Environment

Scandinavian Business Seating will be an environmentfriendly supplier of ergonomic seating. The group has had the environment on its agenda for over 20 years, during which we have built up expertise within environment-friendly solutions, materials and processes. This is expressed in products which:

• are as resource-effective as possible,
• do not represent a hazard to health, and
• leave the absolute minimum of waste.

The same principles are visible in everything we do – from product development to production and sale – in our own activities and through the demands that we have on our suppliers.

We want to make our environmental performance measurable. Major product collections are subject to environmental benchmarking, such as EPD (Environmental Product Declaration). The strength of this declaration is that its calculations are based on the guidelines of the international ISO standard 14025. One of the key values shows how many kilos of CO2 a product has caused throughout its lifecycle, from extraction of raw materials, via processing, transport and production, to use and disposal. By comparing two or more products, this type of documentation reveals which product represents the lowest greenhouse gas emissions and is thus the most environment friendly.

We have noted that environmentally aware buyers, who wish to minimise the environmental impact of their organisation’s purchases of goods and services, are now beginning to require documentation of products’ carbon footprint. Major collections also carry the American Greenguard certificate, which guarantees that they contribute to a healthy indoor climate by not emitting hazardous gases. In 2010, HÅG Capisco was the first office chair in Scandinavia to be awarded the the Swan Nordic ecolabel, and the HÅG Futu chair range received the American Green Good Design Award. We are constantly striving to develop new products that are better and use less energy than their predecessors used. We call this “More with less”. We achieve this through a combination of good quality, long service life, rational production and good design with low weight, few components and renewable or recyclable materials.

This calls for consideration and know-how, and here we benefit greatly from all the experience we have built up over many years of systematic and deliberate environmental focus.
 

Nevertheless, environment-friendly products are only part of the overall picture. The way we run our factories and offices also has a big impact on the environment. HÅG was the first of the company’s brands to be able to present a set of climate accounts based on the Greenhouse Gas (GHG) protocol. The account shows that the biggest environmental impact arises from business travel and the transport of goods. It is expected that the findings are transposable to the other brands, and measures have been introduced.

The group’s environmental management system fulfils the requirements of ISO 14001, which means that the environment is systematically taken into account in the day-to-day operations of all parts of the organisation. The company has also reviewed the operational aspects that affect the external environment, and identified the most significant of them. These form the basis of the group’s environmental targets, which include the reduction of energy and chemical consumption and generation of waste. The group has also obtained “green certificates” which guarantee that all the electricity used in production at Røros and Nässjö is produced from renewable hydroelectric power.