Basic choices
Our customers often want to reduce the environmental impact of their products. Aluminum is a good choice. The primary production of aluminum is energy-intensive and not entirely unproblematic from a global perspective. Recycling can be done with low energy use. Read more under Materials of the future about why using recycled materials is not a given. However, choosing a material made with the right type of energy is important.
Our responsibility
Our will and our responsibility is to provide the sustainability offer demanded by the market. As a subcontractor, this is the best way to contribute to positive development.
We will therefore offer services that enable the customer to obtain products that:
- Has aluminum raw material with the world’s best carbon footprint
- Are made with exceptionally low environmental impact
- Is part of a circular flow
- Are designed for minimum energy and material consumption
- Have transparent life cycle and environmental calculations
We share our knowledge of aluminum and its beneficial properties and use our creativity to find sustainable solutions. Our ability to make a positive impact depends on our customers understanding and demanding our services.
We will comply with laws and other binding requirements where we operate and take an ethical approach in everything we do.
Greenhouse gas emissions: choice of raw material most crucial
By far the most important factor in the climate impact and greenhouse gas emissions of our customers’ products is the choice of raw material. The carbon dioxide emissions added to the end product in ProfilGruppen’s processes are a fraction of those caused by the production of aluminum. So the biggest difference we can make is to offer our customers the most climate-smart material.
The global average for carbon dioxide equivalent emissions from aluminum production is about 17 kilograms per kilogram of aluminum produced. The reason it is so high is that a large proportion is produced using coal power, which causes around 20 kilograms of emissions per kilogram of aluminum. By offering customers materials produced with better energy sources than coal power, we collectively save over 500,000 tons of emissions annually.
Emissions in scope 3, as defined by the GHG Protocol, are thus several kilograms per kilogram of product. Scope 1 and 2 emissions are a fraction of this. Moreover, our customers could opt out of over 70% of the scope 1 and 2 load.
Several of our operational objectives deliver carbon emission reductions, such as optimizing material consumption per production order.
Efficient material management
An important objective in our daily work is to take good care of our valuable aluminum. All scrap generated in our manufacturing process is recovered, remelted and turned into new material. It is inevitable that some scrap is generated in the process. For example, the first and last pieces of a profile become deformed or material is punched or otherwise processed away. Depending on the profile design, order sizes, delivery conditions and requirements for tolerances and surfaces, the amount of scrap per article varies greatly. Our determined improvement work must therefore aim to improve the outcome per article.
We also increase material efficiency by optimizing product design, such as developing products with thinner walls without changing functionality.
Energy efficiency: a constant quest
Energy use is one of the factors within ProfilGruppen that potentially has the greatest impact on the environment.
All electrical energy purchased for profile production is fossil-free. We also have a small solar cell plant. In addition to electricity, there are a couple of ovens that are gas-powered. We work according to the principles of the ISO 50 000 electricity management system and set annual targets for energy efficiency in our operations. The aim is to reduce energy use per kilogram produced each year. This can be achieved through improvements to existing systems, new investments and technology development.
We recover heat in various ways and the residual energy that we don’t manage to reuse in our own operations we are able to sell on. The amount sold varies depending on our own needs and whether there is a buyer.
At one of the pressing plants, we have also prepared for the storage of excess heat in the rock, a possibility that has not yet been exploited.
Low risk of water shortage
We use water from our own well for cooling at the extrusion plants and as rinse water for anodizing. This takes place in an area with a low risk of water shortage, but there are still reasons to keep consumption down as large water withdrawals can affect the quality of the water.
We are continuously working on converting the water systems of our pressing plants to closed systems, which reduces water consumption.
Our anodizing process uses sulphuric acid and, after it is neutralized in a treatment plant, sodium sulphates are formed. This gives rise to sulphate emissions to water. We continuously sample and analyze our emissions on a monthly basis and have a limit on how much we can emit per calendar year. The environmental impact of sulphate discharges is difficult to demonstrate as sulphates are commonly found in our waterways. Nevertheless, we are working on process improvements to keep emissions down.
Till vår miljöpolicy| 2024 | 2023 | 2022 | 2021 | 2020 | |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Carbon dioxide equivalent emissions, tons | |||||
| Scope 1 | 2 180 | 2 500 | 2 620 | 2 580 | 2 240 |
| Market-based approach | |||||
| Scope 2 | 120 | 220 | 230 | 240 | 190 |
| In total | 2 300 | 2 720 | 2 850 | 2 820 | 2 430 |
| Location-based methodology | |||||
| Scope 2 | 440 | 550 | 610 | 560 | 700 |
| In total | 2 620 | 3 050 | 3 230 | 3 140 | 2 940 |
| per delivered ton from ProfilGruppen | 0,077 | 0,086 | 0,091 | 0,080 | 0,102 |
| in relation to turnover, SEKm | 1,2 | 1,3 | 1,2 | 1,5 | 2,1 |
| Water use, m3 | 103 000 | 113 000 | 120 000 | 150 000 | |
| Emissions of sulphates, tons | |||||
| Emissions, tons | 366 | 333 | 313 | 370 | 284 |
| Margin to condition, tons | 6 | 36 | 59 | 2 | 88 |