Sustainability Report

BE Group’s ambition is to create a stimulating and healthy work environment for employees and all workplaces within BE Group to be safe and pleasant and free from harassment and discrimination. The employees are our most valuable asset and a prerequisite for the Company to perform well.

BE Group’s corporate culture is based on what is defined as the Group’s core values. These values shall permeate the entire organization and create security and understanding, provide guidance in how we should relate to one another and to our surroundings, and form the basis for clear communication, both internally and externally. BE Group has focused on three key words for this work and they are dynamic, transparent and sustainable. Read more about the core values at www.begroup.com.

Safety first

Health and safety is a priority area at the workplaces and there is a Safety First policy with a zero vision regarding workplace accidents. The basic idea is that all accidents can be prevented and safety must come first at all times. During the year, the units worked locally to assess and address risks in the operations and to prevent accidents. They have steering documents in place and regular follow-ups, workplace meetings and training sessions. Each accident and incident are reported, evaluated, followed up and resolved.

In 2021, 16 accidents (16) were reported, resulting in more than one day’s absence. Moving forward, the units will continue to work proactively and focus on increasing the proportion of risk observations at the workplaces. Once the processes are in place, it is important to work behavior-based.

Code of Conduct

BE Group’s Code of Conduct is established by the Board of Directors and comprises all operations and employees within BE Group. The ethical guidelines provide guidance in the daily work to achieve the Group’s goals and point out everyone’s responsibilities towards business partners, owners, employees and society. The Code addresses issues of business ethics, anti-corruption, child labor, equality, work environment, career issues and competence development.

Leadership principles

In addition to the values, BE Group has eight leadership principles that are common to the entire Group. They must create uniformity and clarity regarding the expectations of how a manager should be and act to be a role model and contribute to creating a good work environment and a successful company.

Employees

BE Group’s ambition is to be seen as an attractive employer where employees thrive and can develop. The company is dependent on new staff with new ideas and experiences that balance the long-term expertise that exists.

Once a year, BE Group conducts a Group-wide employee survey to ensure that the strengths and improvement areas that exist in the work environment are illustrated. The survey is done anonymously and takes up issues that, among other things, include the Company’s strategy, values and safety and shed light on any harassment at the workplace. The results are presented by department and every group work on preparing an action plan for the improvement areas established. The employee survey is sent to all employees and 84% of the employees chose to participate in 2021. The employee survey measures four different indices: Engagement, Leadership, Team efficiency and Psychosocial work environment and, in all of the indices, we saw a positive development during the year.

The employees shall have the possibility of influencing their work situation and, besides the employee survey, performance reviews are held with the immediate manager.

Work has begun to increase the diversity of workplaces and to create balanced teams with individuals with different genders, ethnic backgrounds and ages. The percentage of women in the organization is still low, for example, and work has begun to look at how to create conditions to attract more women employees and managers. Working with diversity and gender equality is part of the management team’s work linked to the global sustainable development goals in Agenda 2030.

Training

During the year, training within the environment and safety area was carried out at the units. In addition to this, there has been training in sales culture in Sweden and the Group began a leadership training program for management teams at all of the units. Unfortunately, the pandemic has caused some planned training sessions to be postponed or adapted to current circumstances, but they will be carried out in 2022.

Whistleblower policy

There is a whistleblower policy, translated into all local languages, which means that all employees have the opportunity to report serious irregularities within the Group without risking being opposed or harassed. Reporting may be made to an external party that ensures appropriate steps are taken. No such reports were received during the year.

BE Group works actively to minimize the environmental impact of its operations. Environmental issues are an integrated part of the operations and the foundation of the environmental work is a Group-wide environmental policy. The units work locally with the environmental issues linked to the operations and focus is on continuously improving their facilities’ energy consumption, emissions and waste management. All operations, except Lecor Stålteknik, are certified in accordance with the international environmental standard ISO 14001.

