of Business Ethics. We do not tolerate bribery or corruption in any form.
We respect all internationally recognized human rights in everything we do and expect the same from our suppliers and partners. The Group’s internal whistleblowing channel aligned with the EU directive facilitates anonymous reporting of irregularities related to the Group or its business areas.
Financial responsibility:
Profitable growth reliably
We strive to run our business profitably and provide our stakeholders with reliable and high-quality products and services, which helps to maintain long-term partnerships. We operate efficiently with the goal of long-term profitability and growth. Effective internal control ensures the reliability of information, and regular risk monitoring allows us to respond to risks in a timely manner and manage them.
Our sustainability
program as part of the
strategy
Our sustainability
strategy supports the
nine UN Sustainable
Development Goals
Environmental responsibility:
Reducing carbon footprint
We reduce our own and customers’ environmental impact by investing in sustainable operations and services.
In our production activities the environmental work is systematic and focused on continuous improvement. One important step in reducing our carbon footprint has been the transition to electricity from renewable sources. We have centralized our operations and increased our use of premises in and efficient way. This has led to increased energy efficiency and improved management of the office practices.
Social responsibility:
Culture of growth and collaboration
We are committed to building a growth culture providing employees with learning opportunities, nurturing their talent, offering inspirational leadership and fair rewards for achievement. We believe that individuals with diverse backgrounds and experience, working together in an environment built on trust and transparency, are essential to our success.
We encourage employees to collaborate with each other to strengthen our culture and ability to meet customer needs. Our Guiding Principles are an essential part of our daily work, and they guide our behaviour and develop our culture towards a desired ethical direction
Good governance:
Transparent operation
Edita Group follows principles of good corporate governance. Our goal is to show integrity, transparency and accountability in all our operations. We comply with legal requirements and are honest and transparent when communicating about our business.
Financial responsibility:
Profitable growth
We aim to conduct our business in a profitable way and provide our stakeholders with reliable and high-quality products and services in order to sustain long-term relationships with them. We run our business efficiently aiming for long-term profitability and growth. Efficient internal control safeguards reliable information, and regular risk monitoring enables us to react and manage risks in time.
Maintaining the trust of stakeholders
Maintaining the trust of stakeholders
Edita Group’s goal is to operate in such a way that we can maintain the trust of our stakeholders. We always strive to work with our stakeholders in an ethical and responsible way in accordance with our guiding principles.
Personnel
Edita Group’s goal is to be an attractive and responsible employer. We are committed to creating an inclusive, inspiring and guiding principle-based working community and to promoting the development of the competence of our personnel.
We value self-directed, responsible and collaborative employees and believe that transparent leadership and a strong organizational culture are the cornerstones of employee engagement and good performance. We respect the right of our employees to have a work-life balance and believe that this will help us attract and retain skilled employees.
Customers
Ongoing dialog with customers is part of the fundamental nature of our business and supports collaboration based on trust. We have daily dialog with customers about their needs and expectations.
We strive to communicate honestly and accurately about our customers’ business and the services and products we provide to them. We always seek customer approval before publicly disclosing or promoting a service we provide to them.
Partners
We treat our suppliers and subcontractors equally and strive for cooperation based on mutual trust. In tendering, we focus on an objective evaluation of price, quality and reliability. We expect our partners to adhere to our Code of Business Ethics and, like us, to oppose illegal and unethical work practices.
Owner
Edita Group Plc is a Finnish public limited company that is wholly state-owned. The owner is represented on the Edita Group Board of Directors by one member. Edita Group reports to its owner in accordance with the requirements set for state-owned unlisted companies.
Proactive monitoring of risks
Monitoring risks proactively
Risk management is an inseparable part of Edita Group’s strategic planning and operational goal setting. Risk management is based on an organization-wide operating model that identifies, assesses, manages, and monitors various risks.
The company’s executive management is responsible for managing the risks related to sustainability and ensuring that they are appropriately addressed. Edita Group’s Board of Directors has approved the risk management process applied by the management. The executive management assesses the probability and significance of each risk. The Board of Directors also monitors and assesses risks that have been categorized as significant.
Financial risks
Regular monitoring of financial risks helps us to identify risks related to our business and to respond to them in advance. Financial risk can be anything that negatively affects the financial objectives set for the company’s business.
Personnel
Our most significant non-financial risks are related to the personnel. These risks include:
- management and key employees working closely with key customers deciding to leave the company
- difficulty recruiting talented experts who fit our culture and managers who are capable of developing business and leading people
- failure to ensure that key personnel have a sense of commitment to the organization
- occupational risks related to printing operations, such as accidents, chemical leaks and fires.
We manage personnel risks by investing in a successful employee experience and attracting talent. In addition, we focus on the development of personnel and management. We develop a collaborative growth culture and foster transparent leadership, competence development and effective recruitment practices. We maintain active and open communication and, through interaction, improve our employees’ opportunities to participate in the development of our business.
