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Stora Enso is committed to managing and developing its business in a responsible and sustainable manner. Balancing our economic, environmental, and social responsibilities is necessary for sustainable business and beneficial to our stakeholders. We address sustainability throughout our value chain, and we expect our Suppliers to do the same. All Suppliers are expected the follow the Supplier Code of Conduct or the applicable legal requirements, whichever are stricter.
Stora Enso's Supplier Code of Conduct was updated in 2020. The updated version is valid starting 1 January 2021. Below you can find the Supplier Code of Conduct in a variety of languages and the updated Practical Guidance for Stora Enso Suppliers.
A “Supplier” is any person or legal entity which provides Stora Enso with products or services. In addition to Suppliers who have a direct contractual relationship with Stora Enso, this definition also includes the Suppliers’ sub-suppliers.
“Stora Enso Representatives” include the company’s employees and legal representatives.
The Supplier must:
Stora Enso is committed to fully follow all applicable legislation wherever we operate. But playing by the rules is not enough – we go beyond compliance whenever possible and always strive to be better. We encourage our suppliers to do the same.
Our SCoC outlines minimum standards for our suppliers that function as additional requirements to applicable laws and regulations.
Policies and guidelines present a company’s commitment to and ways of working on different topics.
Having a management system means that you have a framework or process to ensure that your organisation can fully achieve its objectives, improve its performance, and act according to laws and regulations. It is a description of how the organisation works: an organisation chart including roles and responsibilities; main processes and their links to each other; target setting; monitoring performance; key documents and instructions. A management system can be manually documented and maintained or supported with IT tools.
The quality and exact function of your management system depends on the nature and size of your operations. A complex, global operation with many employees and potential risks will require an advanced management system that is based on standards, such as ISO 9001, ISO 14001, ISO 45001, and/or SA 8000. A privately owned small enterprise will need a lighter approach.
Risk management means that you are aware of and mitigate the impacts and risks of your operations on, for example, safety, ethical business, the environment, and human rights. You should systematically and in a reasonable manner document assessments and mitigation plans that are regularly reviewed by the senior management of your company. Assigning responsibility to specific people for individual topics helps to ensure that sufficient resources are allocated to material topics and targets.
Companies operate in a complex world among many different stakeholders with various interests. For Stora Enso, it is not enough to only manage our own operations; we also need to take into account surrounding communities, our business partners, non-governmental organisations, and other stakeholders.
We want all stakeholders in our supply chain to know about the requirements of our SCoC or our supplier’s own code of conduct. To do this, you should consider communicating the requirements of our SCoC, or those set in your own code of conduct, to your supply chain and explaining why it is important to comply with them. You can also encourage your suppliers to learn more about your code of conduct and/or Stora Enso’s SCoC.
Monitoring your own suppliers and sub-suppliers, for example through contractual sustainability requirements, on-site audits, or site visits, will help you ensure that the services or materials you provide to us, and the materials you use to manufacture components, parts, or products, are sourced from environmentally and socially responsible sources. Materials and services that either directly or indirectly contribute to conflicts are unacceptable. Conducting due diligence in your sourcing operations will help you identify risks and inform the way you choose to monitor your suppliers and sub-suppliers.
As relevant, you must exercise due diligence regarding the source and chain of custody of the materials and services you provide/use and make any due diligence measures available upon request.
This means that all of your employees (permanent, temporary, or contracted) and the employees of your relevant business partners must have an opportunity to formally report work-related grievances and any breaches against your policies or Strora Enso’s Supplier Code of Conduct. Such processes should preferably be anonymous and, in all cases, without fear of retaliation. Also, they must be in accordance with all relevant and applicable legal requirements.
Confidential and anonymous grievance channels may vary from sophisticated internet-based channels to a more simple mail box. The most important thing is that all employees should be aware of their opportunity to report concerns. In case of grievances related to Stora Enso, we expect you to report these to us promptly so that we can initiate necessary actions.
In cases where potential misconduct related is confirmed, remedial mechanisms and corrective actions need to be in place for prompt implementation. If necessary, external organisations may be brought in to help implement and monitor such measures.
