Valio’s sustainability report 2024 published
We have produced the first ESRS-aligned Sustainability Report for 2024, which we have accompanied with a shorter overview of the highlights of our 2024 sustainability work. During the year, we continued our ambitious sustainability work together with our owners and the whole value chain.
The EU’s new sustainability reporting legislation, CSRD, brings a huge change to the sustainability reporting requirements and process. Valio is a large cooperative enterprise, which is why the reporting obligation will also apply to Valio in the future. We have wanted to carefully prepare for the reporting change; therefore, we voluntarily prepared the Sustainability Report already for the 2024 data, guided by the ESRS reporting standards.
Here are some highlights of our sustainability actions in 2024.
Brisk progress in the manure biogas business
Suomen Lantakaasu Oy, the joint venture of Valio and biomethane company St1 Biokraft, acquired the majority shareholding in Nurmon Bioenergia Oy, in February. In August, the companies made a EUR 60+ million investment decision to build a biogas plant in Nurmo. Construction work started, and the plant is expected to be completed during 2026.
The investment decision for the Kiuruvesi biogas plant was made in November, and the actual construction of the plant started in early 2025. Completion of the plant is expected in 2026. Suomen Lantakaasu also decided to continue planning new plant projects in the Pedersöre-Kruunupyy and Nivala-Sievi areas.
Use of Carbo® farm calculator expanded
The user base of the Carbo® Farm calculator, which has been used by Valio dairy farms since 2019, is expanding. Now, in addition to Valio, Juustoportti milk producers as well as Atria, HKFoods and Snellman cattle farms can use the Carbo® Farm calculator to determine the carbon footprint of their production in Finland. As a result of the extensive cooperation, the calculation will cover around 90% of the Finnish milk and meat sector and will help milk and meat producers reduce emissions from their operations. In 2024, more than 2,200 farms used the Carbo® Farm calculator to reduce the carbon footprint of their milk. This is more than 80 % of Valio’s dairy farms.
We trained farmers in regenerative farming methods
By the end of 2024, Valio had trained
about 1,600 farms in regenerative farming, i.e. an estimated
40% of all Valio farms.
Carbo™ Partnership Programme for industrial customers
In 2024, Valio launched the climate work related Valio Carbo™ partnership programme for its industrial customers. Through the programme, customers and Valio can reduce the climate impact of their value chain and their Scope 3 emissions.
More than 60 energy efficiency actions at production plants
In 2024, Valio further improved its energy efficiency through a number of small energy efficiency actions. More than 60 energy efficiency
actions were implemented at production plants in Finland and Estonia during the year.
Valio launches the Carbon-Neutral Dairy Farm pilot
Valio launched a five-year Carbon-Neutral
Dairy Farm pilot, aiming to produce
carbon-neutral milk on the first Finnish dairy
farms in an increasingly diverse agricultural
environment by 2028. The pilot aims to find out how the concrete climate actions to be taken on the farms affect emissions from milk production, how they work in everyday farm life, and what their cost-benefits and impacts are. Emission reduction targets for the whole food chain create demand for carbon-neutral milk.
The first climate wetland
We restored the first low-yield peat
field on an organic dairy farm in
Northern Finland. This is multi-benefit nature work that takes into account the climate, biodiversity, and water protection.
Valio´s Climate Programme progressed
Valio’s Climate Programme progressed as planned. According to the 2024 greenhouse gas inventory, emissions from the milk value chain in Finland decreased by 21% compared to 2019, when carbon removals are excluded, and by 25% when carbon removals from carbon farming are conservatively taken into account.
Read more about Valio’s sustainability actions