Key figures and financial reports

The Gasum Gas Fund supports full-time research relating to education, research and development aiming to promote the gas ecosystem. Gasum Gas Fund is one of the special funds run and administered by the Finnish Foundation for Technology Promotion (TES). Grants have been given out from the fund for researchers developing future solutions concerning, for example, the bioeconomy and circular economy, transport and logistics or energy solutions promoting the use of gas. For the application period and call for applications will be open at the beginning of  2022.

Grants for 2021 were given out from the Gasum Gas Fund to six researchers in Helsinki this year.

The objective of the Gas Fund is to support full-time research with full daily allowances. In addition, the Gas Fund seeks to provide long-term funding for research carried out by students. The Gasum Gas Fund is one of the special funds run and administered by the Finnish Foundation for Technology Promotion (TES).

Received by six persons this year, the grants from the Gasum Gas Fund in 2021 totaled €63,000 (2020: 75 000)

• Miriam Kellock: Analysis of the rate limiting steps in enzymatic hydrolysis of lignocellulose: the effect of lignin and enzyme structure, 12 000 €
• Miika Marttila: Kasvihuonelämmitysmenetelmien ilmastonlämpenemispotentiaali boreaalisella ilmastovyöhykkeellä Väitöskirjassa: Agroekologisten ja teollisten symbioosien ympäristövaikutukset maaseutuliiketoiminnassa, Lappeenrannan-Lahden teknillinen yliopisto LUT, 5 000 €
• Sami Lieskoski: The use of energy storage to integrate renewable energy in the transition to carbon-neutrality, Åbo Akademi, 12 000 €
• Marjaana Hassani: Pientareet ja joutomaat energianlähteinä, Jyväskylän yliopisto, 24 000 €
• Hassaan Ahmad Warraich: Master's thesis: "Studies on carbon dioxide hydrogenation to methanol using in-situ diffuse reflectance infrared Fourier transform spectroscopy and mass spectrometry", Aalto yliopisto, 5 000 €
• Danielle Bansfield: Exploiting the unexploited: improved recycling of nutrients in the reject water from biogas production into value-added products, Aalto yliopisto, 5 000 €

The UN Global Compact is a voluntary, international corporate sustainability initiative administered by the United Nations. It sets ten principles relating to human rights, labor, environment and anti-corruption. The UN Global Compact calls for businesses worldwide to adopt these principles and to report on their implementation. Gasum now joins the global network of more than 13,000 companies based in over 160 countries committed to the initiative already.

”Companies have a very important role in solving global issues and have both the expertise and resources needed to promote sustainability. The UN Global Compact provides companies with both a national and global operating environment, and tools for sustainability work. We welcome Gasum to the Global Compact network,” says Lenita Toivakka, Executive Director, Global Compact Network Finland. 

“The UN Global Compact initiative is a globally well-known framework with universal principles. Commitment to the UN Global Compact is a natural extension to Gasum’s sustainability work. We promote climate change mitigation and the circular economy, and strive to be an accountable employer and business partner. We will continue to develop sustainability together with our employees, customers, suppliers and other stakeholders,” says Johanna Lamminen, Chief Executive Officer, Gasum.

The Global Compact is well aligned with Gasum’s existing support for other international frameworks concerning human and labor rights, such as the UN Universal Declaration of Human Rights, the UN Guiding Principles on Business and Human Rights (UNGP), OECD Guidelines for Multinational Enterprises, and the ILO Core Conventions on Labour Standards.

In addition, Gasum contributes to the UN Sustainability Development Goals (SDGs) of the UN 2030 Agenda that aim to meet the urgent environmental, social, and economic challenges facing our world. Gasum has defined the goals towards which the company contributes most in its operations, the most relevant SDGs being Goal 7 (Affordable and cleaner energy), Goal 8 (Decent work and economic growth), Goal 9 (Industry, innovation and infrastructure), Goal 11 (Sustainable cities and communities), Goal 12 (Responsible consumption and production) and Goal 13 (Climate action).

• Group income totaled €325.9 million (Q1/2020: €238.6 million)
• Group operating profit was €11.0 million (Q1/2020: €12.3 million)
• Balance sheet total came to €1,363.1 million (31.3.2020: €1,133.0 million)
• The Group’s equity ratio was 35.7% (31.3.2020: 44.1%)

Gasum Group CEO Johanna Lamminen comments on the first quarter of 2021:

”We continued to systematically implement our strategy and grew in all our key segments: industry, maritime and road transport. Regardless of the uncertainties surrounding the COVID-19 pandemic, we were able to ensure business continuity and the progress of our projects.

The Group’s revenue was €298.6 million, other operating income was €27.3 million and operating profit was €11.0 million. Revenue development was affected by volumes and clear growth in all our segments as well as the trend in the price of gas compared to a year earlier. Despite the changes taking place in the operating environment, the profitability of our Group’s business was at the projected level.

Combating climate change plays a key role in Gasum’s Corporate Responsibility Program. Positive development in the demand for cleaner energy in maritime and road transport as well as in industry during the period under review, enabled our customers to significantly reduce emissions and contributed to their goals of transitioning towards low-emission logistics solutions and production processes.

Demand for cleaner fuel solutions in maritime transport continued to grow during the period under review. We entered into an agreement with the City of Vaasa, NLC Ferry Oy and Wärtsilä Finland Oy to supply liquefied natural gas (LNG) to Wasaline, which operates the Vaasa–Umeå ferry route, and for use in Wärtsilä’s new Smart Technology Hub. We aim to continue to expand the geographic outreach of our maritime fuel offering and to this end obtained a distribution license for LNG on the French market.

Interest in the use of gas and renewable energy in industry continues to grow. We signed a contract with Nynäs AB, which is connected to the Swedish gas grid, to deliver natural gas to their refinery in Gothenburg. In addition, a shipment of biogas we supplied to Essity’s tissue mill in Sweden will reduce the mill’s carbon dioxide emissions to almost zero. We signed a 10-year agreement to deliver wind-generated renewable energy to Borealis AB’s facility in Sweden. The wind power will be generated by our partner Stena Renewable AB. The wind power will reduce Borealis’ direct carbon dioxide emissions at its Stenungsund plant by approximately 10,000 tonnes a year.

We continued to expand our network of gas filling stations serving road transport and opened three new filling stations in the Nordic countries. HKScan’s Swedish subcontractor Green L Equipment AB started to use a biogas-fueled truck in its logistics. The new truck helps the company to progress towards its climate targets and to considerably lower its carbon footprint. In Sweden, we worked with MaserFrakt logistics companies in testing the use of liquefied biogas (LBG) in six of their trucks. The tests delivered positive user experiences.

We set new sustainability targets to mitigate climate change and aim to reach cumulative emission reductions of a million tonnes by increasing the availability of biogas. By 2025, we intend to make 4 TWh of biogas available on the market from our own production and that of certified European partners. We also intend to reduce the emissions in LNG and biogas production chains in our own operations and to implement energy efficiency measures. During the period under review, the entry into commercial use of the Lohja biogas plant (40 GWh) in January contributed to our sustainability targets.”

Read more about Gasum Group Financial Result Q1 2021 >