Transition plan as a foundation for long-term climate action – Ecobio and Harvia

Ecobio worked with Harvia to develop a transition plan to support emissions reductions and provide a foundation for climate action.

Harvia is a Finnish company and a global leader in the sauna market. Through its business, it aims to spread wellbeing and the warmth of sauna culture around the world. In 2025, Harvia launched work on a climate transition plan covering the entire group.

Ecobio was selected as Harvia’s partner for the project, as the companies had already worked together on areas such as emissions accounting. Harvia originally began developing the transition plan while it was subject to sustainability reporting obligations, but when those obligations changed due to legislative developments, the commitment to preparing the plan remained strong.

– Harvia is a frontrunner in many respects, and they want to have a clear understanding of their climate impacts, says Mai Kärppä, Lead Consultant at Ecobio.

Aiming for a clear overall picture

The goal of the project was to create a clear overall picture and a long-term transition plan.

– We now have clear targets all the way to 2050. It is likely that the world and the calculation methods will change along the way, but we now have a basis for making the necessary adjustments. We created a strong foundation on which we can build Harvia’s path toward its net zero target, says Leena Alonen, Quality Director at Harvia.

A project focused on the long term entails particular challenges and interesting features. As part of the transition planning process, the team had to consider Harvia’s strategy and positioning, possible new ways to reduce emissions, and new kinds of innovations that may exist ten years from now, Kärppä explains.

–  We held two workshops with Harvia, where we discussed the desired level of emissions reduction targets, how they want to approach climate work as a company, and how these relate to the company’s current targets.

Although all collaboration took place remotely, the work progressed very efficiently. The workshop model also received praise from Harvia.

– The workshops were productive, and the preparatory assignments Ecobio gave us beforehand were very good. Before each workshop, we reviewed the assignments internally, which helped us tune our thinking to the topic and reflect on the themes in advance. That supported the workshops very well, says Alonen.

Harvia’s active approach to the preparatory assignments also stood out to Ecobio.

– This was a great learning experience for us, as Leena took an important leading role internally at Harvia in relation to the preparatory assignments. We will certainly take this forward as a good practice in future projects, says Kärppä.

Harvia’s situation is unique. Due to the long service life of its products, the company has only limited direct influence over emissions in its value chain, in other words its Scope 3 emissions. Harvia’s heater products have a long lifespan, and the emissions from the electricity they consume are calculated in line with the GHG Protocol over the entire life cycle of the product.

– So even if the product itself is very low-emission, if it has a long service life, the emissions from its use phase will appear high in comparison with a single-use product. This is therefore a technical feature of the calculation method, and hopefully something that will also be taken into account in the GHG Protocol in the future, Kärppä explains.

Because Harvia cannot directly know or regulate what kind of electricity its customers use, the calculation must be based on the average emissions factor for electricity generation.

– In that case, the emissions factor itself needs to be low for the largest emissions reductions to be achieved. That means the world needs to change, and more renewable, low-emission electricity needs to become available on the market, Kärppä says.

This unique challenge, rooted in the calculation methodology, sparked creative thinking in the workshops.

– We came up with all kinds of unconventional solutions to reduce emissions beyond technical innovations, including ways for Harvia to guide customers towards lower-emission consumption habits, energy choices, and product use, Kärppä recalls.

Proper use of sauna heaters has a major impact on product lifespan, Alonen explains. Product lifespan is also reflected in emissions accounting. Harvia’s opportunities to influence customer behaviour are limited to instructions for use and guidance.

– Harvia sauna heaters have a long service life, typically around 8 to 10 years. That, however, requires that the product be correctly selected, properly maintained, and used appropriately. A good comparison would be car tyres. You can ruin them in a single day if you go out doing doughnuts in a parking lot, Alonen explains with a laugh.

Despite the challenges, Harvia’s long-term goal has remained clear, according to Alonen.

– The current calculation method is, quite frankly, a huge challenge. Still, the only option is to choose the best current view and move forward with it. We need to steer our operations in a new direction. There is no point in dwelling on the fact that not everything is within our control, says Alonen.

Towards net zero

According to Harvia, the greatest value of the project has been gaining a clear overall picture. As part of preparing the transition plan, the company was able to set a main target, map out the path toward net zero, and define shorter-term interim targets.

“For example, based on the transition plan, we set targets for our new sustainability programme to reduce our Scope 1 and 2 emissions by 60 percent compared with the 2021 base year. We also linked emissions reductions to management incentive schemes, which helped us connect our climate targets with higher-level strategic actions,” Alonen explains.

“Electricity production needs to become more sustainable globally. We are also developing innovations and looking for new energy sources. For example, last year we announced a new hydrogen-powered sauna concept. Now that we understand what our emissions consist of, we can target our actions more effectively,” she continues.

Kärppä, who led the project from Ecobio’s side, also supports this positive view of the outcome.

“The project ran smoothly, and we also gained a lot of new learning from the process of developing a transition plan. During just a few months of work, we saw how iterative the process is and how much it calls for fresh perspectives.”

In the end, a transition plan is the company’s own product, and it should reflect its maker. Kärppä also stresses the customer’s role and responsibility in the project. Ecobio acted as a facilitator of the discussion in Harvia’s case, but the client is always the best expert on its own operations and industry.

“In my view, the collaboration worked very well. I particularly liked that after the transition plan was completed, we were given time to review it carefully within our own team before discussing the results together with Ecobio and jointly refining the final adjustments” says Alonen.

Now that the project has been completed, Harvia’s journey in implementing the transition plan can truly begin. Sustainability has become a permanent part of the company’s strategy.

“We want sustainability to support our business. Preparing the transition plan helped advance this work and brought concreteness to the areas where we can make an impact,” Alonen concludes.

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