Performance against our commitments
We made significant progress and met most of our targets over the five year reporting period of our Growing Responsibly model (GRM). We aim to build on these achievements and will continue to work on the areas that proved more challenging. Scroll down for a detailed look at our 2020 performance against each action area of the GRM.
For a quick overview, please see our 2020 highlights. To learn about our ambitious targets for the next decade, visit MAP2030.
Performance details for 2020
Figures reported in 'specific' terms are normalised: specific CO2e emissions are reported in tonnes per tonne of saleable production or per MWh; specific contact water in m3 per tonne of saleable production; and specific waste to landfill, specific COD and specific NOx all in kg per tonne of saleable production.
Target achieved/on track
Target not achieved
Achievement behind plan
Employee and contractor safety and health
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Avoid work-related employee and contractor fatalities
5-year performance
2016 2017 2018 2019 2020 What we did in 2020
With deepest regret, we experienced two fatalities in 2020: In January 2020, a contractor died as a result of an incident during demolition activities at our Syktyvkar mill (Russia); In June 2020, a contractor died as a result of an incident during cleaning activities of a power boiler at our Richards Bay mill (South Africa).
Robust investigations have been carried out to understand the events involved and identify ways to prevent future occurrences of such incidents from happening again. There were no findings by authorities against Mondi in either case. Independent Group investigations were also carried out into both incidents and findings were shared across Mondi as applicable.
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Prevent life-altering employee and contractor injuries
5-year performance
2016 2017 2018 2019 2020 What we did in 2020
In 2020, we had no life-altering injuries. Unfortunately, we experienced a life-altering injury in January 2021 when a contractor slipped during winter conditions while descending a harvester in our forestry operations in Finland.
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Reduce TRCR by 5% compared to 2015 baseline, including new acquisitions
5-year performance
2016 2017 2018 2019 2020 What we did in 2020
We ended the year with a total recordable case rate (TRCR) of 0.58. This represents a 23% decrease compared to our 2015 baseline of 0.76. This continuous improvement is attributed to a number of focus areas, including the Top Risks approach, trainings for various levels of the organisation and engagement with contractor companies.
A skilled and committed workforce
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Engage with our people to create a better workplace
5-year performance
2016 2017 2018 2019 2020 What we did in 2020
We focused on keeping our people informed, engaged and working effectively throughout the COVID-19 pandemic, while supporting their physical and mental wellbeing. Our 2020 Group-wide employee survey with an 88% global response rate found:
- Overall favourable responses increased from 75% to 80%
- Consistent improvement across safety, sustainable engagement and retention
- Scores significantly improved in the respectful, empowered, transparent and caring categories – demonstrating our continuous focus on developing our culture
- Established a baseline for D&I in our employee survey for the first time, with a 79% favourable response rate
Training continued to play an important role in building skills and developing our people, with the majority of our training moving to digital formats during the pandemic. We delivered a total of 617,470 hours of training across the Group during the year (an average of 24 hours per employee).
Fairness and diversity in the workplace
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Promote fair working conditions and diversity in the workplace
5-year performance
2016 2017 2018 2019 2020 What we did in 2020
With the launch of MAP2030, we reinforced our commitment to fairness, inclusion and diversity in the workplace, with targets set for 30% women in our workforce globally, and a score of 90% for inclusiveness in our employee survey by 2030.
Our diversity & inclusion (D&I) taskforce worked with the business to shape a D&I vision and roadmap for 2030.
In 2020, with the support of the Danish Institute for Human Rights (DIHR) we conducted a human rights risk and gap analysis and an assessment of countries where we may face risk due to divergence between international human rights and labour standards and national law. We will develop internal action plans to address the gaps and improve our human rights collaboration.
Sustainable fibre
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Procure at least 70% of our wood from FSC™- or PEFC™-certified sources with the balance meeting our company minimum wood standard that complies with FSC’s requirements for controlled wood
5-year performance
2016 2017 2018 2019 2020 What we did in 2020
While our overall wood volumes have grown by almost 10% since 2015, the share of PEFC- or FSC-certified wood has increased from 66% to 76% in 2020. In 2020, we saw an unusually high percentage of certified wood procured due to temporary increases in availability in our domestic markets.
