Sustainability Commitment & Responsibility | Company | Elekta

Sustainability

We contribute to a sustainable future

We contribute to a sustainable future

We are working to realize our vision of a world where everyone has access to the best cancer care. We aim to deliver on our strategy to drive maximum positive impact and create sustainable future for society, while also working to minimize any negative impacts on the society, environment, people and human rights.

Our approach to sustainability is guided by Agenda 2030 and UN’s SDGs. Elekta contributes to nine of the 17 SDGs.

Today, there are large structural differences in cancer care. Low- and middle-income countries are generally underserved in terms of treatment capacity while socioeconomically weaker groups have less access to treatment and worse outcomes even in more mature markets. Improving access is at the core of our business strategy. The strategy covers innovation that improves outcomes for patients and enables more efficient delivery of treatments, service and predictive maintenance. In addition, it covers initiatives that drive global adoption, such as working with governments to improve reimbursements, access to training and customer financing. While improving access is our most significant positive impact on society, we are mindful of our wider social and environmental impact and make efforts to ensure that we conduct our business ethically and responsibly.

The aim of our sustainability agenda is to ensure that we build a sustainable business that can thrive over the long term in order to continue to drive positive social impact.

Environment

As Elekta strives to maximize the social impact provided through our products and services, we work to minimize our environmental impact across our value chain. Our approach is defined in our Global Environmental Policy.

By setting ambitious targets for reducing greenhouse gas emissions and waste, and driving circular initiatives, Elekta is committed to decoupling growth from environmental impacts. By aiming to reduce emissions per cancer treatment course, we drive more environmentally efficient cancer treatments.

Elekta uses environmentally-conscious design principles for the full product lifecycle and runs a take-back program of selected products. We engage across our value chain, we aim to optimize packaging and logistics, and as our own offices, we target zero waste to landfill and are transitioning to 100% renewable electricity.

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Social

Elekta drives access to cancer care in different ways in connection to our products and services. We build expertise and serve as a partner to decision makers across the world in building sustainable healthcare system. We also innovate to improve efficiency and utilization, train clinicians and strengthen our local presence. We are proud of the newly established Elekta Foundation, see elektafoundation.com.

We care for people across our value chain. Our approach to people is defined in our Global People & Human Right Policy. As an employer, we work to provide an inspiring, diverse, inclusive and safe place to work. We drive sustainable sourcing efforts and engage with suppliers to promote human rights and safe working conditions in our supply chain, and we work diligently to ensure the highest quality and safety standards of our products.

Governance

Elekta has a robust compliance program in place to detect, prevent and mitigate unlawful and unethical behavior in all our business activities. With most of our sales going through public tenders and our regular close interactions with healthcare professionals, we have developed detailed guidelines so that our conduct can be free from even the suggestion of improper influence. Our approach is defined in our global Anti-Bribery and Corruption Policy.

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Environmental Calculations

Energy and emissions

Elekta follows the Greenhouse Gas (GHG) Protocol Corporate Accounting and Reporting Standard for it’s carbon accounting method and reports GHG emissions as carbon dioxide equivalents (CO2e). Elekta has selected the operational control approach when defining its organizational boundary. Elekta does not offset emissions and the calculations are carried out by a third-party provider - Third-party Methodology. Elekta’s baseline year is fiscal year 2021/22.

Scope 1 (direct emissions)

Scope 1 emissions are direct GHG emissions from owned and controlled sources that a company generates while performing its business activities. Elekta’s scope 1 emissions arise from fuel use within owned and leased vehicles (mobile combustion) as well as gaseous fuel used for heating in office premises (stationary combustion) and SF6 gas leakages in manufacturing facilities (fugitive emissions). Calculations are based on actual consumption figures (activity data) collected internally or from Elekta’s suppliers where applicable. For mobile combustion a smaller part was calculated based on spend data as activity data is not available for all suppliers.

Scope 2 (indirect emissions)

Scope 2 emissions are the indirect GHG emissions generated by the production of purchased energy. Elekta’s scope 2 emissions arise from electricity and district heating consumption within Elekta’s offices and manufacturing facilities. Actual consumption figures (activity data) of electricity and gas usage are collected for all Elekta sites with more than 50 employees (covering around 90% of the total employee count) and the remaining energy consumption is extrapolated from this activity data to cover energy consumption in all facilities globally.

