In 2017 Peab adopted three ambitious environmental goals for the Group and in 2018 we began the journey to reach them. We will take responsibility for our environmental impact throughout entire value chains and life cycles, in order to reduce our climate impact, ensure highly material efficient operations and phase out environmental and health hazardous materials. Our environmental goals are demanding and require constantly expanding our competence in this area. During the year we held educational “environmental step-ups” and increased environmental rounds in the Group.

Reducing carbon dioxide emissions requires new methods

As one of the largest Nordic construction companies Peab takes a big responsibility for reducing climate impact. In addition, we operate in an industry and are part of a production chain that in many ways contributes to society’s energy consumption and carbon dioxide emissions. Most of our carbon dioxide emissions are generated by fossil fuel used in vehicles and construction machinery, heating workplaces and manufacturing products. We work proactively to reduce, and in the long run phase out and replace, fossil fuels with renewable fuels. We also work on producing energy saving measures and contribute to innovations in this field. A substantial part of this work has to be done together with others and in 2018 Peab signed the Construction and Civil Engineering Sector’s Road Map for Fossil Fuel Free Competitiveness.

Renewable fuel and climate smart solutions are the future

Peab works actively to reduce the environmental impact of our vehicles. We adopted a new car policy in 2018 aimed at choosing vehicles with a better environmental profile. Greater use of fossil free fuel and working on electrification are some of the measures we are developing for our vehicles and construction machines as well as in production. Streamlining our logistics is an ongoing process and contributes to reducing emissions. Peab steadily increases the amount of fossil free fuel we use and the Group’s overall consumption is now at 47 percent.

Peab’s subsidiary Lättklinkerbetong is praised for its logistics

Peab’s subsidiary Lättklinkerbetong is a pioneer and was praised for this at the annual Concrete Gala, in particular for the modern and climate smart way it handles logistics. Over 60 percent of precast concrete elements are transported from the factory by railroad. Since 2017 over 1,000 railroad cars with precast concrete elements have left the factory in Ucklum for deliveries to construction sites in Sweden and Norway.

ECO-­Asfalt^® lowers emissions for the third year in a row

Bio­-oil is used for drying and heating the gravel material in the manufacture of Peab’s ECO­-Asfalt^®, which is the process that requires the most energy. Bio-­oil is climate neutral and made from vegetable surplus products from food production. At the end of 2018 ECO­-Asfalt^® represented 95 percent of Peab’s total production at stationary plants in Sweden. Since January 2015 climate impact from production has dropped by 63 percent or 112,000 tons (70,000 tons until 2017). In 2018 the reduction was 42,000 tons (39,000), which is equal to approximately 32,000 cars (30,000) driving 1,300 Swedish miles each (100 g CO₂ equiv./km). In 2018 a third party reviewed Environmental Product Declaration (EPD) was published which presents the product’s total climate impact. Our next step is concentrating on recycling where there is considerable potential to increase the amount of return asphalt in new production without affecting the quality of the product.

Growing range of green machines

Peab’s subsidiary Lambertsson has long offered construction equipment driven by electricity: compactor tools, excavators and wheel loaders. In 2018 Lambertsson expanded its range of green machines, particularly hybrid excavators that through a power unit run entirely on electricity and are emission free. The company has also added other models of excavators and broadened its range with new kinds of electrical machines like compactor machines and rollers. Lambertsson’s new program is completely in line with the transition from being fossil dependent to fossil free that the construction and transportation sectors are going through.

Circular material flows save resources

Recycling operations in Peab’s subsidiary Swerock contribute to a resource efficient society by reusing and recycling residue products that also create value from industrial processes and construction and civil engineering projects. Sustainable material with the same quality and capacity as the original material is produced from this residue, for which there is a growing demand from a market that is striving for circularity and natural resource conservation. Comprehensive responsibility and expertise ensure an environmentally and financially efficient management that prolongs the life, and maximizes the usefulness, of the materials involved.

Energy mapping in stages

In 2016 and 2017 we began work on energy mapping in two business areas, Industry and Construction, and in 2018 it was time for Civil Engineering. Our ambition is to gain knowledge about our energy consumption to be able to prioritize the right energy saving measures. We have therefore installed meters in our concrete operations in Industry and Civil Engineering. We have also begun implementing an energy monitoring system to facilitate analysis of the energy saving measures made.

Ecolabeling buildings and infrastructure

Peab Bostad’s newly produced apartment buildings in Sweden are certified according to the Swan ecolabel. In 2018 Peab received a service license in Sweden to build Swan labeled buildings, which means we can offer simpler and more cost-efficient labeling of apartment buildings, schools and preschools.

In Norway Peab’s office operations are environmentally certified according to Miljøfyrtårn, which takes into account the work environment, purchasing profile, energy use, transport, waste and emissions. Peab’s Property Development in Finland is specialized in office properties with sustainable LEED certification. In Sundsvall Civil Engineering is involved in creating a logistics park. This is the first project of its kind that will be certified according to CEEQUAL in Sweden.

Material efficient operations require collaboration

Peab’s operations generate large amounts of residue products. If we are going to achieve our goal of material efficiency we have to both generate less waste and take care of, and recycle, as much as we can. Developing more material efficient methods requires creative collaboration with suppliers and customers in order to form new, efficient solutions. Clean material flows are also the basis for creating circular flows. For example, we recycle waste insulation that becomes loose fill insulation and in a pilot project that Peab participates in mineral wool waste is sent back to the supplier to become new mineral wool products. Another example is dry wall where the recycled material can be used directly to produce new sheets of dry wall.

Waste management is very important

Handling waste and residue products in an environmentally correct way, according to the laws, regulations and trade agreements applicable, is self-evident for Peab. However, our primary goal is to not generate waste and Peab strives to make a precise calculation of the amount of material and masses needed in production. For instance, there is a pilot project in Finland aimed at reducing waste. Another example is our efforts to create mass balance and refine landfill masses. Waste removal is performed by contracted waste management companies that also handle the waste and sort it into fractions based on The Swedish Construction Federation’s guidelines. With the aid of Peab’s environmental navigator, a database with waste information, we can monitor the waste in our projects and follow the amount, sorting and what has been recycled, gone to landfill and so on. Through the environmental navigator we can come to conclusions about how our waste management can be more efficient.

Gradually phasing out environmental and health hazardous materials

Peab works systematically to phase out environmentally and health hazardous materials. The Group follows a concise phasing out plan that has a challenging tempo and requires cooperation over Group function and business areas lines.