Through the Eyes of a Pioneer: 3 Watershed Moments in the Story of Renewable Fuels

December 23, 2021

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by Tero Ikäheimonen (Neste) Pekka Tuovinen, retired Senior Advisor on Sustainability, saw firsthand Neste’s transformation from a regional oil refining company to a global leader in renewable fuels. Here Tuovinen lists three moments that he considers groundbreaking not only to his career but to Neste and the industry around it.

1) From an oil agency to a modern listed company

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In 1969, Neste had established an environmental protection unit, which had since been managed by an experienced civil engineer Airi Laiho. Laiho was looking for a new environmental protection manager, which was the position Tuovinen was applying for.

At the end of the job interview, Laiho presented Tuovinen with a chance to pose questions. Tuovinen wanted to know just one thing: would the job require him to act against his conscience?

“Airi’s answer was a firm ‘no’,” Tuovinen reminisces in his Helsinki home, 30 years later. “That is something I have held on to.”

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His 30-year-long career ended as he retired in the fall of 2021. During his career, he witnessed Neste’s transformation from a regional oil refinery to a global pioneer in renewable fuels and circular solutions.

As Tuovinen describes it, Neste was still viewed as a “major polluter” in 1991.

Around the same time, Neste’s transformation journey took a major leap forward.

In the fall of 1991, a new sulfur facility opened at the Porvoo refinery, which reduced the refinery’s environmental impact significantly.

However, the biggest change was in the attitudes inside the company. Tuovinen emphasizes that not everything can be solved through investments and technologies alone. The ideals of sustainability should encompass the entire organization, from its operating principles to the working culture.

“They used to call upon the environmental protection unit for opinions only when it was necessary. That attitude started to change during the 90s,” Tuovinen says.

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2) Neste becomes Neste again but with a new direction
Neste’s story as part of Fortum ended in 2005, as the oil business once more separated into its own company. The company enlisted on the stock exchange as Neste Oil.

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Behind the scenes, Neste was preparing to make a bold decision that would change the course of the company for decades to come.

Tuovinen gets excited as he remembers those moments 15 years ago.

“I was sitting on the same floor with Risto Rinne, Neste’s CEO at the time. Risto used to often think aloud whether we were in the right line of business to begin with. He thought hard about the future and the fact that we should have a bio component in our production.”

As it happened, Neste already had one.

In 1996, Neste had secured a patent for refining biomaterial. Back then, the renewable fuel market was so small that the interesting invention was left on the shelf, biding its time.

And that time was at hand.

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Neste made a decision with long-lasting consequences: the future of the company would be in renewable products.

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3) To a global pioneer of renewable products
Tuovinen explains that the transition to renewable products was not an instant success. For the first years, the operations ran at a net loss, and there were a lot of doubters.

“We thought customers would come banging on our door, as our product was extremely good. However, that was not the case.”

Tuovinen is thankful for the state-owner’s patience. Tuominen suspects that an owner seeking quick profits might have pulled the plug already in the beginning.

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Neste drove sustainable palm oil production by pushing for the creation of industry standards and product traceability.

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However, the regional environmental impacts of palm oil production had negative publicity, and Neste was forced to explain the actions of many of its palm oil suppliers.

This was a source of frustration for Tuovinen.

“For the entire time, we were trying to establish that we pay for traceability and certified products and that we wanted to set an example. After 15 years, it seems that people are slowly starting to come around, as the words still hold true.”

Neste’s engineers continued the quest for sustainable fuel sources and developed purification technology for utilizing any natural waste oils, such as used cooking oils from restaurants, in the production of renewable fuels. This led to a drastic increase in the variety of raw and waste materials that could be turned into fuel.

Production of renewable diesel fuel was started in Porvoo, and Neste opened refineries producing renewable products in Singapore in 2010 and in Rotterdam, Netherlands in 2011. Today, Neste is the largest producer of renewable diesel and sustainable aviation fuel in the world.

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Neste seeks to be a global leader in renewable and circular solutions and circular economy solutions. READ MORE

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