Sustainability

Sustainability is an integral part of our purpose to Transform Tomorrow Together. It's our ambition to become a sustainability leader, working in partnership with our customers, suppliers and local communities to create positive change.

We are committed to playing our part in looking after the environment and protecting it from significant issues such as climate change. We do this not only by improving the footprint of our own operations, such as reducing the emissions from our manufacturing facilities, but also by providing solutions to customers to help them manufacture more with less, and to deal with the shift to a more sustainable world.

To deliver long-term value in a world of increasingly scarce resources, we need to minimise the impact our business has on the environment and the communities in which we operate.

Our commitment to Net Zero

One of the most important ways in which we can have an impact is by reducing our emissions. In November 2021, we committed to a Net Zero 2050 target which will be validated and monitored by the SBTi (Science Based Target initiative), an international body that defines and promotes best practice in emissions reductions and Net Zero targets in line with climate science.

• Scopes 1 and 2 emissions to be reduced by 90% by 2028 compared to our 2019/20 baseline
• An initial target date for 90% reduction in Scope 3 emissions by 2050
• Quantification of Scope 3 emissions by March 2023 to allow a more ambitious Net Zero target date to be set for Scope 3 emissions
  

UN Sustainable Development Goals

We realise that becoming a sustainable business requires a lot more than achieving Net Zero emissions. That's why we've also assessed the UN's Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs) and identified three that are most relevant to our business, and where we believe we can make the greatest impact.

Helping our customers

We know our customers value the way in which our products reduce waste and improve efficiency. We also know that they want to understand the product's environmental performance. That's why we're undertaking a series of life cycle assessments (LCAs) on a mixture of popular and new products. This will help us understand and quantify their environmental impact, so that we can share this with our customers.

Lowering our emissions

In December 2020 we introduced our new Group policy for purchasing electricity, requiring all our Group companies to only use electricity from 100% certified renewable sources. This means that when existing contracts expire, we will move to renewable electricity. We are looking at ways to further speed up this move to renewable electricity, including self-generation, and recently added solar panels to our buildings in Dublin, Ireland, and Apodaca, Mexico. To keep making progress, we're also developing new sustainable travel principles, to embed sustainability in everyday business decisions.

Minimising our waste

We are focused on ensuring our product and transit packaging has the lowest impact possible. We recognise a significant proportion of our waste is created from our manufacturing processes. Our new Design for Circularity forum is working with our manufacturing waste champions to continue looking at ways to minimise the amount of waste we generate, while maximising options to reuse, recycle and compost.

Looking ahead

As we work towards our Net Zero target, we will ensure that our people understand what we are doing and how they can support this. We will also be engaging with suppliers and customers on reducing emissions, as part of our commitment to quantify Scope 3 emissions by March 2023.