Environmental risks
The environmental risks of our operations are related to fires at the production plant and any environmental damage caused by them as well as chemical leaks that can cause environmental damage . We consider other environmental risks to be minor.
Environmental risks are mainly managed using an ISO 14001-certified environmental management system. Our production facility follows documented procedures to identify and prevent potential environmentally harmful emergencies and accidents. Accredited third parties audit the procedures annually. The action plans and emergency preparedness are reviewed and tested regularly.
Climate change
Climate change is not a substantial risk for our business. However, we consider preventing climate change to be very important, as it is the most significant threat to sustainable development globally.
We have managed to reduce our climate impacts significantly since 2008. In that year we began assessing the ways in which our business impacts climate change.
In 2009, we started taking measures to reduce and offset our carbon dioxide emissions. More information on the topic can be found in the section on environmental responsibility.
Good Governance
Transparent governance
and reporting
We comply with statutory requirements and honestly and transparently communicate about our business.
Our sustainability efforts comply with officially recognized international operating principles, guidelines and standards, such as the UN Global Compact principles and the ISO 14001 environmental management standard. In our reporting, we follow the 2020 Government resolution on ownership policy and the 2022 guidance for state-owned majority-owned companies on country-by-country tax reporting.
The objective of Edita Group’s Board of Directors, Board Committees and CEO is to conduct responsible business.
Transparency
In group governance and reporting, Edita Group pursues integrity, transparency and sustainability.
Audits and controls by third parties help to increase and maintain transparency. Edita Prima has a production plant and publishes annual environmental reports and prepares reports for the authorities.
We participate voluntarily in environmental programs that include reporting to the third parties listed under Memberships and Certifications. These third parties also review our environmental calculations.
Our goal is to be honest, transparent and sustainable in cooperation with our stakeholders. We also expect our partners to conduct their business responsibly.
Reporting wrongdoings
Any employee is able to report any suspected wrongdoings, such as dishonest or unethical conduct or crimes in the working community, without fear of discrimination or retaliation.
The Group and its business areas use a shared internal whistleblowing channel. It allows employees to file a formal report of wrongdoings and acts that are in breach of legislation or internal guidelines or procedures. Our whistleblowing guidelines are an integral part of our Code of Business Ethics, which describes how we maintain the trust of our internal and external stakeholders by acting ethically, responsibly and in accordance with our guiding principles.
In Group companies, violations can also be discussed in cooperation forums, where each employee group is represented by representatives selected by the business areas, or at other regular meetings between the employer and employee representatives.
Memberships and certificates
Memberships and certificates
Edita Group and its subsidiaries are members of the Finnish Media Federation.
Edita Lakitieto Oy and Edita Oppiminen Oy are members of the Finnish Book Publishers Association. Edita Prima Oy is a member of Finnish Packaging Recycling RINKI Ltd and the Finnish Direct Marketing Association.
Climate-neutral business
Edita Prima has had a climate-neutral business certificate issued by the South Pole Group since 2010. The company has reduced the carbon-dioxide emissions generated by its operations and compensated for the remaining emissions by funding UN-supervised clean development mechanism projects.
Nordic Swan Ecolabel
Edita Prima’s printing plant has the right to use the Nordic Swan Ecolabel. The Ecolabel criteria take into account the environmental impacts of production throughout the production chain. Both the materials used and the production processes meet these criteria.
Certified environmental management system
Edita Prima has an ISO 14001-certified environmental management system.
Forest certification
Edita Prima has set up a chain-of-custody management system that has been certified according to the PEFC standard. Edita Prima is also entitled to use these labels indicating that the paper used in the printed product originates from a forest that is managed in a socially, ecologically and economically responsible manner.
EcoVadis
Edita Prima was evaluated for the first time by the international EcoVadis organization during summer 2023. Edita Prima’s sustainability work was ranked in the gold class, that is, in the top five percent of all over 75,000 globally evaluated companies.
Reporting sustainability
Reporting of sustainability
Our sustainability reporting covers the operations of the parent company Edita Group Plc and the Group’s business areas during the financial year 1 July 2022–31 December 2023. Our joint sustainability strategy also covers both the Group’s parent company and business areas. Responsibility for the practical implementation of sustainability measures lies with each business area. The business areas are the same as our subsidiaries. We report on our sustainability efforts in our Annual Report.
In our sustainability reporting, we follow the reporting model issued to state-owned unlisted companies (Government resolution on ownership policy issued in 2020).
The information pertaining to economic responsibility is based on the consolidated financial statements and accounting. The indicators for corporate social responsibility are from HR and payroll systems and accounting. In calculating personnel-related figures, we have followed the general guidelines for the preparation of the annual report issued by the Accounting Board. The environmental responsibility figures are from the Group’s own systems.
The CEO’s review of this Annual Report, as well as the sections on business and financial information, provide information about the Group’s financial performance, organization, ownership, governance, companies and business operations, as well as on the changes that have taken place during the financial year from 1 July 2022 to 31 December 2023 (18 months).