Stakeholders
Holmen has identified its stakeholders based on the nature of the related activity. There are players that are part of day-to-day operations. These include employees, customers, suppliers, financiers and permit issuers. There are also players who are important for the long-term development of the company, for example local residents, prospective customers and owners, decision-makers and the media.
Employees
Employees help Holmen to develop through continuous manager-employee dialogue, employee surveys, motivation, employee representatives on the board and through various committees. Priority areas include leadership, health and safety, gender equality and skills supply. The employee survey forms the basis for local action plans. A whistle-blower function is in place to allow employees and other stakeholders to report suspected improper conduct. No cases were reported in 2012.
The future provision of skills is based on contacts with universities, upper secondary schools and compulsory schools.
Customers and business partners
Customers have expectations of products and services, good business practice and the way in which the company addresses key sustainability issues. Customers increasingly demand products that offer good performance in terms of climate and the environment. Holmen communicates actively with customers and business partners. Holmen regularly monitors what customers and suppliers think about the company and how well it meets their expectations. Over the year, around 400 customers expressed their opinions on Holmen.
Suppliers and purchasing
Purchasing of goods and services is coordinated at Holmen with the aim of reducing total costs. Over the year, Holmen has developed relations with suppliers to ensure a good minimum standard with regard to sustainability issues. Read more in the Human rights section. In 2012, work started on revising the purchasing policy in order to incorporate sustainability aspects to a greater extent.
Shareholders, analysts and investors
There is growing interest in how Holmen addresses and tackles relevant sustainability issues. It is increasingly common to judge how well the company manages risks and opportunities associated with sustainability issues as part of the overall analysis of Holmen’s results and potential. It is therefore important for the company to be transparent in communicating the company’s sustainability work and its outcomes. This can be achieved through publications, the website and meetings with analysts. Read more in the External assessments section.
Decision-makers
Holmen is a member of the Swedish Forest Industries Federation, an industry body and lobbying organisation. Holmen was actively involved in developing the federation’s sustainability report Skogsindustrin – motorn i en hållbar bioekonomi (The Forest Industry – The Engine in a Sustainable Bioeconomy), which was published in late 2012 and was aimed squarely at politicians.
One central message in the report is a call for the state to financially support the investment in research to which the forest industry has committed in order to develop and promote renewable bio-based materials and products.
Public authorities
Almost all of Holmen’s business requires permits from the environmental authorities. This demands transparency and proactivity in communications with the authorities, in order to establish trust in the company’s way of managing key issues such as regulatory compliance and compliance with set production terms. 2012 saw work continue on obtaining a new environmental permit for Iggesund Mill and for several wind turbines. There was also consultation with authorities on matters relating to discontinued operations. The dialogue with the environmental authorities has been intensive in these locations.
Local community
Permits for operations are continuously reviewed in order to take account of local residents and those whose livelihoods are affected by Holmen. Local residents have been involved in the permit applications mentioned above.
Large parts of Holmen’s land in northern Sweden overlap Sami winter grazing land for reindeer. Via consultation with the reindeer herding community, it is possible to arrive at solutions that meet both parties’ requirements as closely as possible. The consultation process involves meetings between Holmen’s local field workers and representatives of the affected Sami reindeer herding association to discuss Holmen’s planned forestry measures and whether these might have any impact on the reindeer herding community. All such meetings are fully minuted.
Holmen’s operations are of great significance to employment in the places where the company is active. The Group has a total of around 3 000 employees in Sweden. Further jobs are created at subcontractors. Studies show that the average Holmen employee generates another three jobs elsewhere. This creates a total of around 12 000 jobs in Sweden. In order to increase the supply of biomass for the new biofuel boiler at the mill in Workington, 2012 saw the launch of the Grow your income project, whose aim is to encourage farmers in the area to grow energy crops.
This project has generated a dialogue with a whole new stakeholder group, further strengthening the mill’s local engagement. The forests also represent significant social assets. To a large number of people, they offer a wealth of leisure opportunities. All Swedish forests are open to the general public under the right of common access for hunting, angling and general recreation.
As stakeholders, the general public, the media and opinion leaders are rather more removed from Holmen’s day-to-day business, but this makes them no less important to the company’s long-term development. Through its own clear communications and the work of the industry federation, Holmen is helping to increase interest in and understanding of the conditions for the industry and what opportunities it offers.
Whistleblowing
Employees and people who follow or do business with Holmen, such as customers, suppliers, financial analysts and others, can contact the management at Holmen using a form on Holmen’s website. The information will be treated confidentially and anonymous. This channel can be used to provide important information about any deficiencies in Holmen’s financial reporting or to submit complaints or comments about possible areas for concern at the company.
Foundations associated with Holmen
The Kempe Foundations support research and education in the natural sciences in the counties of Västernorrland, Västerbotten and Norrbotten. In recent years the foundations have allocated around SEK 45–80 million per year. In 2012, SEK 52 million was allocated, most of it going to Umeå University, the Luleå University of Technology, the Swedish University of Agricultural Sciences in Umeå, and to Mid Sweden University and related research in Örnsköldsvik.
www.kempe.com
Karl-Erik Önnesjö Foundation.
A professorship in paper electronics was instituted at Linköping University’s Norrköping Campus in 2005. The professorship will receive funding from the foundation of SEK 1 million per year for 15 years from 2007.
www.onnesjostiftelsen.se