Sustainable consumption and climate action

Our environmental policy and ISO 14001:2015 environmental management system certification 

In line with Terveystalo’s environmental policy, we build a sustainable relationship with the environment. Our environmental policy is guided by Terveystalo’s values and strategy, which the management and personnel have undertaken to comply with.

We operate in line with the principles of sustainable development in order to reduce and eliminate environmental risks. We comply with all applicable laws, regulations and procedures in place in our industry to ensure patient safety. 

Our environmental goals are as follows:

• Development of environmental management and awareness at all organizational levels
• Identification, anticipation and monitoring of direct and indirect environmental impacts
• Reduction of environmental impacts in our day-to-day operations
• Development of practices that promote sustainable development

We prevent adverse environmental impacts by, for example:

• reducing energy consumption and transitioning to carbon-neutral energy,
• reducing the volume of waste created in our operations and increasing our recycling rate,
• optimizing the life-cycle of health care equipment, with due consideration for technological development,
• taking environmental perspectives into account in our travel and car policy,
• developing digital services,
• by planning and implementing pharmaceutical services in an up-to-date manner,
• taking environmental perspectives into account in centralized procurement and ensuring efficient inventory management, and
• taking sustainable development and environmental perspectives into account in our network and business premises projects.

Terveystalo’s environmental program covers all of our clinics in Finland and its appropriateness is evaluated in quality management and environmental management system audits. Some of our clinics in Finland and Group services are ISO 14001:2015 certified. Feelgood, Terveystalo’s subsidiary operating in Sweden, also has ISO 14001:2015 Environmental Management System certification.

Our climate target: zero emissions from own
operations in 2030

Our goal is to reduce our carbon footprint so that we will achieve zero emissions in our own operations in 2030. Between 2022 and 2030, we will compensate greenhouse gas emissions from our own operations by investing in certified CO₂ emission compensation projects. Our aim is to eventually discontinue compensation measures and to achieve zero emissions in our own operations by 2030.

A further goal is to reduce our direct and indirect CO₂ emissions (Scope 1 and Scope 2) by 80% by 2025 (using 2018 as the baseline). As regards energy consumption, our target is for green electricity to account for 100% of the electricity we purchase. The recycling and recovery of waste is another key theme in our environmental responsibility, with the goal being to minimize waste in all operations. The indicators we use for this are the mixed waste intensity and the recovery rate and recycling rate of waste generated at Terveystalo’s units.

Our carbon footprint

In 2022, Terveystalo’s carbon footprint from Scope 1 and Scope 2 emissions (market-based) in Finland totalled 2,334.1 (644.0) metric tons of carbon dioxide equivalent (tCO₂e). Scope 2 emissions from purchased electricity quadrupled from the previous year. This was due to the exceptional electricity market disturbances, which forced Terveystalo to change its electricity supplier in the middle of the year, and because of the high market price of electricity, no green electricity could be purchased for the rest of the year. In Sweden, Scope 1 and 2 emissions from Feelgood’s operations totalled 142.2 tCO₂e. Terveystalo’s carbon footprint consists mainly of the production of the electricity consumed by properties, emissions generated by transport and travel as well as the waste generated in hospitals and clinics. The emissions generated by Terveystalo’s operations are reduced, for example, by increasingly transitioning to green electricity and prioritizing low-emission vehicles.

Emissions

We report the direct (Scope 1) and indirect (Scope 2) greenhouse gas emissions arising from our operations – and part of our indirect Scope 3 emissions – in accordance with the GHG standard. We report the emissions from Swedish operations for the first time for year 2022.

Scope 1

As we do not, for the most part, own or control the properties at which we operate, our greenhouse gas emissions mostly consist of the emissions from our fleet of cars and the trucks used for imaging operations. The emissions arising from our own driving and driving under our direct control are calculated based on fuel consumption. In 2022, Scope 1 CO₂ emissions in Finland totalled 134.5 (245.5) metric tons of carbon dioxide equivalent (tCO₂e). In Sweden Scope 1 emissions totalled 39.9 tCO₂e.

