Lumene takes a giant leap towards reducing emissions with renewable fuel oil

The challenge Lumene wanted to solve

Lumene develops and produces its beauty products locally in the city of Espoo, which is part of the Helsinki Metropolitan Area. Since Lumene uses light fuel oil in the production of process steam, the company decided to seek a more climate friendly way to power their manufacturing.

Solution

Local manufacturing is a crucial part of Lumene’s brand.

“Just as we believe in northern ingredients in our products, we also believe in keeping our production local. Since the product research and development, factory and office employees are all under one roof here in Finland, we are able to control our production on a day-to-day level from research and development to packaging. It helps us be transparent about our operations”, says Kristina Enqvist, who runs the factory as the production director.

The company has taken significant action to meet the objective of reducing factory emissions. Lumene has used hydroelectric power in its factory since 2009, and in 2020, decided to convert to renewable raw materials-based district heating.

After taking initial successful steps towards sustainability, Lumene decided to take a closer look at the factory’s operations and see how to further improve.

”Instead of simply offsetting greenhouse gas emissions, we wanted to do something tangible. We examined the sources of our emissions and what we could do to create as much true impact as possible,“ Enqvist says.

The company discovered that the light fuel oil used to generate steam for the machines attributed to almost 10% of the company’s factory emissions in 2019. Prompted by the discovery, Lumene accelerated efforts to find an alternative fuel supplier.

Luckily, they didn’t have to search very far as Neste had provided Lumene with fuel oil for years. As it happened, Neste was about to launch a new product that could replace the traditional fossil fuel oil. In fact, since the beginning of 2021 - as the first company in Finland - Neste introduced Neste MY Non Road Diesel™, a fuel oil produced from 100% waste and residues.

The new renewable product will enable companies to reduce their own greenhouse gas emissions by up to 90%* over the product life cycle compared to fossil fuel oil. Moreover, it contributes to Finland’s goal of becoming carbon neutral by 2035 and helps to achieve emission reductions in the machinery and heating sector.

At the end of last year, Lumene decided to continue their cooperation with Neste, and in the end, it was an easy decision.

“We were lucky that last year our own venture coincided with Neste’s pilot program which meant that we were able to jump on board very quickly. It was a great opportunity for us to enhance our sustainability goals in a very short period of time!,” Kristina Enqvist says.

Lumene was aware that changing from fossil fuel oil to a renewable one would add some costs.

“We had already made the conscious decision that finding a concrete solution for lowering our factory emissions is important, so we were prepared to move forward,” she added.

“Lumene is dedicated to being the pioneer in the field, so we are confident to make necessary changes, and we believe that pursuing our sustainability goals in a bold manner will be an investment for the future.”

Results

After the first delivery of the new oil it looks like a smooth transition.

By changing to a renewable fuel oil, Lumene is firmly on the path towards significant reduction in emissions. The company will also continue to evaluate emissions from logistics, raw materials, packaging and waste. Sustainability efforts are advancing in other areas as well. For example, Lumene’s operations are based on the principles of the circular economy.

“Half of our various Nordic ingredients are developed from food or forest industry side streams,” Enqvist says.

Lumene is also pursuing to make their packaging more environmentally sustainable with an intention to use 80% recycled plastic or plastic made from renewable resources, instead of using raw material made from crude oil.

For Lumene, working together with Neste has once again crystallized an important lesson.

“Sustainable actions cannot be achieved alone. The best solutions are made in cooperation with others. These partnerships make our work possible,” Enqvist states.

*) The methodology for calculating life cycle emissions and emissions reduction is in line with the European Union’s renewable energy directive (2009/28/EC).