Sustainable Development Goals

World's agenda for sustainable development

Guided by the United Nations, 193 member states globally agreed on an agenda to promote a more sustainable future in 2015. The Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs) address the global economic, social and environmental challenges we are facing, with an aim of leaving no-one behind by 2030. SDGs consist of 17 goals which are composed of 169 targets in total. Businesses play a crucial role in achieving the goals, and we truly must act if we want to reach the targets by 2030. Thus, we have identified the SDGs and targets where we as a company have the most negative impact and need to improve our actions, and those goals where we can contribute most positively and offer our expertise.

Our contribution

We chose our most relevant SDG targets based on where we can have the largest impact, either by minimising our negative impacts or by increasing the positive impacts. Additionally, we took into consideration the strategic connections between our current operations and the SDG targets. For example, UPM Code of Conduct and UPM Supplier and Third Party Code support all the SDGs we are focusing on. We assessed possible business risks if the issues addressed by the SDGs are left unsolved and business opportunities for our products and services which support the SDGs. We used the guideline from GRI & UN Global Compact to help us evaluate our contribution to the SDG targets.

The UN’s sustainable development goals motivate and encourage for collaboration

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Where are we aiming?	Progress (2018)
Comparable EBIT growth through focused top-line growth and margin expansion	Comparable EBIT increased by 17% to EUR 1,513 million
Comparable ROE 10 %	Comparable ROE was 12.9%
Net debt/EBITDA: around 2 times or less	Net debt/EBITDA was -0.17 times

Where are we aiming?	Progress (2018)
People feel that UPM values and promotes diversity. People are treated fairly in their work environment and can advance regardless of personal background or characteristics. 95% favourable in the Employee Engagement Survey Diversity and Inclusion index by 2030	Responses to the Employee Engagement Survey’s Diversity and Inclusion index 68% favourable
Diversity and inclusion initiative (continuous)	We continued to develop an inclusive and diverse working environment and reviewed the status and actions in business
Goal setting discussions are held, and development plans are created for employees, completion rate 100% by 2030	89% of employees had completed individual goal setting or annual discussion. 61% of employees had a development plan documented
Employees perceive good opportunities for learning and development at UPM, 80% favourable in Employee Engagement Survey by 2030	Responses to Employee Engagement Survey’s question regarding learning and development were 66% favourable
Employee engagement and enablement indices with favourable score clearly above external high-performing norm by 2030	Employee engagement index 71 % favourable. This is 3 ppt points below the external high-performing norm. Employee enablement index 72% favourable. This is 1 ppt point below the external high-performing norm.

Where are we aiming?	Progress (2018)
No fatalities or serious accidents in UPM operations	No fatalities in 2018, two serious accidents
Lost time accident frequency (LTAF) <1	LTAF was 2.7 for UPM workforces and 2.9 including contractors
Total recordable injury frequency (TRIF) <2	TRIF was 6.9 for UPM workforce and 6.6 including contractors
Absenteeism rate <2% in all organisations by 2030	The absenteeism rate was 3.9%
All operations have certified OHS system by 2030	All production sites have an OHS management system in place. 44% of the sites have external certification of their OHS system
Health Promotion Programme is in use at all UPM sites and businesses by 2030	Majority of the sites with Health Promotion initiatives. Preparations for global UPM Health Concept to be launched in 2019.

Where are we aiming?	Progress (2018)
Environmental management systems in 100% use	100% of production sites have a certified environmental management systems

Where are we aiming?	Progress (2018)
Acidifying flue gases (NOX/SO2) reduced 20% by 2030	29% reduction achieved since 2008 for the UPM average product

Supporting the UN Sustainable Development Goals

World's agenda for sustainable development

Our contribution

Our focus target:

Our other contributions to Goal 6:

Our focus targets: