The year 2019 was extremely important for cooperation and for building networks. At the initiative of HUS Logistics, a shared ethical procurement development group was set up among the various hospital districts. This group produced the guide “Sairaanhoitopiirien opas vastuullisiin hankintoihin” [Hospital district guide to ethical procurement], which covers 32 product groups. During the year under review, we also developed sustainability criteria for risk country procurements and minimum sustainability requirements in two pilot procurements with Finnwatch. We also signed a sustainability cooperation agreement with Norwegian and Swedish partners and joined the European Sustainable Procurement Network.
Transparent stakeholder cooperation with continuous improvement is very important for us. Our sustainability program was designed in close dialog with our internal customers, our contract suppliers and NGOs in the field of corporate responsibility.
We have identified as stakeholders those parties that are impacted by HUS Logistics operations and those that have an impact on HUS Logistics.
Based on the stakeholder survey we circulated in 2019, our personnel, customers and suppliers alike consider sustainability to be an important value, and we received encouraging feedback on our sustainability efforts. The most important sustainability themes named by all respondent groups were responsibility as an employer and upholding manufacturing conditions consistent with human rights and fundamental principles and rights at work in risk countries.
During the year under review, we engaged in extensive cooperation with other Nordic countries, with Finnwatch and with Keino (center of competence for sustainable and innovative procurement), and also with Sailab and the European Working Group on Ethical Public Procurement (EWGEPP).
Our customers include HUS divisions, the HUS Specific Catchment Area and HUS member municipalities. All of these have their own strategic goals to whose attainment we make an important contribution. We help internal customers at HUS for instance in discontinuing the use of PVC and in reducing the volume of waste generated. Our municipal customers have ambitious goals for reducing emissions and for achieving carbon neutrality. We aim to improve our operations continuously in order to contribute to these goals as well as possible, working systematically and effectively with our stakeholders.