Scope 3 (other indirect emissions)

Scope 3 emissions are all other indirect GHG emissions that occur in the value chain of a company and are not already included within scope 1 or 2. These emissions are a consequence of the company’s business activities but occur from sources the company does not own or control. Elekta calculates emissions from scope 3 categories 1-7 and 11-12 of the GHG Protocol. Other available scope 3 categories are deemed not relevant for Elekta.

  • Purchased goods and services (category 1), including capital goods (category 2): Emissions from these categories are derived by applying spend-based method where emissions are calculated by mapping each supplier based on its sector to an environmentally extended input-output analysis, EEIO (specifically, Exiobase).
  • Fuel- and energy-related activities not included in scope 1 or 2 (category 3): Well-to-tank emissions are calculated based on the used volumes per fuel type and the kWh for energy per country.
  • Upstream transportation and distribution (category 4): The majority of transportation data within this category (~85% of the total spend) is available as activity data and emissions are provided directly by Elekta’s logistic suppliers (well-to-wheel assessment). For the remaining transportation activities, the emissions are appropriately extrapolated based on the available activity data. Emissions from warehousing are based on spend data.
  • Waste generated in operations (category 5): The calculations are based purely on activity data collected from suppliers. (Emissions from waste generated in own operations based on spend data is reported in scope 3 category 1 Purchased goods and services if no activity data is available. In baseline year 2021/22 no activity data was available.)
  • Business travel (category 6): The majority of business travel emissions calculations are based on activity data provided by Elekta’s travel suppliers and the remaining data has been calculated using spend data.
  • Employee commuting (category 7): Emissions are estimated based on an employee survey considering the distance traveled as well as the mode of commuting. The results are extrapolated to cover the whole workforce. The last survey was conducted in spring 2023 with 1,079 respondents.
  • Use of sold products (category 11): Emissions arising from this category are assessed by matching the estimated energy use over the full lifetime of Elekta’s products and software to emissions factors of the countries to which products were ordered. This category also contains estimated emissions from SF6 gas used in some of our products (refrigerant emissions). All calculations are based on number of ordered products in the reporting period.
  • End-of-Life (EoL) treatment of sold products (category 12): Emissions from this category include an assessment of key materials and packaging waste by weight which are matched with conservative (highest emitting) EoL scenario assumptions since not full transparency is available on how our products or their materials are treated at the end of life at customer sites.
GHG CategoryDescriptionRelevant for Elekta?ExampleData source
SCOPE 1 EMISSIONS (direct)
Company facilitiesHeating and cooling of owned/controlled facilitiesYesGas heatingActivity data
Factory leakageFugitive emissions from owned/controlled facilitiesYesSF6 leakage in factory and R&D/training facilitiesActivity data
Company vehiclesEmissions from Elekta owned/controlled vehiclesYesElekta company cars (incl. long-term leased cars)Activity data and spend data
SCOPE 2 EMISSIONS (indirect)
Purchased energyElectricity, steam, heating, and cooling consumption across all sites (non-renewable and renewable)YesElectricity and district heatingActivity data and extrapolated data
UPSTREAM SCOPE 3 EMISSIONS (other indirect)
Category 1
Purchased goods & servicesAll bought components or services not captured in other categoriesYesDirect components, sources, IT, third party componentsSpend data
Category 2
Capital goodsPurchased CAPEX goodsYes, but currently included in purchased goods (cat. 1)Investments in large production machinerySpend data
Category 3
Fuel- & energy-related activitiesFuel and energy activities not covered in scope 1 or scope 2YesUpstream emissions of fuel and energyActivity data
Category 4
Upstream transportation and distributionAll inbound and outbound transportationYesSupplier shipments to/from Elekta’s facilitiesActivity data and spend data
Category 5
Waste generated in operationsDisposal and treatment of waste generated in Elekta’s operationsYesWaste services based on activity data (spend based data in cat. 1)Activity data
Category 6
Business travelTransportation of employees for business-related activitiesYesAir travel, train, taxi, hotel nights, and private car mileage reimbursementsActivity data and spend data
Category 7
Employee commutingTransportation of employees between their homes and their worksitesYesCommuting (car, public transport, etc.)Employee survey
Category 8
Upstream leased assetsOperation of assets leased by the reporting company (unless already covered in Scope 1 & 2)No
DOWNSTREAM SCOPE 3 EMISSIONS (other indirect)
Category 9
Downstream transportation and distributionTransportation and distribution of products to end customers that is not paid for by ElektaNo
Category 10
Processing of sold productsCustomers’ processing of our productsNo
Category 11
Use of sold productsEmissions from the end users’ utilization of product across its lifecycleYesEnergy consumption of equipment and software (physical servers) and SF6 emissionsElekta’s assumptions and number of ordered products
Category 12
EoL treatment of sold productsWaste disposal and treatment of products soldYesDecommissioning of products and EoL material handling, product packaging wasteElekta’s assumptions and number of ordered products
Category 13
Downstream leased assetsOperations of assets owned by the company and leased to other entitiesNo
Category 14
FranchisesFranchise operationsNo
Category 15
InvestmentsOperation of investments (including equity and debt and project finance), not included in scope 1 or scope 2No
Not included in scope 1 or scope 2