You must respect the privacy of all employees in accordance with applicable privacy-related laws and regulations. We do not accept workplace monitoring or collection of employee personal data without the knowledge of employees.
You should be able to provide evidence and documents that demonstrate how the requirements of our SCoC are taken into account in your operations.
We expect you to truthfully and accurately, as defined by applicable law, disclose information regarding your business activities, structure, financial situation, and performance in accordance with all applicable laws, regulations, and prevailing industry practices. For this purpose, you will need to maintain transparent and up-to-date financial records as well as records that enable you to demonstrate compliance with all applicable regulations.
The Supplier must:
Stora Enso has a zero tolerance approach to corruption anywhere in its operations and value chain. Corruption, in this context, includes offering, giving, receiving, or soliciting bribes, facilitation payments, and other means to obtain improper benefit or advantage, either directly by a company or by a third party for its benefit.
Competing and doing business should be based only on quality and competence. Gifts, hospitality, or expense payments that are of unreasonably high value, or that could inappropriately affect business decisions – or even create this impression – should be avoided. Rebates, commissions, donations, and should be made transparently.
Stora Enso always pays for the travel and accommodation costs of its employees. There is no occasion where an organisation or person inviting our representatives would be allowed to pay any of these costs. We encourage all our stakeholders to do business in this same transparent manner, so as to support fair and open competition.
A conflict of interest refers to situations in which personal interests, outside activities, external interests, or personal relationships may have an effect on your ability to fulfill your obligations. A conflict of interest could arise, for example, when you are involved in activities or contractual arrangements with other parties or have significant ownership and power in other companies, which could influence your decisions or work. This does not restrict your freedom to compete in the market, have contracts with other customers, and negotiate your business relationship with Stora Enso.
Working for companies other than Stora Enso is not a conflict of interest unless you have made a specific separate agreement that directly restricts your ability to act freely in your business relationship with us. Please inform us of any situation that could possibly be seen as resulting in a conflict of interest.
Money laundering is the process through which an individual or organisation seeks to make the proceeds of criminal activity appear legitimate. Money laundering is also sometimes used to refer to the handling of any benefit that arises from acquisitive crimes, such as theft, fraud, or tax evasion. You should not knowingly engage in transactions that facilitate money laundering and terrorist financing or that otherwise result in the unlawful diversion of assets.
The international community, including the UN, the EU, and individual countries, impose a wide variety of trade sanction programmes against violators of internationally recognised human rights and principles of law. These sanction programmes are typically targeted at specific countries or territories; persons, entities, and/or organisations; as well as types of products and/or activities. Sanction programmes also prohibit activities that are intended to circumvent or evade the imposed restrictions.
Compliance with applicable sanction programmes is not only important for you or Stora Enso as a company, but also for individual employees. In some jurisdictions, breaches of sanction programmes may lead to criminal liability and the imposition of fines on individual employees in a personal capacity.
Stora Enso is committed to free and open competition in markets. Supporting free and fair competition in the market works in our interest and benefits society at large.
All companies should be able to trade and compete as they wish, as long as they follow all applicable laws and regulations. This means, for example, never becoming involved in fixing prices in the sharing of confidential information between competitors, or in any other unfair or restrictive business practices.
Complying with and committing to applicable data privacy and localisation laws will ensure that the privacy of all individuals whose information is processed during and after a business relationship, including any eventual retention time, is maintained. It will help you to follow applicable best practices, official guidance, and Stora Enso’s instructions related to, for example, personal data handling principles, risk management, technical and organizational measures, and the use of subcontractors. Please always inform us of any breach of the privacy of any individuals related to our collaboration.
Companies should know their cyber security risks and implement sufficient controls, such as multi-factor authentication, encryption, access controls, safe password practices, and regular security updates to mitigate the risks.
