Green factory - towards carbon neutral production

Climate change and its management is the most significant challenge facing in our society. The Finnish government has set a goal for a carbon-neutral Finland by 2035. The technology industry has published a low-carbon roadmap towards this goal. The means of the emission reduction mostly relate to important competitive factor in the international market. Achieving an international competitive advantage requires a joint project between Finnish companies and research institutes.

The GREEF co-innovation project involves Aalto University, The University of Oulu, VTT Technical Research Centre of Finland, and six Finnish companies of different sizes. The project will help companies reduce the environmental impact of their operations and products and accelerate them towards their low-carbon and export growth targets. The project covers a number of green industry themes that apply to each company. While companies focus on their most relevant themes, the GREEF research ecosystem increases the impact on the consortium and the industry as a whole. The project combines industrial and scientific research in the best possible way. The results provide best practices and models for 1) sustainable branding in the industrial market 2) energy efficient production control and supply chain, 3) the suitability and environmental impact of metal AM methods as a manufacturing method. The project will also create a calculate for estimating companies' carbon footprint. The emerging know-how enables better identification of the environmental impact of the manufacturing industry and significant changes in operations and products that improve sustainability and competiviness.