We want to drive social development forward

Equal opportunity workplaces in focus

The construction and civil engineering industry has a major task in taking advantage of all the competence community has to offer. The number of women in the industry and in Peab is still far too low. The greatest inequality is found in workers close to production. Only about seven to eight per­cent of job applicants to Peab with a re­le­van­t practical education are women. As one of largest community builders in the Nor­dic region we want to be at the forefront of changing this. These challenges start in the education system where there are few female students which leads to a limited recruitment base for employers. We are willing to do our part and contribute to change but we cannot do it without help from communities and schools. Peab and the industry’s equality challenge requires various measures, mainly in the educational system so that the supply of more possible female managers and skilled workers increases. We do our best to bring this matter up in various industry contexts, and in meetings with politicians and the media. Last year we started up the second round of The Construction Year in Sweden with 19 trainees from Kiruna in the north to Malmö in the south. They will work for a year as skilled workers in a nearby workplace while they also receive a theoretical education. The purpose of The Construction Year is to attract more women to the construction industry, have more of our own capable skilled workers and contribute to increasing interest in the profession. The goal is to achieve greater gender equality in Peab in ge­ne­ral, and in pro­duc­tio­n spe­ci­fically.

Ethics are fundamental to community building

We have a significant responsibility as community builders to run a business with high ethical standards and counteract corruption. This can be a challenge in an industry of generally decentralized operations and complex value chains since these factors have been known to increase the risk for ethical violations and corruption. Peab has made it abundantly clear that we have zero tolerance for any and all forms of corruption, ethical violations are not accepted and that every infringement has consequences. The fact that our operations and next to all our employees are in the Nordic region as well as most of our partners is a positive factor in our ability to counteract all forms of ethical transgressions.

Peab works preventively through long-range and systematic measures, in particular by ensuring our employees’ knowledge concerning ethics, anti-corruption and competition law.  We encourage all employees and partners to report any possible illegal acts, violations of our Code of Conduct or any other kind of infringement. We encourage open reporting but this is complemented by a web-based whistleblower system that guarantees the anonymity of the reporter, whether or not the reporter is part of Peab or external. Every incident Peab is made aware of is sent to the Group’s Ethics Council where it is dealt with.

Sustainable throughout the entire chain

The production chain in the construction and civil engineering industry is complex and consists of many different actors. Peab alone deals with around 41,500 external suppliers every year. Striving for a sustainable supply chain where business ethics, human rights and the environment are protected and respected is a cornerstone of our business. This is steered from executive management right through to individual workplaces and by specifying demands and monitoring every aspect of the production chain. This requires clear cut procedures to assess, prevent and manage ris­ks along with cooperation and trans­pa­rency. Peab’s Code of Conduct is the starting point and we also have a Supplier Code of Conduct that explicitly de­fi­nes our expectations of our ­part­ners. In addition we have guidelines for the due diligence process that clearly describe how we work with our partners.

Around 3,000 suppliers make up 80 percent of the Group’s total purchase volume. In other words, we are major buyers in the Nordic region which means we have a good platform for promoting secure and sustainable procurement along with supplier collaboration. This requires good purchasing governance, which Peab has prioritized for quite some time. The process begins when a supplier is first assessed and then continues via risk analysis, requirements, controlling and monitoring.

One of the Group’s two development initiatives for the business plan 2024-2026 concerns further quality ensuring the work on our value chain and increasing traceability. Within the framework for the initiative we are developing work processes, measurement methods, dialogues and controls of our suppliers. This also includes issues regarding human rights, the environment and climate matters.

Local community involvement

One of the areas our customers emphasize more and more is the importance of working together in shared social responsibility for the local community, particularly local community building to form the society of the future. For Peab, with our extensive Nordic presence, this is a positive development and a key part of our business model. Some examples of this are designing safe residential areas, promoting local clubs and the development and education of youths. It includes creating communities and contributing to planning green areas, meeting places and accessibility to service facilities. By participating in dialogues with relevant departments in municipalities where the local community contributes, Peab plays an important role in forming a sustainable, vibrant and inclusive society.

When it comes to developing youth, the Peab School is an important example of our commitment. Since 2006 we run our own vocational high schools in Malmö, Gothenburg and Solna. The concept Peab Life is another example where we make it possible for them to participate in local building projects to build away inequalities and contribute to greater diversity, inclusion and participation in local communities. We also continually visit schools to talk about Peab’s operations and about community building in general.

