Responsibility – success for the common good

We will continue our responsible journey as a successful Finnish company that has kept society moving for almost 160 years. Responsibility is a key part of our company’s strategy and a uniting theme of our business operations and growth areas. We want to be a pioneer of responsible business and set an example, as a company, for others.

We are Getting there together for a better world, in accordance with our vision. Which means that we are aiming for the top. At the same time, we are increasing our impact and doing our best to help our customers and society as a whole to achieve their sustainable development goals. This is possible, since travelling by train and other forms of public transport is growing increasingly popular and, correspondingly, more and more industry tonnes are travelling on railways.

Climate friendly on the tracks

Rail transport has an essential role in curbing climate change. Rail transport produces lower emissions and consumes less energy than other modes of transport. Thanks to our efforts, Finland’s emissions have decreased by the amount two cities the size of Vaasa would produce.

Even though travelling by train is carbon-neutral and VR trains already are the greenest option, we are committed to doing even more for the environment. To us, responsibility means not only operating in an environmentally sustainable way but also working over the long term to improve traffic and occupational safety and to ensure a good employee experience.

We believe that everyone wins when conducting a responsible business. In addition to responsibility being valuable to us on its own, it is also action based on values and justified from the business point of view. Often, efficiency and environmental friendliness go hand in hand. In turn, good employee experience shows in the customer experience and finally in the company’s results. In addition, responsibility opens new business opportunities for us and gives us a head start in comparison to others.

Focus on sustainable development

According to Finland's government programme, all state-owned companies must base their operations on corporate social responsibility. We take the financial, social and environmental impacts of our operations into account in our decision-making. As a company, we are committed to the Finnish Government’s ambitious objectives for cutting emissions, according to which Finland will be carbon-neutral by 2035 and carbon-negative soon after.

Our responsibility efforts are also based on the UN Sustainable Development Goals, of which we have identified the six most central to us. They are related to the climate efforts and sustainable cities and communities. Central matters also include the objectives for worthwhile work and economic growth, cooperation and partnership and decreasing inequality. We are also investing in sustainable industry, innovation and infrastructure.

Everyday acts of responsibility

Our annually updated responsibility programme brings together the work being done at our Group for the good of people, the environment and society as a whole. It creates a structure within our company for undertaking responsibility efforts. For our company, the key areas of responsibility are safety, customer orientation, employee experience, environmental responsibility and corporate social responsibility. These themes were selected by listening to our stakeholders. For our key areas, our responsibility programme includes targets as well as related responsibility promises which extend to 2030.

We will fulfil these promises with concrete responsibility actions, which will be taken across all of our business units. The idea is that we examine all of our day-to-day choices and decisions consistently from the perspective of responsibility. Every day, every VR employee makes responsibility a reality within their own role.