Materials

Non-renewable materials include metals, composites and ceramics, electronics and other materials mostly used in the manufacturing of Elekta’s products. Renewable materials include materials used in transport and packaging such as wood and cardboard.

The data compiled is based on material types and composition of standard products and may exclude certain parts. It covers neurotherapy (Leksell Gamma Knifes), radiotherapy (linacs), MR-guided radiotherapy (MR-linacs) and brachytherapy (afterloaders) products, that were ordered during the fiscal year. In previous years, Elekta has reported by number of shipped units, but from fiscal year 2021/22, Elekta has reported by number of ordered units for materials used.

The [de/increased] use of materials is a result of [de/increased] number of ordered units during the fiscal year.

Waste

Waste data includes data from Elekta’s sites in Veenendaal (NL), Stockholm (SE), Crawley (UK), Beijing, Shanghai, Hong Kong (CN), Istanbul (TR), Tokyo (JP), Montreal (CN), Henderson, Sunnyvale, St Charles (US) and Helsinki (FI). Data is mainly actual and based on information provided by the waste disposal contractor at each site.

Meet our employees

Would you like to learn more about our work and how our employees are driving the sustainability agenda? Read our employee stories.

Environmental impact

"One of my life goals has always been to improve people’s quality of life and health. This is inherently linked with the ability to receive medical treatments as well as the reduction of waste and pollution on planet Earth. As the sustainability lead for Global Product, I have been building on the implementation of Environmentally Conscious Design (ECD) practices across our radiotherapy portfolio.

Another key area of interest for me is the subject of circular economy. Building an emissions baseline has been essential in the identification of the big areas of emissions contribution from a product design viewpoint: energy consumption and high CO2eq materials (eg. tungsten). We now know the areas we need to focus on."

Rita Morgado da Silva Manager, Hardware Systems Engineering – Linac Solutions, United Kingdom

"In my role as VP for Global Facilities Management at Elekta, I work with sustainability on a daily basis. I interact with colleagues globally to drive sustainability improvements in all our buildings.

I am particularly pleased of our recent work in our UK campus where we have moved to drive continuously improved Sustainability in our existing buildings through certification by the Building Research Establishment Environmental Assessment Method (BREEAM). BREEAM includes not only the areas of environmental and sustainability but also, well-being & resilience aspects of our facilities as well.

I am hugely proud we are working to transition all of our Global facilities to renewable electricity as part of our commitment to Science Based Targets."

Tim Rose VP for Global Facilities Management, UK

"This year we have focused on stabilising the process of capturing shipment data from our logistics partners. We regularly receive monthly emission data relating to the majority of our transport spend. We continue to refine the processes to improve the granularity of the data, enabling improved insights into our supply chain leading to informed business decisions in managing our carbon footprint more effectively.

