Alma Media Corporation         Press Release         15 March 2023 at 9:00 EET

ALMA MEDIA AWARDED AS SUPPLIER ENGAGEMENT LEADER BY CDP

Alma Media, a Finland-based, international company of digital media, marketplaces and services with a strong capacity for renewal, has been awarded a position on the CDP 2022 Supplier Engagement Rating (SER) Leaderboard. Alma Media ranks among the top 8% of organisations assessed by CDP.  

The power of supply chains
According to Elina Kukkonen, SVP Communications and Brand at Alma Media, supply chains can make big positive impact on driving environmental action at scale and fighting climate change, deforestation and water insecurity - all of which pose huge business risks.  

"Sustainable businesses need sustainable supply chains. Companies need to better understand their impact on the value chain, make the most of low-carbon business opportunities, and continue to work on climate resilience. To make truly meaningful reductions in harm to the environment, businesses must cascade action down the entire supply chain. We are proud to have been recognised by CDP for our work engaging with our suppliers to tackle climate change and raising the level of climate action across our value chain. Earning a place on CDP's 2022 Supplier Engagement Leaderboard, is also a recognition of our efforts to measure and reduce climate risk within our supply chain", Kukkonen says and continues: 

"Today's sustainability leaders know that their environmental risks and impact do not end at the office door. Investors, consumers and policymakers want to see companies taking responsibility for their value chain and purchasing decisions." 

Supply chain sustainability in Alma Media 
Alma Media has a constant dialogue with its key subcontractors regarding the reduction of greenhouse gas emissions. The Group also engages in regular dialogue regarding the importance of ethically sustainable business. Alma Media's relationships with subcontractors are guided by the Group's Code of Conduct, which un-equivocally prohibits corruption, bribery, human rights violations and other inappropriate treatment of employees. To develop sustainability in its sub-contracting chain, Alma Media required its most significant suppliers during 2022 to commit to complete the Supplier Code of Conduct training designed for the company's subcontractors and partners. By the end of the year, more than 70 per cent of the company's most significant subcontractors had completed the training and agreed to commit to the Code of Conduct.  

Alma Media also reserves the right to monitor the sustainability of its suppliers by conducting audits at their premises or by requiring documentation regarding the sustainability of the services or products they produce.  

"The company works with approximately 2,000 suppliers, and as a responsible corporate citizen and business partner, it aims to make a positive impact throughout the value chain. Taking responsibility for the environment and sustainability more broadly is included in the Alma Media Supplier Code of Conduct.", Kukkonen says. 

Alma Media's updated, science-based climate targets were approved in June 2022. Achieving the Group's SBTi target requires a reduction of greenhouse gas emissions arising from the subcontract-ing chain by 14 per cent by 2030 compared to 2019. According to this target, the emissions arising from the subcontracting chain must decline by 1.23 per cent annually. The emission reduction target mainly applies to the Group's printing and logistics procurements and the procurement of ICT services. 
 
About the study 
CDP notes that this year's report shows that environmental action is not happening at the speed, scale and scope required to limit global temperature rises to 1.5 Celsius degrees.  

"Quite simply, if a company wants to be in business in the future, they need to start embedding nature into the way that they buy and collaborating with suppliers to drive action in the supply chain. Therefore, we need to see environmental leadership from companies right now by tackling their impacts on climate change and nature together, working with their suppliers in an integrated way that includes nature as standard, and incentivising this engagement within their organisation, says Sonya Bhonsle, Global Head of Value Chains, CDP. 

About CDP 
CDP is a global non-profit that runs the world's leading environmental disclosure platform. Almost 15,000 companies in total were assessed by CDP and given a Supplier Engagement Rating, based on answers to selected questions about governance, targets, emissions, and value chain engagement of their response to the CDP 2022 climate change questionnaire and their overall CDP climate change score. CDP's annual environmental disclosure and scoring process is widely recognised as the gold standard of corporate environmental transparency. CDP's platform is one of the richest sources of information globally on how companies and governments are driving environmental change.  

More information:

Elina Kukkonen
Senior Vice President, Communications and Brand, tel. + 358 10 665 2333

Distribution: key media, www.almamedia.fi