Global Trends and Our Operations

CLIMATE CHANGE

Global warming and its consequences are matters that concern each and every person on our planet.

The environmental footprint of the blasting and explosives industry occurs along the value chain, often during several decades, and ranges from natural gas production to production and usage of explosives, finally ending up to metallic products, batteries or construction work of roads and buildings.

The biggest emissions for Forcit result from the production of raw materials – which today are largely based on natural gas. As with other industries, also the explosives industry is seeking alternatives, driven both by the need to get rid of fossil fuels and by the geopolitical crisis.

ACCESS TO ENERGY, CLEAN WATER, FOOD, AND RAW MATERIAL IN A GROWTH ECONOMY

The resources needed for sustainable development (water, energy, food, raw materials) are limited and there is an urgent need for a green shift in energy systems and critical raw material supply. Electrification requires an enormous increase in availability of metals, minerals, and rare-earth elements (REE). Sustainable mining with a minimised environmental and social footprint is one of the key challenges in this shift. Today’s blasting technology has a significantly less negative impact on the environment compared to earlier techniques, but a lot of challenges remain in order to reduce these even more. As a key player with explosives products and services in the Nordic countries, we are deeply involved in the mining industry and therefore a part of this necessary shift. In this report, we present some projects related to these challenges.

SHIFTING DEMOGRAPHICS AND URBANISATION

Increased populations, growing middle class, an aging workforce and urbanisation are changing our societies. Urban planners and policymakers are grappling with the questions of how to make growth at this scale sustainable, and how to tackle the escalating social, economic, and environmental problems linked to more and more people moving to big cities.

Through our services, we contribute to sustainable societies, helping contractors and developers to meet the ever-increasing challenge of managing construction, infrastructure and extraction projects in compliance with tough environmental regulations and, above all, safely towards the surrounding people and environment. Our services range from risk analyses and pre- and post-measurements to online environmental monitoring and damage evaluations.

INTERCONNECTED WORLD ‒ INTERDEPENDENCIES WITH UNFORESEEABLE CONSEQUENCES

Interconnectivity makes it possible for us to be connected all over the world, exchanging technology, goods, products and services. But interconnectivity also brings about both increasing cyber threats as well as technological dependencies with considerable inherent vulnerabilities. Both the pandemic and the current geopolitical crisis have exposed these vulnerabilities.

Due to the geopolitical crisis, cyber risks have increased during recent years, and we have intensified our work related to cyber security and invested in new protective systems. The supply chain and availability of raw materials for explosives will continue to pose clear challenges to the explosives manufacturing industry in coming years.

Altogether, the context where Forcit operates has become more unstable, bringing about a new risk environment where we need to be able to adjust to quick changes overcoming new challenges at short notice while keeping us on track with our long-term ambitions and commitments.

We have divided our sustainability perspective into three areas: PEOPLE, PLANET, and PROFITABILITY.

TABLE OF CONTENTS

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Global Trends and Our Operations........................................2 Greetings from the CEO......................................................4 PROFITABILITY: The Financial Performance of 2021..................6

PEOPLE: Developing Safety is a Long-term Process.................8 PLANET: Sustainability is Everyone’s Business.......................14 Explosives Operations: Norway...........................................21 Explosives Operations: Finland...........................................22 Explosives Operations: Sweden..........................................23 Digitalisation as a Part of Sustainability Targets....................24 FORCIT Consulting – Enabling Sustainable Societies..............26 Consulting Operations in the Nordics..................................27 Sustainable Development and Defence Technology...............30 Code of Conduct / Market and Business Ethics.....................31