In 2022, management will develop new environmental targets for the Group to reduce carbon dioxide emissions and to strive to become climate-neutral in the future. In the refinement chain from the steel producers to the customers, it is at the producer level that the majority of carbon dioxide emissions take place. With its position between steel producers and customers, it is in the area of transport in particular that BE Group is able to help reduce the environmental impact. BE Group can also participate in and influence the selection of materials on the market. The company is already working with several steel producers throughout Europe and is able to offer climate-compensated steel to customers. As from 2025, BE Group will also be able to offer fossil-free steel from H2 Green Steel.

The ambition is that as much as possible will be purchased from ISO 14001 certified suppliers and, in 2021, 84.5% (80.7) of purchases were made from certified suppliers.

GHG calculations

Since 2013, BE Group has made calculations of carbon dioxide emissions according to the recommendations in the Greenhouse Gas Protocol, GHG Scope 1-2. The calculations show that the Group had CO₂ emissions of 8.1 kg per ton sold (9.0) in total in 2021, which is a decrease of about 63% compared with the start-up year 2013. The decrease in 2021 is mainly attributable to the increased tonnage.

BE Group’s total energy consumption amounted to 74 kWh/ton sold (77) during the year. Carbon dioxide emissions from in-house operations are reduced through greater use of fossil-free energy carriers, such as electricity, biogas and district heating, and by the streamlining of energy consumption. Energy consumption is affected by the delivery volumes and it is primarily production activities (material processing and service), which are energy intensive. Warehousing in itself is less energy intensive.

Emissions and residual materials management

BE Group’s own operations cause only limited emissions. Emissions primarily originate from the production units in Norrköping and Turku where operations such as painting and blasting are carried out. The filtration of solvents (VOCs) from painting facilities and dust from blasting and cutting equipment is efficient and is continuously followed up.

Residual materials in BE Group’s operations are principally metals, wood and cardboard. These are sorted and recycled to the greatest possible extent. Steel production is a heavy and energy-intensive industry, but at the same time, the life expectancy of steel structures is long and the recycling rate is high compared with many other materials. In 2021, the Group recycled a total of 98 percent (99) of the total number of residual products from the operations.

Transports

The materials are transported by train, boat and truck. Since nearly half of all transports are made by road, the Group is actively working to find transport companies that have an explicit and deliberate sustainability and environmental focus. The transports are increasingly made by trucks powered by diesel with an add-mixture of non-fossil HVO/BIO components and today, there are also a few trucks powered by biogas. The units in Sweden and Finland account for the majority of transports and gather detailed data for current fuel consumption in cooperation with the transport companies to gain greater knowledge of the emissions and how the company can influence them from an environmental perspective. During the year, 90.5 percent (88.4) of the shipments were handled by ISO 14001 certified suppliers.

BE Group’s sustainability work is based on the ambition to create corporate social responsibility, which shall pervade the entire business. The company is striving to be an economically, socially and ethically responsible actor. As support in the sustainability work BE Group has several policies and guidelines, for example the Code of Conduct, Values, Environmental policy, Safety First policy, Whistle-blower policy, Anti-corruption policy and a Code of Conduct for suppliers. BE Group is working to have healthy employees and a safe work environment and to safeguard diversity, equality and the development of the company’s employees. There are KPI’s for the work with safety in the operations and during 2022 additional indicators will be developed as a part of the work with Agenda 2030. The employee survey is an important tool in the follow up of the internal work, where the teams after the survey work with their result. The company shall apply sound business principles and an important part in this is to work against corruption. An anti-corruption policy was developed in 2021 and will be implemented in the organization in 2022 when a follow up process will be developed too.

Human rights

With units in several countries in Northern Europe and a geographically widespread supplier base, insights regarding human rights may be limited and there is a risk that the company may involuntarily contribute to human rights violations. These issues are addressed in BE Group’s Code of Conduct and it applies to all operations and employees within BE Group. The follow up takes place through the whistle-blower function where employees have the possibility to report serious inaccuracies within the organization. When working with the suppliers there is a Code of Conduct for suppliers and follow up occurs through talks with the suppliers. Indicators and follow up processes will be reviewed in the work with Agenda 2030 that has commenced.