Neste OY: Environmental and Safety Operating Principles

The last ten years have been a period of major change at Neste. Our operations have expanded both within Finland and overseas, through acquisitions and the construction of new production plants. Neste is Finland’s largest industrial company, and in areas such as polyolefins we are now one of the six largest producers worldwide.

Nearly all of our plants involve operations which call for particular attention to be given to environmental impact and safety risks. Neste is also a major shipowner, with a reputation for a fleet designed with the special needs of shipping in arctic waters in mind. Significant environmental and safety risks are associated with transporting crude oil, petroleum products, gases, and chemicals. Similar risks are also linked with the use of many products.

Neste has long been aware of the fact that, to succeed, the Corporation must be willing to commit its resources and investments to building up its technological expertise and research capability. This principle is seen as equally important in the environmental protection area. Numerous examples of Neste’s commitment to this date back as far as the early 1970īs.

Society’s and industry’s knowledge about environmental issues is constantly growing. We have learnt, for instance, that man’s burden on the environment is larger, and the environment’s ability to sustain this burden smaller, than we previously imagined. For Neste, this means continually evaluating all of our activities and introducing new environmental standards. Identifying workable solutions can be difficult, as balancing the needs of production processes, energy consumption, emissions, and product properties to yield the best result in environmental terms can sometimes be far from easy.

We believe that a serious commitment to environmental protection, health, and safety represents a meaningful investment in the future, and is the only way to earn the trust of society and the users of our products. Reflecting this, we agreed a common set of environmental protection and safety standards to be observed at all Neste plants back in 1984, and a package of communications principles in 1989.

They can be crystallized as follows:

Holistic thinking

Our aim is to develop the best possible solutions in terms of the environment, occupational safety, and product user safety. In line with this, we take environmental impact and safety risks into account in decision-making on all our projects.

Responsibility

We are committed to complying with all internal and external regulations, and observing good working practices. Areas of responsibility must be clearly defined at every level within the Neste organization, and written instructions available for all procedures in our day-to-day operations.

An active approach

Environmental impact and risks are the subject of constant study at Neste. The expertise which we build up in these areas is applied throughout our planning, target-setting, and decision-making activities.

Taking the initiative

We follow developments in our fields closely. Our aim is to be one step ahead of what legislation requires in developing new products and applying the latest advances in research.

Openness

We fully accept the right of society and individuals to know. We provide comprehensive information on our activities, and are always ready for dialogue.