Sustainable IoT development – Haltian ESG Policy
We all carry responsibility for our environment and the people around us. Companies and organizations play a crucial role in moving our society towards a more sustainable future and having sustainability strategies in place also means that companies can make better long-term investments. Here are the things Haltian has outlined in our ESG policy, and how they are reflected in our values; together, passion and fairness.
What is ESG?
ESG stands for Environmental, Social and Governance. While ESG is often referred to as sustainability, it can be said that ESG encompasses not just environmental issues, but views sustainability more holistically. ESG is a framework explaining how sustainable organizations are, and how they manage risks and opportunities around sustainability issues.
The environmental aspect of ESG focuses on preserving the natural world, focusing on topics such as slowing down climate change, reducing greenhouse gas emissions, preventing biodiversity losses, and energy efficiency. The social aspect is about people relationships, and it includes topics such as gender equality, diversity, data security and community relations.
Finally, the governance aspect focuses on enhancing corporate governance with topics like management structures, executive compensation, anti-corruption and so on.
United Nations Sustainable Development Goals
A common way for companies and organizations to build an ESG framework is to look at United Nations’ 17 Sustainable Development goals. The development goals are “a call for action by all countries – poor, rich and middle-income – to promote prosperity while protecting the planet.”
In our sustainability journey, we began to find out what kinds of things we want to start measuring and how those can be reflected in United Nations sustainability themes. We examined the goals and chose six key goals where we can make an impact. The goals are:
- 3 – Good health and well-being
- 8 – Decent work and economic growth
- 9 – Industry innovation and infrastructure
- 10 – Reduced inequalities
- 12 – Responsible consumption and production
- 13 – Climate action
Environment
From the environmental point of view, sustainability in IoT can be viewed in two ways:
1) What is the carbon footprint of our product, meaning, e.g., how much carbon dioxide, waste etc. it takes to produce our products and solutions, and
2) How our solution can help our customers to, for example, minimize their carbon footprint, and make their operations more sustainable.
Read more: Sustainability in IoT – is it environmentally sound? By Joonas Mustonen
Haltian products
To make our solutions more sustainable, we produce energy-efficient products and constantly improve our solutions’ energy efficiency. For example, our battery-operated devices have a battery life of 5-10 years. In addition, we have introduced and promoted mains-powered devices to avoid e-waste that comes from batteries.
We are fully compliant with the European Commission’s Waste from Electrical and Electronic Equipment (WEEE), according to which we have made the waste management plan for our products. In addition, we are striving to improve reverse logistics beyond WEEE best practices. Our packaging materials are made with 80-90% recycled materials, with 89% being the most common share of recycled materials.
In addition to a waste management plan, we have designed our business model to support a circular economy: to maximize the reuse, repair, and proper recycling of our products, we offer sensor-as-a-service packages. This means that we manage our products’ lifecycle after they have been delivered to our customers as well.
How our solutions can help
Approximately 40 % of all energy use is from buildings. Haltian’s IoT solutions aim to provide essential data to reduce energy consumption in buildings. With IoT data, companies can monitor their space usage and reduce unnecessary heating, lighting, and air conditioning and make data-driven decisions to improve their operations sustainably.
By retrofitting smart solutions to buildings, we also provide older buildings with a new lease on life and reduce the need to build completely new ones.
In addition to efficient usage of resources in buildings, IoT solutions are used for remote monitoring and data-driven decision-making by many different industries. Remote condition monitoring reduces the need for manual checks which in turn reduces the gas emissions of travel. As an example, our customer Fingrid, Finland’s electric transmission system operator, uses Haltian IoT devices to monitor the condition of high-voltage components and control building rooms in remote locations. As a result, Fingrid has been able to reduce the need for manual checks extensively.
Read our customer story with Fingrid here.
Social
Within the social aspect of our ESG plan, we looked at sustainability goals 8, 10, and 12.
We ensure a healthy and safe work environment for all our employees. A healthy work environment means, for example, good air quality in our premises (ensured with our very own Thingsee AIR air quality sensors), ergonomic office furniture, extensive health insurance, and a code of conduct to ensure a harassment-free environment for all.
To reduce inequalities within the workplace, we ensure pay equality and aim to increase the number of different nationalities and language groups that work at Haltian.
Sustainability goal number 12 also includes aspects of product liability and governance, where the critical issues in technology are privacy and data security. Haltian follows European Union’s General Data Protection Regulation (GDPR), which you can read more about our Privacy policy. We target to have our information management systems certified and accredited by ISO27001 by the end of the year 2022. In addition, we constantly monitor and test our systems’ security.
Governance
The final aspect of the ESG plan is governance. Haltian’s governance policies are outlined in our code of conduct depicting the values according to which Haltian operates globally. We expect that not just our employees and stakeholders, but all our partners and suppliers too, operate according to these policies. Haltian’s code of conduct includes our anti-discrimination and anti-corruption policies, our commitment to producing safe and responsible products, and more.
Our other governance policies include employee satisfaction surveys once a year with additional poll surveys twice a year. And we are in the process of establishing a whistleblowing channel by June 2023. From our solutions, the Emphatic Building office solution aids collaboration and reduces social isolation in workplaces.
Our governance policies are also strongly present in our values:
Together: We are one team, we work together with the customer and we deliver results
Passion: We always do our best, we innovate and we develop ourselves and others
Fairness: We treat each other with empathy, we have our customer’s best interest at heart and we respect the environment. Fair and transparent governance, social and environmental sustainability are essential cornerstones of our business.
Final words
Sustainability actions require long-term effort and constant evaluation. We at Haltian are committed to making a positive effect on our society and reducing our impact on the environment. Our ESG policies are reviewed and updated regularly so that we can do our part in ensuring a sustainable future and a better working environment for the generations to come.
Sustainable development is the development that meets the needs of the present without compromising the ability of future generations to meet their own needs.
Gro Harlem Brundtland, 1987 United Nations World Commission on Environment and Development