Scope 2

Indirect Scope 2 greenhouse gas emissions arise from the production of electricity purchased by Terveystalo and the production of district heating consumed at properties controlled by Terveystalo. In 2022, electricity purchases for properties controlled by Terveystalo totalled 15,841 (14,159) MWh. Since January 2020, the company’s electricity portfolio (electricity purchased for properties) has been zero-CO₂ green electricity. Zero-CO₂ electricity purchased for 2022 in Finland totalled 7,730 (12,696) MWh, representing approximately 49 (89) percent of the company’s electricity consumption in Finland. The remainder, 8,111 (1,499) MWh, corresponds to 2,199.6 (418.5) metric tons of CO₂ equivalent (tCO₂e, market-based). The exceptional electricity market disturbances forced Terveystalo to change its electricity supplier in the middle of the year, and because of the high market price of electricity, no green electricity was purchased for the rest of the year. In Sweden electricity purchases for properties controlled by Feelgood totalled 1,328 MWh, of which 67 percent was zero-CO₂ green electricity. As regards energy consumption, our target is for green electricity to account for 100% of the electricity we purchase.

Scope 3

For indirect Scope 3 emissions, we report emissions arising from work-related travel by employees and waste created by the company’s operations.
We aim to avoid unnecessary work-related travel by encouraging the use of remote meetings whenever possible. In 2022, Terveystalo’s personnel in Finland flew a total of 0.7 (0.3) million kilometres in work-related travel, equalling 84.1 39.9) tCO₂e. Regarding reimbursable work-related travel, our personnel in Finland travelled a total of 2.6 (1.9) million kilometres, equalling 440.8 (322.1) tCO₂e. We encourage our personnel to choose low-emissions vehicles as company cars. The average emissions of the company cars used by the Group in Finland amount to 72 (92) g CO₂e/km. In Sweden, personnel are encouraged to use trains instead of flying and to prefer remote meetings when possible. Terveystalo’s personnel in Sweden flew a total of 0.31 million kilometres, resulting in emissions of 45.1 tCO₂e. A total of 262.6 tCO₂e were emitted from all the work-related trips of the Swedish personnel.

The indirect emissions arising from waste in Finland totalled 41.7 (36.6) tCO₂e in 2022. In Sweden, emissions from waste are very low since the amount of waste generated from operations is small and is mainly generated in offices. The emissions arising from waste in Sweden totalled 2.1 tCO₂e.

Terveystalo has a low CO2 emissions intensity

Terveystalo’s CO₂ emissions intensity is low due to the nature of the Group’s operations. In 2022, Terveystalo’s emissions intensity (Scope 1 and Scope 2, market-based) relative to revenue amounted to 1.8 (0.6) gCO₂e/EUR. Relative to the number of employees, the emissions intensity was 0.4 (0.12) tCO₂e. Figures for 2022 also include operations in Sweden.

Digital services improve access to care and reduce environmental effects

Our digital services enable us to simultaneously improve service availability and reduce our customers’ travel times and the emissions generated by travel. In 2022, the number of remote appointments increased to 2.9 (2.0) million. Remote appointments through digital channels or over the phone accounted to 34 (25) percent of all appointments.

Minimization and utilization of waste

The recycling and recovery of waste is another key theme in our environmental responsibility, with our goal being to minimize mixed waste in all operations and forward as large a share of our waste as possible to be recovered. The indicators we use for this in Finland’s operations are the mixed waste intensity and the recovery rate and recycling rate of waste generated at Terveystalo’s units in Finland. In 2022, the mixed waste intensity of Finnish operations was 5.8 (6.4), the recovery rate of waste 100%, and the recycling rate of waste 67%. We are committed to reducing the plastic waste generated by our operations in accordance with the EU’s plastic strategy by improving our recycling efforts and reviewing the packaging options offered by our suppliers when possible. We also keep a close eye on our medical waste and try to minimize it by increasing the efficiency of our inventory management. The amount of waste from Terveystalo's Swedish operations is small and is largely office waste, because Feelgood has no hospitals, medical clinics or laboratories.

The COVID-19 pandemic also influenced the amount of waste generated in 2022, as the use of protective equipment needed for COVID-19 testing, vaccination and the protection of staff and customers increased during the year. The amount of mixed waste was also increased by the renovations of several units.