The carbon handprint of digitalisation can be significant – carbon-neutral Digia helps its corporate customers reduce their emissions

In 2020, Digia revised its corporate responsibility principles and goals. One of our goals is to be a carbon-neutral company.

The carbon footprint of Digia’s own operations in 2020 was 343 tonnes of CO2e, including emissions from heating and air conditioning for all our offices in Finland and the emissions of the data center facilities we use for our own purposes. The carbon footprint of the entire value chain was approximately 2,300 tonnes of CO2e, which, in addition to emissions from energy consumption, includes emissions from waste management, commuting, equipment acquisitions, equipment recycling and other acquisitions. Carbon footprint calculations for Digia were performed by Positive Impact.

“First and foremost, to achieve carbon neutrality, we need measures that reduce emissions. Approximately half of our carbon footprint for the whole value chain comes from production equipment acquisitions and recycling. In this area, we have been able to reduce emissions through measures such as proper equipment recycling,” explains Pia Huhdanmäki, Senior Vice President, HR and Culture at Digia.

Read more about Digia’s carbon footprint in our Annual Report >>

Achieving full carbon neutrality also requires offsetting. Digia offset the emissions from its own operations in 2020 by funding the restoration of peatlands in Finland through Hiilipörssi. Our offsetting will restore approximately nine hectares of peatland in Piitsonsuo in North Karelia.

“To achieve actual results through corporate responsibility actions, we need to direct them into things that have a significant effect. That’s why, when taking action to offset our emissions and achieve carbon neutrality, we wanted to focus on Finland and, specifically, the restoration of peatlands,” Huhdanmäki explains.

“Peatland covers only 3% of the world’s land surface but contains a third of the carbon in the ground – more than is stored in all the world’s plant life. On average, peatland stores ten times more carbon per hectare than any other ecosystem, including forest,” explains Risto Sulkava from Hiilipörssi.

In addition to its climate benefits, restoring peatlands also has positive effects on water bodies and biodiversity.

“When ditches are blocked off, water bodies receive less water at a slower pace. The water also gets filtered through mossy ground, which cleans it. This is how we can prevent damage to bodies of water resulting from digging ditches. As the water economy of peatlands is restored, flora and fauna will return. Particularly in Southern Lapland, many protected mire species are endangered, and restoration of peatlands increases their chances of survival,” Sulkava adds.

The peatland restoration work is currently in the planning stage, and the goal is to start restoration work proper as early as autumn 2021.

From a carbon footprint to a carbon handprint – Digia supports its customers’ climate goals

According to the final report of the working group preparing the ICT sector climate and environment strategy (11/2020), the ICT sector’s greenhouse gas emissions come indirectly from sources such as the production of electricity used by the sector and the extraction of raw materials required for equipment. The transfer, processing and storage of data for various purposes is growing in scale rapidly and requires server processing capacity and electricity.

However, the ICT sector also has significant potential for reducing the carbon footprint and climate impact of other operators through digital solutions. This is the reason we are assessing the scale of the emission reductions Digia is producing for its customers in 2021 – our carbon handprint.

“Smart digital solutions can boost the speed and efficiency of positive development in practically any field imaginable. Smart solutions let you manage things like energy systems, logistics and enterprise resource planning and even influence people’s consumer choices. These things translate to emission reductions through, for example, energy savings, reduced waste and more efficient circular economies – even the increased popularity of city bikes,” explains Outi Ugas from Positive Impact.

Digia already supports its customers in building a more climate-friendly future. For example, the system being delivered to Walki supports the company’s goal of improving energy efficiency and promoting a zero-waste future for the packaging industry. The Finnish Tax Administration’s Incomes Register project, on the other hand, concentrates all information about Finnish individuals’ wages, pensions and benefits in one place, which, among other benefits, reduces paper consumption considerably. Each wage information report is used, on average, ten times across different authorities, which illustrates the utility of a centralised information system.

“Digia’s work already has a significant impact on the digitalisation of Finnish companies and society. Our digital solutions also allow us to help our customers reduce their carbon emissions. I am excited to get a clearer picture of Digia’s carbon handprint and the positive climate impacts our work is having,” concludes Timo Levoranta, CEO of Digia.

For further information, please contact:

Pia Huhdanmäki
Senior Vice President, HR and Culture, Digia Oyj
+358 40 097 0413
pia.huhdanmaki@digia.com 

Outi Ugas
Senior Advisor, Positive Impact Finland Oy
+358 40 411 4541
outi.ugas@positiveimpact.fi

Risto Sulkava
Founder, Hiilipörssi Oy
+358 40 545 6472 
risto.sulkava@hiiliporssi.fi