Outokumpu pioneers data-driven green value creation using Microsoft Intelligent Data Platform

“We have set a very clear goal for ourselves. We want to achieve something remarkable.”

Heidi Peltonen, Vice President of Sustainability at Outokumpu, is speaking about the groundbreaking sustainability leadership Outokumpu has undertaken over the years and the key role that data and AI will continue to play as part of it.

The Finnish steel manufacturer is a global leader in stainless steel production. And steel, while perhaps an overlooked commodity by many, is everywhere. It accounts for 10% of global greenhouse gas emissions. But where many see it as a challenge to achieve their environmental goals, Outokumpu saw it as an opportunity for positive transformation in their value chain. Today, the company has up to 75% lower carbon footprint compared to the industry average.

“At Outokumpu, we have taken transparency in sustainability to the next level by becoming the first stainless steel producer to provide a product-specific carbon footprint to our customers,” says Peltonen. “And we are looking into how we can best utilize Microsoft Intelligent Data Platform to help us achieve these goals."

A pioneering partnership

With around 8,500 employees in over 30 countries, Outokumpu is the only company in the world that handles the full process chain for producing stainless steel—from mining chrome ore and smelting ferrochrome to melting, casting, and rolling stainless steel.

“The essence of our company's strategy is to be a leader in sustainability in our industry. We want to offer lower emission solutions, including lower emission stainless steel, to our customers, and help them to achieve their climate targets,” says Peltonen.

In a business landscape where stakeholders are making both sustainability and business performance a key focus, investments in data and AI capabilities for sustainability are now also investments in ensuring growth.

That’s what led Outokumpu, in recent times, to Microsoft and its enablement training program designed to help leaders explore how advanced analytics and AI can help generate green value. 

Led in partnership with PwC and University of Oxford, the Microsoft Enablement Program on “AI Data-driven green value creation” has so far reached leaders from 1,369 customers and partner organizations training them to “speak the same language” on how data and AI can help unlock a positive business case for sustainability.

The goal is to empower sustainability professionals to become more data-savvy and data scientists to become more sustainability-savvy—a skillset that is going to be indispensable as the future of sustainability shifts towards AI data-driven green value creation. That's exactly what Outokumpu has achieved. 

“There is no green without data—sustainability data is essential in drafting green value propositions and supporting customers in reducing their climate impact. The training program was also an amazing way to showcase how partnerships between science and the private sector can really drive the transition forward,” says Peltonen.

Converting the program’s learnings into opportunities

In partnership with Microsoft, Outokumpu has since been looking into ways to use expertise gained in the program, as well as technology and data, to drive efficiencies and create even more value.

Among them is the adoption of Microsoft Sustainability Manager and Sustainability Data Solutions in Fabric to improve their reporting. Previously, the company had several manual steps in its sustainability reporting by extracting the reports and inputting the data again. It was a laborious and inefficient process prone to error.

At the time there was also a huge push for Outokumpu to raise its sustainability reporting to the level required by the Corporate Sustainability Reporting Directive (CSRD).

“For us, it is crucial that we are able to lead our sustainability with data,” says Peltonen. “And that also applies to the technological solutions and platforms that we chose.”

Outokumpu knew Microsoft was the ideal enabling platform to help them execute their vision.

So they decided to implement Microsoft’s Intelligent Data platform including Microsoft Fabric and Microsoft Sustainability Manager to accelerate their data collection, goal management, and CSRD reporting.

Elevating sustainability standards

“We don't look at sustainability as something aside from the strategy. We very much want to embed it into value creation and at the core of our value proposition,” says Peltonen.

Outokumpu has an ambitious science-based climate target aligned with the 1.5°C ambition. With Microsoft’s support, the company aims to utilize data even further in the future to drive decarbonization forward in its value chain.

For example, Outokumpu Circle Green®, a low-emission product line that empowers its customers to reach zero carbon footprint, has up to 93% lower carbon footprint compared to the global industry average.

The company also believes that advanced data analytics and AI has the potential to assist them with optimizing raw material needs and energy consumption, as well as shorten processes.

Paving the path in even more green value creation

“We are already planning the next steps in using Microsoft’s platform to accelerate green value creation with sustainability data,” says Peltonen. “We are also planning how Outokumpu could use Microsoft's generative AI solutions in ESG use cases.”

Microsoft and Outokumpu have led the way in envisioning the potential that green value creation can have for businesses.

“With AI, it is possible to find new business models that contribute to sustainability goals and also have a positive commercial impact by unlocking cost savings and profitable growth,” according to The Longevity Key for Business published by PwC Germany, Microsoft, University of Oxford’s Environmental Change Institute, and Smith School of Enterprise and the Environment. Outokumpu believes that Data and AI turbocharges sustainable business transformation. By 2030, Outokumpu aims to further reduce emissions by 42% per ton of stainless steel.

“We have a dual role: on the one hand, the steel industry accounts for 10% of global greenhouse gas emissions. At the same time, our role in the value chain means we are able to support customers to reduce carbon emissions by over 10 million tons annually with the lowest carbon footprint in the industry,” says Peltonen.

Together, Outokumpu and Microsoft are redefining what’s possible for creating green value with data and what that means for the bottom line.

Microsoft’s Enablement Training Program has equipped Outokumpu and thousands of other business leaders in paving a path to achieving more data-driven green value creation going forward.