In 2018 the Konecranes Group including Port Solutions set a goal: all of their factories should be powered by renewable electricity by 2025. But the urgency of the climate crisis got them thinking harder, and they realized that it was possible to achieve much sooner. Lo and behold, they reached the goal of 100% renewable electricity for all Port Solutions factories before the end of 2021.
How did they manage it so quickly? This article outlines the history of energy use at Konecranes, the company-wide program focusing on renewable electricity and the actions that have allowed Port Solutions to reach such a challenging goal in near record time.
The journey to ultimate eco-efficiency
Long before electricity became a viable power source for container handling equipment such as diesel-driven container cranes, Konecranes engineers were constantly looking for new ways to use improvements in diesel engine efficiency. Diesel engines have improved enormously in recent decades as diesel emission regulations, both in the EU and North America, have become stricter. This has affected “mobile container handling equipment” such as Rubber-Tired Gantry (RTG) cranes, straddle carriers, heavy-duty lift trucks, Automated Guided Vehicles (AGVs) and Mobile Harbor Cranes the most, because they have traditionally been diesel-driven. Konecranes now offer all of these products with a choice of electric power options giving zero local emissions, most recently introducing a battery power option for their RTGs and straddle carriers.
As climate research repeatedly showed a pressing need to cut CO2 emissions to limit global warming, Konecranes have consistently been ahead of the curve as a producer of container handling equipment.
This is a good start. But plenty of CO2 also comes from the production of the energy needed for the supply chain of container handling equipment, manufacturing container handling equipment, product delivery, and normal day-to-day business operations.
For a company to truly call itself eco-efficient, much more is needed than merely providing all-electric products.
Company program for renewable energy
Konecranes is engaged in a company-wide effort to decarbonize their operations and build up a circular economy, minimizing waste and embedding sustainability in all of their business activities.
The next goal is to reach their science-based emissions targets in line with the Paris Agreement to limit global warming to 1.5oC by 2030. The company is currently implementing ISO 14001, an international standard that sets out the requirements for an environmental management system (EMS) to help identify and take control of the environmental aspects of business operations. By the end of 2021, 80% of Konecranes Group manufacturing sites were certified for the ISO 14001 standard, as described in the company’s latest sustainability report.
The Greenhouse Gas (GHG) Protocol is a systematic accounting of emissions using the following categories of scope:
- Scope 1 covers GHG emissions from sources owned or controlled by Konecranes, including their own vehicles and manufacturing equipment at Konecranes factories;
- Scope 2 refers to GHG emissions from the generation of electricity, heat or steam bought by Konecranes from power companies (utilities);
- Scope 3 involves GHG emissions from the value chain, such as the mining of raw materials, the transport of products from the factory to the customer, and how customers use and recycle products (product lifetime).
The climate action with the best chance of success is based on solid, reliable scientific research and data. Following the Greenhouse Gas Protocol, Konecranes has planned a range of activities based on Science-Based Targets (SBTs) that will reduce Scope 1 and 2 emissions by 50% by 2030, compared with the Scope 1 and 2 emissions measured in the base year of 2019. For Scope 3 emissions, Konecranes aims to reduce its absolute CO2 emissions by 50% by 2030, encompassing the use of products sold and steel-related purchases, again compared with the base year 2019. This Scope 3 target covers over 70% of the value chain emissions.
These activities include technological innovations, smart product design, stepping up the adoption of automation and digital technology in general, preferring steel suppliers with minimal emissions, maximizing the use of renewable electricity and improving energy efficiency within Konecranes’ manufacturing network.
Scope 2, which covers the use of renewable electricity, is Konecranes’ latest success story on the road to decarbonize their operations.
How Konecranes Port Solutions did it
In 2018, Konecranes Port Solutions made a commitment to make all of their factories run on renewable electricity. In 2021, a deadline of 2025 seemed like a reasonable target. But the project was accelerated, and the target was reached before the end of 2021.
What they did was to buy Guarantees of Origin certificates, known as GOs in Europe, Renewable Energy Certificates (RECs) in North America, and I-RECs in most other parts of the world. It works like this: somebody produces a megawatt hour (MWh) of renewable electricity that goes into the local power grid. The electricity producer provides a certificate that Konecranes Port Solutions buys to keep track of this electricity. So, when they plug into the grid, they have documentary proof that they have used renewable electricity. The certificate ensures that the renewable MWh doesn’t get counted twice.
Konecranes Port Solutions now has these renewable electricity certificates for all of the grid electricity that they use in their factories in Markaryd (Sweden), Düsseldorf and Würzburg (Germany), and Lingang and Dalian (China).
Katarina Rönningdal, Health, Safety and Environment Director of Manufacturing Operations, Port Solutions, says: “We’re proud of our people, whose dedication has brought us to this goal much faster than we initially expected. Our success gives us inspiration as we move towards our next climate targets.”
What comes next?
With GOs, Scope 2 emissions – those which come from electricity used at their own facilities – have been eliminated from all five Konecranes Port Solutions factories. Production activities are a significant source of Scope 2 emissions, so this development should be celebrated as an important milestone.
This has motivated Konecranes to concentrate efforts and ensure that all of their production facilities across the entire company, worldwide, will be running on renewable electricity by the end of 2022.
Following on from this, methods to produce geothermal heating are being studied, and solar panels are now being implemented at a number of Konecranes factories. This is improving energy self-sufficiency and allows Konecranes to sell energy back to the grid, producing their own GO certificates for others who would like to encourage the growth of renewable energy sources.
Konecranes will continue to reduce GHG emissions across all of their operations and activities, with a target of a 50% reduction by 2030. In their efforts to reach this ambitious goal, they have set science-based targets (SBTs) in line with their customers’ most important needs, including GHG emission reduction and ever more sustainable operations. These SBTs are validated externally by the SBT initiative.
Tuomas Saastamoinen, SVP, Sales and Marketing, Port Solutions says: “At Konecranes we committed to the principles of the Paris Agreement because we, as individuals, want to do the right thing in the work we do for a sustainable future. As we move forward, our fiercely honest company culture allows us to collaborate with each other and our customers to realize our ambitions for the environment.”
