Senate Group’s 2023 – significant savings and emission reductions

Senate Group, which is responsible for government premises, has published its Corporate Social Responsibility Report for 2023. The report is a comprehensive description of 2023 for the Group’s unincorporated state enterprises, Senate Properties and Defence Properties.

Changes in the security situation, increased volume of operations, permanently increased remote and hybrid working, rising energy prices, accelerated inflation and a sharp slowdown in real estate transactions coloured Senate Group’s year 2023. In a climate of tighter central government finances, it also became topical to seek new ways to improve productivity and curb facility premises costs.

During the year under review, the focus of Senate’s work was on measures related to preparedness and energy efficiency, promoting the shared use of facilities, responsible procurement, major investments and striving for carbon-neutral premises by 2035. Social responsibility is the cornerstone of all Senate’s operations.

Highlights in 2023

• Emissions from the use of state-owned properties have decreased significantly. Senate Properties and Defence Properties Finland have reduced direct and indirect emissions from purchased energy by 80% and 56% compared to the 2020 base level.
• We continued the Energy Saving Programme launched in autumn 2022. By the end of 2023, 100 GWh of energy had been saved, which corresponds to the annual consumption of approximately 12,000 one-bedroom apartments and €12 million.
• We invested a total of €657 million, an exceptionally high amount. We built premises especially for the use of the security authorities.
• We launched a Procurement Development Programme aimed at improving procurement productivity, especially by increasing a willingness to tender. The Development Programme helped us to reach savings of around €23 million.
• We updated the contingency and preparedness strategies of both unincorporated state enterprises at the beginning of the year. During the year, measures against cyber and hybrid influencing and Finland’s NATO membership were particularly highlighted in preparedness.
• We agreed with our clients on the implementation of 279 work environment solution projects. The projects will deliver more than €18 million annual savings in the premises costs of government clients. The goal is that by the end of the decade, a quarter of government employees would work in facilities shared by government agencies and institutions.
• Our customer satisfaction was at a good level, with 75% of clients satisfied with our premises. We invested in energy efficiency in our premises and utilised solutions for increasingly smarter energy use identified in the Energy Saving Programme. Our clients consider energy efficiency targets important and are committed to joint measures to increase efficiency.
• The overall satisfaction of our employees improved compared to the previous year. The result entitles us to use the Most Inspiring Workplaces label for the fourth year in a row.

Senate Group’s Corporate Social Responsibility Report, which is also our annual report, has been published (in Finnish) at https://testi-e2c55b704894.senaatti.fi/yhteiskuntavastuuraportti-2023/.

The Report provides a comprehensive overview of our operations in 2023 from the perspectives of economic, social and environmental responsibility. Senate Group’s 22nd Corporate Social Responsibility Report has been prepared in accordance with the GRI standard, and the numerical material in the report has been verified by a third party. We also report in accordance with the UN’s Sustainable Development Goals, from which we have selected five key goals and sub-goals for our activities.

Senate Group is an internal government service unit and an unincorporated state enterprise group under the Ministry of Finance which provides premises and related services centrally for central government administration. Senate Group consists of Senate Properties and Defence Properties Finland. Senate Properties is tasked with acting as the work environment and facilities specialist of the Finnish government. Defence Properties started operations on 1 January 2021 as a subsidiary unincorporated state enterprise of Senate Properties and focuses the properties, functions and services serving the Finnish Defence Administration.