The 2022 Sustainability Report underlines Kiilto’s fundamental mission of creating wellbeing from cleanliness and building a sustainable future. For the first time, the 2022 Sustainability Report consolidates sustainability data from all of Kiilto’s countries of operation.
Sustainability is a central part of how companies do business, and organisations are beginning to understand their roles in environmental, social and governance (ESG) challenges better and better. Sustainability reporting has become an important tool for promoting transparency and accountability in organisations.
The report that has now been published is an important part of the roadmap to achieve Kiilto’s strategy and vision. This report is also a tool for Kiilto’s stakeholders, making it easier for customers to assess Kiilto’s performance from a sustainability perspective.
“The report aims to promote transparency and responsibility by making our efforts to build a more sustainable future visible. We believe that transparency builds trust and strengthens our relationships with stakeholders,” says Ville Solja, who’s responsible for business development at Kiilto.
Read Kiilto´s Sustainability Report 2022 here.
Responsibility has a face
Kiilto is a family business. The owners’ guidance is clearly reflected in the way Kiilto operates. For example, environmental considerations have long been part of the culture and one of the drivers in the company’s decision-making. Ville and his sister Eeva Solja, who is Kiilto’s Brand and Communications Director, are both closely involved in Kiilto’s day-to-day business, but they look at responsibility from an angle broader than what falls under their job titles, as owners. Eeva and Ville’s father, Erkki Solja, is the CEO of Kiilto.
“A company must be a reflection of its employees. We have to be able to subscribe to our responsibility policies at every level of the company. Only then can they drive us forward and lead to change. In a family business, where ownership has a face, these policies are naturally also personified, in part. This is something we must take seriously. Responsibility cannot be just tacked on”, says Eeva.
“Still, it is important to recognise that regardless of organisation or company, all of its representatives operate as faces for its responsibility,” she adds.
“Building more sustainable business models together with our employees is extremely interesting and rewarding. At the same time, we must ensure that Kiilto as an employer is able to respond to the changing issues of working life,” Ville adds.
Reporting is a journey of exploration towards a more sustainable tomorrow
According to Eeva Solja, the reporting journey was not without its difficulties. On the other hand, every twist and turn has been a learning opportunity.
“We were already following the GRI standards in Kiilto’s sustainability reporting as applicable, but the increasingly stringent requirements that we implemented in this report led us to explore our own organisation more closely than ever. It has also allowed us to take a look at our entire value chain. It was important to challenge our own thinking about what kind of an actor we are and how existing systems and mechanisms can support us in this”, she says.
“Many companies are grappling with the same questions as reporting becomes required by law: what is essential to measure and how will data be collected? However, as the name suggests, the report should tell you about whatever measures have been carried out. Data isn’t produced without action,” says Ville Solja.
The Solja family sees the uniform reporting practices required by the CSRD EU directive primarily as an opportunity.
“It is also a prerequisite for us to be able to continue doing business in 2080 in line with our vision. When it comes to the environment, we as a society will need to do things in a completely different way from now,” says Eeva.
“Responsibility must not be a playground for brands,” she says.
“This journey of exploration into an organisation’s operations may reveal aspects of responsibility that have been overlooked. It makes you stop and take a stand so that the journey doesn’t end before it even starts. Regulation creates a common set of EU-wide rules and also shapes the data from different organisations into a comparable format, revealing both actions and empty words alike. It is an invaluable opportunity to understand better the level of responsibility of yourself and that of others. Ultimately, all organisations should have just one common goal; a sustainable and better tomorrow.”
7 perspectives on the Kiilto Sustainability Report:
- For the first time, the 2022 Sustainability Report consolidates sustainability data from all of Kiilto’s countries of operation. The report is in English. Some of the sustainability data is currently only available for Finland or the locations where Kiilto has production.
- The environment lies at the core of Kiilto’s sustainability work. Kiilto’s 2018 publication Our Promise to the Environment guides our responsibility work and communication. As a chemical company, Kiilto has the greatest opportunity to influence environmental issues as part of its responsibility.
- Kiilto has no separate director or function of responsibility. Accountability is integrated into Kiilto’s processes and culture, making it easier to change procedures quickly when shortcomings are identified. On the other hand, we have recognised that this approach may make some sustainability issues invisible. Our reporting process has been a good way to identify gaps while also validating existing practices. In this report, we have tried to be open about the areas for improvement in Kiilto’s sustainability.
- For the development of social responsibility, Kiilto launched Our Promise to the People, which mirrors Our Promise to the Environment. Our tried and tested project team model was introduced in late 2022. We’re still in the goal-setting stage, but the overall picture is presented for the first time in this report.
- In the Kiilto Sustainability Report, we refer to the Corporate Governance Statement, which is available as a separate document on the Kiilto website.
- The statutory reporting obligation will apply to Kiilto in 2026 (reporting for the year 2025). The 2022 report’s aim has been to take the first decisive steps towards reporting in line with the CSRD EU directive.
- Sustainability reporting is the systematic disclosure of an organisation’s ESG performance, practices and impacts. It goes beyond financial reporting to provide stakeholders with comprehensive information on a company’s environmental impacts, social measures and governance practices. By measuring, monitoring and publishing relevant sustainability data, Kiilto assesses its progress in its commitment to sustainable development.
Further information:
Laura Heinovaara
Communications Manager at Kiilto
Tel. +358 50 5969 424
laura.heinovaara@kiilto.com