Graanul Invest publishes 2020 Sustainability Report

Founded in 2003, Graanul Invest has grown to an annual production capacity of 2.7 million tonnes employing more than 500 professionals across its 12 modern pellets plants located in Estonia, Latvia, Lithuania, and the United States (US).

In December 2020, the Graanul Invest Group was restructured, during which the group divided its activities into three areas: 1) wood pellet production and energy, 2) forestry, and 3) biomaterials.

The forestry group Graanul Mets OÜ together with its forestry affiliates and subsidiaries formed a separate new group, the holding company of which is the new company Graanul Assets OÜ. Graanul Biotech OÜ, a biochemistry start-up company, was also separated during the division and a new company, Graanul Tehnoloogia OÜ, was established as its holding company.

Due to the changed structure of the group, Graanul Invest also unveiled its renewed brand and website, which up until now focused only on pellet production and energy.

We believe that tackling climate change has become more important than ever. We continue to drive our technology and the industry forward to accelerate the development of biomass science and deepen the understanding of the possibilities of using biomass.

Continued carbon footprint reduction

The 2020 Sustainability Report covers the divided sectors of Graanul Invest Group together in one report. According to a statement, despite the coronavirus (COVID-19) pandemic difficulties, the sectors of the group continued to adhere to and promote sustainability criteria.

In pellet production, we were able to continue production despite the difficult year, and due to the high demand for wood material, there was also enough wood waste from which to produce pellets. We must also add value to the lowest-quality biomass based on its valorization potential to ensure efficiency and compliance with the requirements of the circular economy in the timber sector. At the same time, the use of pellets is one of the fastest and most effective ways to reduce carbon emissions in the energy sector. As an important indicator of sustainability, we were able to reduce the carbon footprint of our production for the third year in a row.

The forestry business line created a new generation of forest in 2020 on 795 hectares, of which 760 ha were created by planting and 35 ha by sowing. The group afforested 139 ha of decommissioned agricultural and grassland.

The total carbon sequestration of the forest portfolio has also made a big leap due to the increase in the forest portfolio. At the ownership level of Graanul Invest Group, the whole group remains carbon negative.

The development of the biomaterials sector was impressive last year, and although many works and developments were delayed by the COVID-19 pandemic, we were able to successfully test the first phase of our technology.

Stable result 2020

On the financial side, 2020 turned out to be “a stable and successful year of production without major incidents” for the Group despite the problems caused by the coronavirus.

The consolidated revenue of the group in 2020 amounted to EUR 438.9 million an increase of 9.3 percent compared to the previous year (2019: EUR 401.7 million). The increase in revenue was primarily due to the increased sales turnover of the Woodville plant in Texas (TX), US.

Sales of wood pellets accounted for the largest share of the Group’s sales volume – 90.8 percent. Export outside the Baltic states accounted for the major proportion of pellet sales (> 98 percent). The main target markets were the UK, Denmark, the Netherlands, and Italy.

Sales of electricity and heat from the Group’s six combined heat and power (CHP) facilities in Estonia and Latvia decreased compared to the previous year due to a significant decrease in energy prices and accounted for 6.2 percent of total turnover.