We have been working to strengthen our Due Diligence Management System (DDMS) and explore cross-cutting measures for the timely detection of critical environmental and social issues in wood supply chains. We actively worked with forest certification schemes to ensure credibility and accessibility of certified and controlled wood sources.
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Maintain FSC™ certification for 100% of our owned and leased forest lands and promote sustainable forest management
5-year performance
2016 2017 2018 2019 2020 What we did in 2020
We maintained 100% compliance with FSC, PEFC or FSC CW standards for all pulp and wood in 2020, ensuring the integrity and traceability of our fibre supply chain. We upheld 100% FSC certification for imports from high-risk countries and for our own forestry landholdings (excluding newly leased areas).
We believe a key part of the solution to preventing deforestation is ensuring the long-term sustainable management of existing forests by securing their resilience and functionality as forests, while protecting areas of high value for biodiversity and ecosystems, livelihoods and communities. We work in partnership with a broad range of stakeholders to address legality and sustainability risks in the wood fibre supply chain.
Climate change
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Reduce Scope 1 and 2 greenhouse gas (GHG) emissions 34% per tonne of saleable production by 2025 and 72% per tonne of saleable production by 2050, from a 2014 base year
5-year performance
2016 2017 2018 2019 2020 What we did in 2020
In 2020, the Scope 1 emissions of our mills were reduced by 9.9%, mainly due to our investments in energy efficiency projects and modernisation of our energy plant in Syktyvkar.
Our mills’ Scope 2 emissions decreased significantly by 6.2% as a consequence of increased electricity self-sufficiency and increased purchase of renewable electricity for our Austrian operations.
We are exploring a science-based GHG reduction target for our Scope 3 emissions, which takes into account the GHG emissions in our value chain.
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Reduce Scope 2 GHG emissions 39% per MWh by 2025 and 86% per MWh by 2050, from a 2014 base year
5-year performance
2016 2017 2018 2019 2020 What we did in 2020
We have invested around €500 million in energy efficiency since 2015. We have also engaged with electricity providers to increase the share of renewable energy in our purchased electricity and reduce our Scope 2 emissions by lowering the CO2 factor per MWh purchased. In 2020, 5% of our purchased electricity was generated by renewables.
Constrained resources and environmental impacts
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Reduce specific contact water consumption of our pulp and paper mills by 5% compared to a 2015 baseline
5-year performance
2016 2017 2018 2019 2020 What we did in 2020
We missed our ambitious contact water reduction target due to some process disruptions at our Richards Bay mill (South Africa) and the startup of the upgraded pulp mill in Ružomberok (Slovakia).
93% of the fresh water used by our operations is returned to the environment.
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Reduce specific waste to landfill by 7.5% compared to a 2015 baseline
5-year performance
2016 2017 2018 2019 2020 What we did in 2020
Overall resource efficiency of our manufacturing operations has been improved by finding innovative ways to avoid, reuse or recycle our waste. In 2020, we achieved a 23.1% reduction of specific waste to landfill per tonne of saleable production. Over our five year commitment period, this equates to a reduction of 25.4% less waste to landfill than in 2015.
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Reduce specific NOx emissions from our pulp and paper mills by 7.5% compared to a 2015 baseline
5-year performance
2016 2017 2018 2019 2020 What we did in 2020
We reduced specific NOx emissions from our pulp and paper mills by 1.3% in 2020 and by 13.7% compared with our 2015 baseline, by making significant investments in new biomass boilers and modernising our energy plants resulting in reduced emissions.
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Reduce specific effluent load to the environment (measure COD) by 5% compared to a 2015 baseline
5-year performance
2016 2017 2018 2019 2020 What we did in 2020
In 2020, we achieved a reduction in the specific COD after wastewater treatment (per tonne of saleable production) by 24.3%. This is an 18.4 % reduction of COD since 2015 – mainly due to investments in our wastewater treatment plants at our mills in Świecie (Poland) and Syktyvkar (Russia) and improvements in Richards Bay, which enhanced our COD removal efficiency.
Biodiversity and ecosystems
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Promote ecosystem stewardship in the landscapes where we operate through continued multi-stakeholder collaboration
5-year performance
2016 2017 2018 2019 2020 What we did in 2020
Around 25% of our forestry landholdings in Russia and South Africa are set aside or managed for conservation. We continued with our long-term local partnerships in Russia and South Africa with a focus on biodiversity and water in the landscapes where we operate.