Business continuity is the advance planning and preparation undertaken to ensure that a company will have the capability to operate its critical business functions during unexpected and emergency events. These types of events can include natural disasters, business crises, pandemics, workplace violence, major accidents, or any event that results in a disruption of your business operations. It is essential to plan and prepare not only for events that will stop operations completely but for those that also have the potential to adversely impact operations. A business continuity plan outlines procedures and instructions an organisation must follow in the face of such disasters. It covers topics, such as business processes, assets, human resources, and business partners.
Doing business responsibly also means complying with laws, regulations, standards, and policies related to the product safety, quality, and due diligence of all goods. Stora Enso has defined rules to ensure the safety of its operations to people and the environment. For example, when entering our premises or facilities, familiarise yourself with and adhere to the safety and environmental instructions of that site.
We require all our suppliers to deliver quality products and services that offer a high level of safety, reliability, and environmental performance. In particular, this applies to preventing, identifying, and correcting safety defects. For example, it is important that our suppliers maintain and update MSDS/SDS sheets for chemicals and receive such sheets from their own suppliers. We may ask for this information, or other relevant documentation related to chemicals, to ensure the safety of the chemicals used in our operations.
Conducting due diligence means that a company takes reasonable steps to avoid committing an offense or violation or breaching an agreement. Due diligence can include activities, such as investigations, audits, or document reviews.
The Supplier must:
We recommend that you have a written OHS policy in place, where your top management can communicate the importance of a healthy and safe workplace to all of your employees. Strong support from top management level is vital to the successful management of OHS topics, and managers should pro-actively demonstrate their commitment to health and safety through their own actions.
If employees are offered housing by the employer, it should fulfill all applicable health and safety regulations. Employees residing in employer-provided housing must, for example, have access to clean water and sanitation and to safe facilities for preparing meals.
The responsibility for OHS issues should be clearly assigned to specific people in the organisation. All employees should know who has the overall responsibility of OHS and understand their own roles and responsibilities through regular training.
Suppliers are required to carry out Hazard Identification and Risk Assessments and to determining controls. Hazard Identification, Risk Assessment, and controls are the basic key elements of OHS management. Hazards must be identified and risks evaluated in all work areas and in all work types. The risk assessment must include all health and safety issues relevant to the work, including mechanical, biological, chemical, psycho-social, and ergonomics risks. The risk assessment must contain the evaluation/prioritisation of risk (e.g. impact x likelihood assessment) and corrective actions or measures to remove/mitigate/control the risk. As one example of OHS risk mitigation and controls, special attention has to be paid to controlling that appropriate Personal Protective Equipment (PPE) is available and used by its employees.
Employees must identify risks before starting work. Supervisors must follow up on all safety rules and procedures being adhered to in daily work. All work has to be planned beforehand to ensure that the work can be done is a safe way.
Companies need to ensure that OHS rules and procedures are followed in daily work and that the physical conditions are safe by carrying out regular safety inspections and audits. The audits are important because the audit results give systematic information on the areas of strengths and opportunities for improvement.
Your written and well communicated procedures should be designed to respond to emergencies, such as fires, explosions, chemical spills, natural disasters, medical emergencies, or any other emergency situation that might arise in your operations. You should have sufficient capacity to provide first aid as necessary, in the shape of readily available first aid equipment and suitably trained staff. It is essential to hold regular drills to practice emergency responses. Emergency procedures are needed to ensure that in any case of emergency everyone immediately knows what actions they need to take to control the situation as soon as possible and limit any damage.
Ways to monitor and keep records of your OHS performance and risks include:
If you operate within Stora Enso’s sphere of responsibility, such as at our mills, in our harvesting operations, or logistics services, or at our tree planting sites – you should also report all accidents to Stora Enso.
OHS rules and procedures will not be effective if your employees are not aware of them. Ways to ensure that your employees understand the importance and practicalities of OHS issues include:
The Supplier must:
We strongly recommend that our suppliers commit to the UN Guiding Principles on Business and Human Rights (UNGPs) and the International Labor Organization’s (ILO) fundamental conventions. According to the UNGPs, respecting human rights means that companies:
Human rights should be respected across your operations and in your relationships with business partners and other stakeholders that might be impacted by your operations. This includes your own employees, those of your suppliers and business partners, as well as people in surrounding communities. Related requirements apply equally to all workers, including permanent and temporary employees, onsite contractors, and agency workers, as well as piece-rate, salaried, hourly paid, legal young workers (minors), part time, night, and migrant workers.
