Sustainability guided by listening to customers

Across many industries, sustainability has shifted from voluntary commitments to a legal obligation. The EU’s Corporate Sustainability Reporting Directive (CSRD) requires companies to report not only on their environmental impacts, but also on how sustainability is embedded in their operations. For Marioff, this shift is not new. The company has worked on environmental and social responsibility long before these legislative requirements.

The new reporting framework establishes common practices across the EU for identifying sustainability aspects, increases transparency and enables better comparability between companies. It also strengthens the role of the customer perspective. When sustainability topics are identified in accordance with legislation, the needs of value chains must be taken into account as part of the assessment.

“We take sustainability seriously, and now we can define our own path. Listening to our customers is a central part of that,” says Jenni Heiskari, EHS Manager at Marioff.

When Marioff was part of Carrier, sustainability reporting was centralized at group level, and Marioff’s own actions appeared only as a small part of the overall picture. Becoming an independent company has enabled Marioff to focus its efforts on the areas that are most relevant to its own operations. As a result, the company has created a clear structure for its own Environmental, Social and Governance (ESG) responsibilities.

“We have carried out long-term work to identify the issues that are most important in our industry. In 2024, we conducted a double materiality assessment to define our key sustainability focus areas,” Heiskari explains.

The double materiality assessment looks at impacts, risks and opportunities across the value chain, rather than focusing only on which sustainability topics are perceived as important. “This assessment therefore provides a strong foundation for both future reporting and strategic work,” Heiskari summarizes.

According to Heiskari, customer expectations have clearly increased in recent years. “The questions and requests for additional information we receive show that the need for transparency has grown, and that customers value openness,” she says.

Based on these discussions and the double materiality assessment (DMA), Marioff has identified eight key focus areas, ranging from reducing emissions and improving lifecycle information to employee safety and ethical business practices. For five of these areas, Marioff is developing concrete action plans.

“We have launched a lifecycle assessment to evaluate the environmental impact, including the carbon footprint, of our products from start to finish. We also want to increase transparency in our reporting and involve our employees in sustainability work through internal project groups,” Heiskari explains.

For Marioff, sustainability is an ongoing process rather than a finished project.

“There is still a lot of work to be done, but we are moving in the right direction. What matters most is that we listen, learn and act based on what our stakeholders tell us. This is how we ensure that sustainability truly protects what matters most,” Heiskari concludes.