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Innovations for the climate

We need solutions that yield results rapidly if we wish to slow down global warming.

Kia Haring / October 15, 2019

The pressure is above all on companies. Read about our collaboration with Puro in Finland.

The pressure to solve climate change is above all on companies: almost one half of the Finns who answered an enquiry by Climate Circle felt that companies are doing too little to combat climate change.

Tieto’s major carbon dioxide emissions result from business travelling, premises and data centres. We already use green electricity at our data centres, and our head office in Keilalahti, Espoo, with its responsible solutions has earned the highest-level Platinum LEED certification for its environmentally friendly operations.

After the changes that we have already made, our primary goal is to reduce carbon dioxide emissions arising from travelling by using new meeting technologies and choosing means of travelling that do not use fossil fuels.

In the first half of 2019, we managed to cut down the CO2 emissions of business travelling by 1 500 tons compared with the corresponding period 2018.

As it is not possible to stop travelling altogether, we also actively look for new ways of removing carbon dioxide from the atmosphere.

From little brooks

In the spring of 2019, we participated in auctions arranged by Puro (in English brook), trading on CO2 removal certificates. Puro is a pilot project by 23 forerunner companies in Finland aiming at turning carbon dioxide removal into verifiable and comparable commercial operations. Tieto uses the certificates on CO2 removal that it has purchased for neutralising its carbon dioxide emissions in Finland. Tieto aims at reducing its business travel CO2 emission to below 800 kg per employee annually.

This goal is of great importance, as Tieto's operations are global and its clients are located in different parts of the world. It is not enough to just restrict business travelling. If we wish to reduce our impacts on the climate, we also need other actions, such as removing an amount of carbon dioxide that corresponds to our emissions.

Future society and markets require initiatives where several actors work jointly for the climate.

Market mechanisms, such as Puro, offer actors in different sectors the opportunity to remove carbon dioxide from circulation on a longer term. 

According to recent studies, ecosystem operations can create major opportunities for new businesses. Read what Antti Vihavainen, the father of Puro.earth concept, has to say about removing CO2 from the atmosphere.

“Acting through Puro has a direct impact on removing carbon dioxide from the atmosphere as well as on expanding the markets of climate-friendly products and developing materials that absorb carbon dioxide.   

Puro’s goals are ambitious. When the emission reductions obtained through the EU Emissions Trading System are about 130 million tonnes of carbon dioxide equivalent annually, Puro plans to achieve the same size range by 2030 by stimulating business operations that remove carbon dioxide from circulation on a long term.

Puro creates new connections between companies and material suppliers in order to promote the creation and development of new ecosystems. And when companies work together, it is possible to drive a major change in the market as well as to create and support new, more sustainable business operations that combat the climate change. The advantages of ecosystem operations arise in the market shift and though the new business operations resulting from it.”

The primary goal of companies and other organisations is to reduce the environmental impacts of their operations. In addition, we must actively look for new means of compensating our impacts. Through open-minded co-operation like Puro we can achieve major impacts of a new type that the climate will benefit from at a rapid pace.

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Kia Haring
Tietoevry alumni
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