Stora Enso's Annual Report 2022

Stora Enso's Annual Report 2022

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Annual Report 2022

Part of the global bioeconomy, Stora Enso is a leading provider of renewable products in packaging, biomaterials, and wooden construction, and one of the largest private forest owners in the world. We believe that everything that is made from fossil-based materials today can be made from a tree tomorrow. Sustainability is integral in Stora Enso’s business strategy – it is at the core of what we do. For 2022, we publish one combined Annual Report, covering our strategy, financials, sustainability reporting, corporate governance and remuneration.

Download the Annual Report 2022

CEO’s review

 Building a more resilient and less cyclical business

2022 was yet another exceptional year for Stora Enso and I am delighted with the organisation’s performance. We drove our financial performance to an all-time high, strengthened our balance sheet and delivered on strategic initiatives while experiencing very disruptive and challenging market conditions. 

“Our strong results reaffirm our strategic choices.”

A more focused business strategy

Our strong result in 2022 reaffirm our strategic choices and the execution of our initiatives towards a more focused business strategy, with accelerated profitable growth, supported by long term sustainability trends. We are very proud of these achievements as they represent a tremendous effort on behalf of the entire Stora Enso team.

Our purpose is ‘doing good for people and the planet by replacing fossil-based materials with renewable ones’. Sustainable business, from all perspectives: socially, ethically, environmentally and financially is our business agenda, affecting our short- and long-term ambitions and motivating our employees to innovate for the future and deliver value for today.

Replacing non-renewable materials with renewable products

We are currently witnessing a once-in-a-generation shift away from single-use plastic packaging to more sustainable options. The increasing demand for hygienic food packaging, on-the-go and related food deliveries and resource efficient industrial and e-commerce packaging has created a great opportunity for Stora Enso. 25% of all plastic packaging can already today be replaced by paper-based solutions and for the first time, these solutions are growing faster than plastic packaging globally. Comprising 40% of the world’s CO2 emissions, the building and construction industry represents a key area for sustainability improvement. Stora Enso’s prefabricated building solutions offer not only safer and faster construction but also support a more environmentally friendly future with its long-lived, carbon storing wooden-based products.

We are working with innovating for greener batteries to support the electrification of our societies. Lignin, one of our renewable by-products, homegrown in our European forests, can be further processed to replace coal-mined graphite as anode material in batteries.

Building shareholder value through focused capital allocation, M&A activities, and dividends

In the beginning of 2023, we took the last steps in our strategic exit from the graphical paper business. The divestment process was concluded with the sale of three out of our five paper sites and the dissolving of the Paper division. This strategic exit enables us to focus resources on growing in our three key areas: Renewable Packaging, Sustainable Building Solutions and Biomaterials Innovations.

The investment to convert the idle paper machine at our site in Oulu in Finland supports our growth strategy by providing new consumer board volume for growing packaging segments where we already have a leading market position. With the purchase of De Jong Packaging Group, we made our largest acquisition in many years with the aim of accelerating growth in renewable corrugated packaging. In December, Stora Enso also announced its intent to divest the packaging material site and local forestry operations in Beihai, China.

Focusing on the CO2 challenge is our business opportunity

Climate change and environmental degradation are existential threats to the world with the impact of CO2 representing humanity’s biggest challenge. At the same time, it serves as a key driver for all our opportunities to both grow our business and deliver products and actions that contribute towards building a regenerative future. It is no longer enough for companies to just reduce harm; we must restore and regenerate. Businesses across the world need to step up to these challenges to ensure they operate within planetary boundaries. We aim to be not only carbon net-zero, but carbon net positive, offer 100% circular products, and be biodiversity net positive by 2050. Both our short- and long-term roadmap have been firmly set on this path and we are continuing to take further actions to step up our efforts.

The renewable future grows in the forest.

Annica Bresky

President and CEO

Language versions

ESEF Annual Financial Statements 2022

 Language Name  Download as XBRL  View as XBRL
 English  Annual Financial Statements 2022  Download  View
 Finnish  Tilinpäätös 2022  Lataa  Avaa
 Swedish  Bokslut 2022  Ladda ned  Öppna

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