When a supplier and Stora Enso have separately agreed on such a process, the Supplier should submit systematically documented assessments of human rights related impacts to Stora Enso.
In addition to labour rights, it is important to take into account environmental and social impacts related to:
Everyone has the right to feel safe, included, and respected at work. We have zero tolerance against discrimination and harassment of any kind and expect the same from our suppliers. Everyone should be treated equally regardless of ethnicity, gender, disabilities, sexual orientation, religious or political beliefs, or other such characteristics. Discrimination is not acceptable during any part of any employment relationship (hiring, compensation, benefits, advancement, discipline, termination, or any other employment practices). All individuals, regardless of their position within the organisation, must be treated with due respect (ILO Conventions 100 and 111 on Discrimination).
All forms of unfair and inhumane treatment of workers, including bullying, abuse or harassment, are equally unacceptable to Stora Enso.
We do not accept any form of child labour anywhere along our supply chain. It is important to understand the risk of child labour in your own operations and among your suppliers and sub-suppliers, and to highlight that you completely condemn such practices. To ensure that no underage persons work in your operations (including your own employees and contracted workers), it helps to have robust age verification procedures and records in place.
If a child or underage person is found working in your operations or in your supply chain, you should inform Stora Enso immediately. Such cases should be handled together with experts to ensure that the actions taken are in the best interest of the child. This can mean, for example, that you help the child to attend and remain in school to ensure that they are not immediately employed by someone else. We also strongly recommend that you commit to the Children’s Rights and Business Principles.
We support the use of legitimate workplace apprenticeship programmes that comply with all relevant laws and regulations. All young workers below the age of 18 but over the minimum age (as defined above) must be protected from performing any work that is likely to be hazardous; that interferes with their education; or that may be harmful to their health or physical, mental, social, spiritual, or moral development.
This requirement is to ensure that your activities respect ILO Conventions 29 and 105 on Forced and Compulsory Labour. All work, including overtime work, must be voluntary, and workers must be free to leave employment on reasonable notice.
Involuntary labour includes all forced, bonded, or indentured labour, human trafficking, and any other from of labour where the worker is not working by choice but instead, is in some way forced to do so. Human trafficking, for example, includes the transportation, harbouring, recruitment, transfer, or receipt of any persons by means of threat, force, coercion, abduction, fraud, or payments to any person having control over another person for the purpose of exploitation.
Ways to ensure that involuntary labour does not exist in your operations or supply chains:
Human rights should always be respected in recruitment. In addition to the labour rights requirements that are included elsewhere in this SCoC, ethical recruitment can mean, for example, that:
These requirements are in line with ILO Conventions 87 and 98 on Freedom of Association and Collective Bargaining. Workers have the right to join (or not joint) or form trade unions of their own choosing, and to bargain collectively, without prior authorisation from management.
Ways to ensure that employees’ right to organize is respected:
Employers should fully observe all laws and regulations relating to minimum wages, overtime wages, piece rates, and other elements of compensation including legally defined benefits (such as social insurance, parental leave benefits, and paid annual leave).
Steps you can take to offer reasonable remuneration for work:
Ways to ensure that employees do not work in excess:
All employees should be allowed to exercise their right to freedom of movement. This includes freely entering and leaving the workplace and any housing provided by their employer.
The Supplier must:
Investing in communities can improve their quality of life and generate business benefits for the company in the form of community support and competitive advantage. Managing company actions responsibly helps minimise their negative socio-environmental impacts and maximise the positive ones.
