Matkahuolto’s climate targets in line with the Paris Climate Agreement – Endorsed by the Science Based Targets initiative

Companies that have joined the international Science Based Targets initiative are committed to reducing their emissions in line with the targets set by the Paris Climate Agreement. Matkahuolto has set ambitious, science-based short-term climate targets, endorsed by the Science Based Targets initiative in September 2023.

Endorsement means that our targets have been proven to be based on scientific research and in line with the Paris Climate Agreement. According to the targets we have now adopted, we are committed to halving our direct and indirect emissions (scope 1 and scope 2) and value chain emissions (scope 3) in absolute terms compared to 2020 levels by 2030.

“Companies in the transport and logistics sector have a special responsibility to mitigate climate change. The SBTi endorsement is an important indication that our sustainability work is truly effective and in line with scientific research. It is important for us in the road transport sector to walk together towards zero emission transport,” says Jaana Korkiakoski, Sustainability Director at Matkahuolto.

With this endorsement, Matkahuolto joins over 6,500 companies worldwide which are contributing to the battle against climate change with science-based targets and committed to limiting global warming to 1.5 degrees Celsius. According to the report prepared by UN Global Compact Network Finland in September 2023, there are 99 Finnish companies committed to the initiative, of which the targets of 62 have been approved.

Our commitment shows that we are not standing idly by, but are aware of our responsibility in reducing emissions from transport in Finland and are working purposefully to develop our sustainability work and achieve our targets.

Our climate roadmap guides us in sustainability work

We will achieve our targets through concrete, verifiable and measurable emission reduction measures. To support our work, we have drawn up, with the help of external experts, a climate roadmap that will guide us consistently towards our goals. In our climate roadmap, we have defined a total of 44 emission reduction measures, which we have identified through scenario calculations.

“We identified the essential means of reducing emissions and calculated scenarios about the effects of the measures. Based on this, we set a target to halve Matkahuolto’s greenhouse gas emissions by 2030, in addition to the carbon neutrality target”, Korkiakoski sums up.

During 2023, we have, for example, reduced emissions from our digital services by more than 80% and stopped using fossil fuels in our own trucks. We will continue to work towards our targets in 2024, when we will further intensify our cooperation with our partners to find common ways to advance our climate goals.

The Science Based Targets initiative (SBTi) is a joint initiative of CPD, the UN Global Compact, the World Resources Institute (WRI) and WWF, which aims to provide companies, investors and other stakeholders with tools to monitor emissions reduction targets and their achievement.

The monitoring is based on a scientific calculation method to ensure that companies’ targets are in line with those set in the Paris Climate Agreement.