When ESG efforts are crushed along with the mussels

Stora Enso is one of the big forest companies, a merger between Finnish and Swedish giants. Actually, Stora Enso calls itself a renewable materials company: “Our commitment to renewability is not only about our raw material. It is also linked to resource traceability and responsibility, production and material efficiency, logistics, and supply chain.”

Last week, it became evident how crucial, and apparently difficult, it is to control one’s subcontractors. In Kainuu, in northern Finland, a forest harvester destroyed endangered freshwater pearl mussels Margaritifera margaritifera, which are key species for biodiversity and can live up to 200 years. The harvester not only crushed the mussels in Hukkajoki stream but also muddied the water, making it difficult to live for them.

River pearl mussels were one of the protagonists in the Finlandia-awarded novel by Anni Kytömäki. Many book lovers learned for the first time about these amazing creatures that filter and clean the water in rivers, providing ecosystem services, as we like to say. The novel also described an event very similar to what happened in Hukkajoki.

In Kainuu, the logging itself was not illegal. Authorities had given instructions on how to protect the mussels: the river should not be crossed with big machines, and a zone around the river should not be logged. However, the machine crossed the river hundreds of times.

No good news for a forest company at a time when views on the sustainability of Finnish forest management are very polarized. There is particularly large controversy around harvesting methods.

Quite interestingly, both the book and the Hukkajoki case are linked to women’s bodies. Kytömäki’s protagonist living in 1950s cannot have an abortion despite severe issues with her pregnancy. In Suomussalmi, a biologist who had participated in mussel inventories happened to come to the spot when the devastation was taking place. When she told the driver that he absolutely should stop crossing the river, he sexually harrassed her.

Unless every subcontractor follows the laws and policies, the ESG remains just as good as greenwashing. The case of Hukkajoki makes one wonder whether even normal good manners should be part of the deal. Perhaps reading books might be helpful in improving human behaviour.