Valio: Biodiversity collaboration to understand interactions with nature

Valio engaged Ramboll to help the company understand its operational impacts on biodiversity. Keen to use a robust science-driven framework, Valio adopted the new Science Based Targets for Nature (SBTN) framework, as recommended by Ramboll.

By harnessing SBTN, Valio is better able to understand its impacts on biodiversity, and to set well-defined, quantifiable targets to pursue the most significant and effective actions to conserve biodiversity and sustain the natural systems integral to its business.

Insights that enable target setting

Ramboll worked with Valio to complete steps one and two of the five-step SBTN framework, including the materiality and value chain assessments of the company’s own factories, and the farms from which Valio purchases milk. The company sources milk from over 3000 farms, making it a considerable endeavour to collect the relevant data and prioritise the areas for action. The aim was to equip Valio with the necessary insights to determine their capability to establish appropriate targets, as outlined in step three of the framework.

Valio is now positioned to begin setting precise targets to lessen their biodiversity impacts. The company has gained a clearer understanding of how their business operations impact biodiversity and acquired knowledge about the SBTN framework to inform their future target-setting.

“In the next phase, we will start to outline our concrete objectives for the diversity work under the SBTN framework,” says Juha Nousiainen, SVP, (Climate & Nature programme) at Valio.

“Valio published its own climate programme in 2018 and our SBTi target was adopted in 2022. From the beginning, we recognised that biodiversity should be part of our sustainability work in addition to climate work. That's why we launched our first roadmap on biodiversity in 2020,” he continues.

“When the opportunity arose to set science-based biodiversity targets, we launched the background work under the SBTN framework with the Ramboll team. The collaboration with Ramboll's expert team has gone smoothly within the planned timeframe and we are very pleased with the project.”