Ways to support and engage with communities:
The Supplier must:
As the renewable materials company, Stora Enso is committed to respecting the local environment and combatting climate change. As our supplier, you play an important role in making this a reality. It is advisable that you conduct – and regularly update – an environmental risk assessment of your operations to help you address any aspects that could have a significant impact on the environment. This will enable you to create a register of the significant environmental aspects of your processes, products, and services, including:
Discharges to water and air
Noise
Waste and residuals
Consumption of power and heat, materials, and chemicals
Restoration sites and related liabilities
Use of natural resources, including land
Impacts generated by your suppliers or service contractors
Impacts generated during transportation, handling, and packaging
Assessments of environmental aspects should form the basis for related procedures, including:
Implementing a formal environmental management system relevant to the size and scope of company operations helps meet the requirements of our Supplier Code of Conduct. Examples include the environmental standard ISO 14001 and the EU’s Eco Management and Audit Scheme (EMAS).
Global warming is one of the greatest challenges of our time, impacting the environment and people through natural disasters and the loss of ecosystems and livelihoods. Stora Enso combats climate change with renewable materials, resource and energy efficient production processes, and sustainable forest management. As our supplier, you have an important role in our efforts.
We have set ambitious science-based targets for reducing greenhouse gas (GHG) emissions in our operations. To reduce emissions in our value chain, we are committed to ensuring that 70% of our non-fiber suppliers and downstream transportation suppliers in terms of spend set their own GHG reduction targets by 2025, and adopt science-based targets by 2030.
To help us reach our target for our value chain, we use sustainability criteria in the tendering phase of all sourcing, regardless of previous contracts with the same supplier. The criteria help us make more balanced sourcing decisions and create incentives for our suppliers to invest in sustainability reporting.
As part of this criteria, we ask you to disclose your targets and actions on reducing carbon dioxide (CO2) emissions in your operations and value chain.
In a circular economy, waste is minimised as materials are reused and recycled to maximise environmental and financial value. Circular design looks at the full product life cycle instead of just the product. It takes into account the materials used, manufacturing, product function, distribution, and potential to repair, reuse, remanufacture, or recycle instead of the material ending up as a waste. Stora Enso is integrating circular economy and design aspects into the full lifecycle thinking of its products, and we encourage our suppliers to do the same.
Biodiversity means the variety of life in genes, species, and in entire ecosystems. It is vital for the humankind. Stora Enso closely monitors the management of the forests and plantations from which it sources wood to ensure that biodiversity is safeguarded. Only healthy and productive forests can secure the long-term availability of our renewable raw material, wood. To support our work, we ask our suppliers to identify the links its business operations may have on impacts on biodiversity and to act accordingly.
Ways to ensure that environmental topics are fully considered in your operations:
Ways to ensure that environmental incidents, violations, and complaints are fully considered in your operations:
Stora Enso performs continuous environmental assessments of its operations and products. We may request related data from you as input for these assessments. It will help you respond to these types of requirements if you collect and store data on your environmental performance as relevant to the size and scope of your operations.
The Supplier must allow Stora Enso, or a third party authorised by Stora Enso, to verify compliance with the requirements of this SCoC through dialogue, disclosure of information or, if considered necessary by Stora Enso, an audit of the Supplier’s operations. Any such audit shall take into consideration the Supplier’s interest in undisturbed operations and not be in conflict with the Supplier’s statutory and contractual obligations.
If Stora Enso finds that the Supplier is not acting in compliance with this SCoC, Stora Enso will specify which issues need to be corrected or improved. The Supplier must then take corrective actions promptly and provide adequate evidence of improvements. Stora Enso nevertheless reserves the right to cancel outstanding orders, suspend future orders, and/or terminate the main contract with the Supplier in case of a material breach of this SCoC or the Supplier refusing to take corrective actions.
Should the main contract between Stora Enso and the Supplier, to which this SCoC forms an integral part (as an Appendix or by reference), contain separate termination rules, it is nevertheless understood by both parties that a breach of this SCoC may be considered a material breach of the main contract, thus entitling Stora Enso to terminate the main contract.
The Supplier must immediately report any non-compliance with this SCoC to Stora Enso. The Supplier and any of its employees may report their concerns confidentially to Stora Enso’s grievance channel, Speak Up hotline at www.storaenso.com/speak-up.