We ensure profitability in a sustainable way

Economic sustainability

Neova Group companies comply to all statutory taxes, based on their own business operations, to the country in which they operate. None of Neova Group companies have overdue taxes.

Neova Group’s local impact as an employer, taxpayer and buyer of products and services is significant, particularly in Neova Group’s main operating countries of Finland, Sweden, Estonia, and the Netherlands. Neova Group’s total gross investments in 2021 were EUR 83 million.

Investments in the activated carbon production facility in Ilomantsi, Finland was the single largest investment during the financial year. Investments were also allocated to capacity expansion, energy efficiency investments and environmental protection and field maintenance in the peat production business.

Majority of the investments in 2021 related to capacity expansion and energy efficiency were in Grow&Care division, mostly in Kekkilä-BVB. Large numbers of production facilities in different locations raised also the total investment amounts needed. Investments were also done for Biofuels but no longer for energy peat.

Financial implications and climate change risks

According to the consumption forecasts of Neova Group’s fuel customers, the demand for energy peat will fall to half of the current level by 2023. The reasons for this are the price of emissions allowances and the current energy tax of EUR 3/MWh applied to peat (in heating), due to climate change risks. Considering this assessment, we decided to discontinue energy peat production in Finland from 2022 onwards in November 2021.

Although the need for peat will increase for other businesses than in energy use, we believe we can reduce significantly the land reserved for peat production over the next years. This will directly reduce our greenhouse gas emissions.

Moving on, as part of our Enterprise Risk Management process we will prepare the Task Force on Climate-related Financial Disclosures (TCFD) for Neova Group during 2022. The TCFD is a framework to incorporate evaluation of climate-related risks and opportunities into companies risk management and strategic planning processes. This disclosure will also cover our mitigating actions, as well as the related targets and key performance indicators.