Focus on environmental targets

The construction and civil engineering industry has a significant environmental and climate impact. Peab affects the environment and climate through our own operations and through the impact generated by suppliers and customers. At the same time conditions for our business are affected by environmental and climate changes. We work determinedly and step-by-step to reduce our environmental and climate impact, in line with our set targets. This also requires close collaboration with our partners in the value chain – both customers and suppliers.

We have three overarching environmental targets that help us implement practical measures to reduce our environmental and climate impact. These both support and strengthen each other. The most long-term target of Peab’s three comprehensive environmental targets is to be climate neutral no later than 2045, which aligns with the scientifically-based 1.5 degree target in the Paris Agreement. Our sub-targets up to 2030, which are also our external targets, are to reduce carbon dioxide intensity in our own operations – Scope 1 and 2 – by at least 60 percent (cp. 2015) and for input goods and purchased services – Scope 3 – by half (cp. 2015). Peab’s second environmental target is to be completely resource efficient by 2040. Here we work to optimize material use, reduce waste and promote biodiversity. Peab’s third environmental target is to phase out environmentally and health hazardous products no later than 2030. We want to protect people and the environment from toxic exposure in both production and usage.

Climate neutrality: Focus on reducing emissions

According to the Swedish National Board of Housing, Building and Planning, developers and construction companies generate more than 20 percent of Sweden’s carbon emissions. This means we have to move quickly if we are going to reduce emissions at the rate required by the Pa­ris­ agreement. Peab’s operations primarily cause emissions of greenhouse gases by using various materials in production like concrete, steel and asphalt. Two other major sources of carbon emissions in production are energy consumption and transportation. Therefore our emission reduction activities are centered on these areas. We have an advantage in that we can supply our contract construction operations and the projects we develop ourselves with input goods and raw material through our business area Industry, which enhances our ability to steer towards lower carbon emissions. We contribute to the ongoing climate transition through different kinds of investments such as electric machines and vehicles and energy efficiency in our factories. As community builders we also have a comprehensive perspective on our climate work and strive to contribute in the usage stage and to local community building in general. This can entail designing flexible constructions and building solar power plants, wind farms and railroads or by building in such a way that people can live more sustainably.

Emissions from materials

Since ma­te­ri­al­-re­la­te­d emissions are clearly the largest source of greenhouse gases in our operations we are laser-beam focused on reducing emissions through the material we choose, optimized material use along with recycling and reuse.

For example, since 2021 Peab is in partnership with SSAB regarding fossil free steel, which means that we have already used the fossil free manufactured steel in some projects as well as SSAB Zero, recycled steel that is manufactured and transported fossil free.

Sustainable offer

In our work to reduce emissions from input goods our ECO-products are essential. We have continued to develop them during the year.

We manufacture the slag-based Merit, which can replace some of the cement in concrete. Cement represents 90 percent the climate impact of concrete. When we use Merit in the production of our ECO-Betong (ECO-Concrete) we reduce carbon emissions by up to 60 percent compared to traditional concrete while also reducing the extraction of virgin limestone.

In addition to Merit and ECO-Betong we offer several other ECO-products, for example:

• ECO-Asfalt: We replace fossil fuel oil used in drying and heating the mineral aggregates with bio oil, which cuts climate impact in half without affecting the properties of the asphalt.
• ECO-Prefab: Subsidiary Byggelement invested close to half a billion Swedish kronor in its production plants in Ucklum and Hallstahammar which doubled the production capacity of walls and joists while halving the amount of cement needed by raising the portion of alternative binder to at least 50 percent.
• ECO-Stomme (ECO-Frame): Concrete elements are produced with alternative binder, which can reduce emissions in housing by 30 percent and commercial property by 25 percent.
• ECO-Ballast (ECO-Mineral aggregates): Produced from 100 percent recycled raw materials and thereby replacing virgin materials.
• ECO-Byggarbetsplatsen (ECO-Construction site): During the year we launched this concept for construction sites with the goal of reducing the environmental footprint of  construction sites through solutions for energy, waste and water management as well as logistics and construction equipment.
• ECO-Pålar (ECO-Piles): During the year we also launched piles made of climate-improved concrete for groundwork in geotechnical demanding conditions.