In 2020, in collaboration with WWF Russia and Silver Taiga Foundation we developed and tested a regional methodology to identify and verify rare ecosystems in Komi Republic. We also published an overview of practical nature conservation approaches in boreal forests – from landscape scale to the level of logging sites. These guidelines are in Russian language and will help other forest companies in the region to enhance their nature conservation practices.
In South Africa, we continue to promote the management of ecological networks (ENs) on our forestry landholdings. The findings from our research partnership with Stellenbosch University, with some local adaptation, could be applicable to other land use types and commodities in South Africa and could be applied to plantation forestry and agricultural landscapes elsewhere in the world.
Supplier conduct and responsible procurement
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Encourage supply chain transparency and promote fair working conditions together with our key suppliers
5-year performance
2016 2017 2018 2019 2020 What we did in 2020
We completed risk screening of 2,000 key suppliers (initiated in 2019) using our Responsible Procurement process. A more detailed evaluation and risk-mitigation of our high-risk suppliers led to a residual risk ratio of 1.3% after de-escalation and follow-up steps.
We updated Our Code of Conduct for Suppliers to make it easier to understand and comply with, and to assist us to enforce it.
In our latest Modern Slavery statement, we reflected on progress made through continued work on our supplier risk screening and assessment; developing our internal human rights due diligence processes in collaboration with the Danish Institute for Human Rights (DIHR); and training for procurement teams and relevant employees.
Relationships with communities
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Enhance social value to our communities through effective stakeholder engagement and meaningful social investments
5-year performance
2016 2017 2018 2019 2020 What we did in 2020
We continued to work with internal and external networks and to use impact assessment tools, such as the Socio-economic Assessment Toolbox (SEAT), to understand our impacts and target meaningful investments in the communities we operate in. We have conducted five SEATs since 2015 in South Africa, Russia, Austria, Sweden and Poland, with SEATs in Czech Republic and Turkey delayed in 2020 due to the pandemic. Reports for recent SEAT reviews in our Swedish and Polish mills were published on our website.
We spent €11.5 million during the year on social investments and community support, targeting a wide range of outcomes including: improving communities’ prospects; securing our supply chain; strengthening local relationships; and building trust in the Mondi brand.
During the year, many of our operations supported the local COVID-19 response. We donated thousands of masks, PPE, medical and surgical raw materials to local municipalities, health facilities and local organisations. Several of our larger operations provided one-time financial support for clinics, hospitals and governments, including €3.3 million in Russia, Poland and Slovakia.
Solutions that create value for our customers
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Encourage sustainable, responsibly produced products
5-year performance
2016 2017 2018 2019 2020 What we did in 2020
Our approach to sustainable products has evolved over the last five years, from being primarily focused on lightweighting, product safety and avoiding food waste to include innovative packaging solutions in the area of function barrier papers and mono-materials designed for recycling.
The market response to our customer-centric EcoSolutions approach ‘using paper where possible, plastic when useful’ has been positive with many customers and brands eager to improve the sustainability performance of their packaging and understand potential trade-offs.
In Uncoated Fine Paper, the Green Range has grown from a few niche products in 2007 to cover 89 Mondi mill brands today.
Additional commitment added in 2018
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Ensure 100% of plastic packaging is reusable, recyclable, or compostable by 2025
5-year performance
- - 2016 2017 2018 2019 2020 What we did in 2020
We continue to collaborate with customers and partners who share our commitment to a circular economy.
We are increasing our investment in R&D to drive deeper collaboration throughout the supply chain to move away from non-renewable and non-recyclable material. In 2020, we invested €23 million in R&D (€130 million since 2015).
We signed up to the Ellen MacArthur Foundation Global Commitment in 2018, committing to achieve 100% reusable, recyclable or compostable plastic packaging by 2025. To date we have achieved 16%. The 2020 Progress Report is available here. As a proportion of total plastic packaging volume, post-consumer recycled content is not yet significant. We expect it to increase through better quality and quantity of recycled material becoming available, allowing companies and retailers to commit to including recycled content in their products.