For example improving shipping container utilisation, reducing the number of sea shipments per year, and continuing to shift from airfreight to sea freight transport mode. I am pleased with our Logistics team who have successfully reduced our Co2e /T shipped by 44% when normalising for volume. This has largely been achieved by shifting from air to sea transport modes.

I am proud of the logistics team being champions for our sustainability agenda."

Steve Wort SVP and Head of Supply Chain, Linac Solutions, United Kingdom

Social impact

"According to statistics, every 1 million population has access to 12 radiotherapy systems in North America whereas this is only 0.3 in Africa. As a medical physicist, and Elekta team member, I am committed to closing this gap and fighting against cancer with my colleagues and customers.

Improving access to radiation therapy is a main pillar of our operations in Africa. Our solutions cover state-of-the-art technology that meets clinical needs in the most effective way. Service and predictive maintenance, with remote support and a team of engineers, are key elements in the sustainability of treatments. Partnering with governments to improve cancer care in public hospitals enables more patients to benefit from radiation therapy. Moreover, tailored financial and training solutions are instrumental in building hope in Africa."

Özgür Temel Oncology Sales Manager, Kenya

"As representative of the Brachy division, I am proud to contribute to Elekta's sustainability program by working with our suppliers. Last year, we successfully conducted a comprehensive ESG assessment with very positive results and feedback from suppliers for further initiatives to work on reducing emissions from Elekta's products.

I am very pleased that our suppliers are enthusiastic and realise that sustainable procurement is an integral part of our sourcing strategy."

Cees Dekker Procurement Manager, Business Line Brachy, Netherlands

"In addition to my role as Learning Portfolio Team manager, I also represent one of Elekta’s Diversity, Equity, Inclusion, and Belonging (DEIB) affinity groups as a Board member of the Women’s Initiative @Elekta (WI@E). The WI@E group’s sole purpose is to create a space for women to grow, to connect, and to further a sense of belonging within Elekta. The group is managed by a board of women within Region Americas but the programs and resources are available to all women globally at Elekta.

This year our programs are focused on a balance of professional and personal development and include a mix of structured programs and more casual fun networking opportunities. We already have over 15 events planned for this year including: monthly virtual 3-Part series on Personal/Professional Development, 2nd Annual Women’s Event at AAPM, monthly book club, Yoga and more!

We will achieve our vision to build a better company for women by being the driving force that places a spotlight on the strengths of women to further the inclusivity goals of Elekta."

Taylor Berg Manager, Learning Portfolio Team, Global Learning Solutions & Services, The United States

Governance

"In my work, I am in close contact with our customers. I am proud that Elekta sets high business ethics standards for our work. I took the annual compliance training, which includes the Anti-Corruption training. This is a great resource for employees to understand what can be done or not when dealing with existing and potential customers, government officials and health care professionals.

The close collaboration with the Compliance team provides an additional resource to guarantee we are following all rules while doing our best to serve patients all over the world."

Deborah Telesio,
Vice President South America, Brazil

"It has been an eventful and also challenging year from a Trade Compliance perspective due to geopolitical challenges throughout the world.

I am proud and happy with our progress; the relevant rules and regulations within the export control and sanctions area have never been updated so quickly and often by authorities before.

Elekta’s robust internal compliance program (ICP) has due to all changes been updated accordingly and we will continue to spread the awareness of trade compliance globally within the company. "

Janine Green-Holmen Global Trade & Export Control Compliance Officer, Sweden

"In my role as Compliance Officer, I work with Elekta’s Integrity Line - which is a great tool for anyone to bring forward a concern or report a potential wrongdoing, and reporting can be done anonymously.

At Elekta we strive to do the right thing, we count on our employees to achieve this goal. We have a saying: “If you see something, say something!”. This way we can look into possible issues and adjust accordingly to ensure we are following laws, our code of conduct and policies.

I am proud to be bringing this message to colleagues globally and driving a culture of business ethics and sustainability across Elekta."

Roberto Heckmann Vice President & Regional Compliance Officer – The United States

ESG Library

Annual Sustainability Reports

Environment

Social

Living our values

The ethical principles in our Code of Conduct are all cornerstones in building a sustainable company. Our sustainability efforts and policies are further guided by leading global standards and principles such as the following: