VTT has joined the UN Global Compact initiative on corporate sustainability at the beginning of 2021. Developing sustainable research solutions is at the heart of VTT's responsibility. In addition, all VTT activities have to be sustainable and leave a positive handprint on the environment.
“We wanted to link our work on corporate sustainability to the Global Compact initiative because it is a global, versatile and well-known advocate of responsibility and sustainability”, says Jussi Manninen, Executive Vice President of business area Solutions for natural resources and environment. Manninen is responsible for matters related to responsibility in the VTT Executive Leadership Team. “VTT's purpose is to help companies and society towards sustainable growth, so we fully subscribe to the Global Compact principles.”
The UN Global Compact is the world's largest corporate sustainability initiative. Nearly 15,000 companies and organisations worldwide have joined it and committed to developing their business towards increased responsibility. At VTT, the sustainability and responsibility of research solutions and innovations are a fundamental principle, and the sustainability of VTT’s activities is under constant development.
An all-around sustainable research organisation and company
VTT has a broad concept of sustainability: “We’ve decided that we want to become carbon-neutral by 2030”, Jussi Manninen says, “and we won’t make it easy for ourselves when it comes to the progressiveness of our practices and administration. Sustainability and responsibility have to be taken into account in the planning of each project, and we require ethical conduct from our funding providers.”
The UN Global Compact initiative includes ten principles relating to human rights, labour, the environment and anti-corruption. According to Manninen, VTT already fulfils the principles in practice, so it is time to improve even further: “Sustainability is an important part of our updated strategy. One of our main choices is that we always drive sustainable business. It’s not enough for our activities to have no negative effects on the environment or elsewhere; instead, we have to strive for a positive handprint. This is also our goal in the solutions we develop for our customers.”
