Clariant carries out corporate citizenship activities ("CCA") with a regional and global approach. This allows to consider the specific needs of the community and region Clariant is operating in and how can best deploy activities also considering specific business needs. All regional CCA are executed according to objectives and strategies at the regional level which are well established and developed. In 2014, Clariant started to implement an adaption of the regional CCA approach into a group-wide CCA governance and strategy framework. The implementation objective follows the principle of a central CCA governance and strategy, with decentralized/regional execution of CCA. It considers global, regional and local outreaches.

Clariant does not focus company commitment on individual showcase projects, but is actively committed to the common good in each and every location in which the Group operates, acting with corporate responsibility in all its activities. Clariant supported numerous charity projects in 2016, especially in the vicinity of the various production sites.

Clariant established a globally binding policy for Corporate Citizenship Activities (CAA) in 2014 to unify control of non-profit activities in order to centrally record all public interest expenditures. Clariant annually spends a single-digit-million amount for this type of expenditure, in which approximately half is used for sponsorships, and about a quarter each is used for charitable donations and for local infrastructure. The CCA policy promotes Group-wide transparency with regard to donations (contributions, sponsorship, or other expenditures) to charitable causes. Simultaneously, compliance risks are systematically reviewed by an appropriate process step in the CCA approach.

Besides the commitments in the area of promotion of scientific domains, voluntary services form an important contribution of Clariant’s strive for social cooperation. These activities are expanded with donations to charities with sustainable orientation, for example, in the areas of training, culture, or environment. Examples of local engagement include:

  • In 2014, Clariant China launched a program to promote school education with the title HOPES (Healthy, Open-minded, Positive, Explorative and Sustainable). HOPES, which also has social purposes, focuses on cities where Clariant is located. The first partnership agreement was made with an elementary school in Zhenjiang. The project includes donations of books and faculty activities, but also the support of extracurricular activities and scholarships to students whose parents cannot afford to pay the school fees. The lessons in language, science, music, creative crafts and sustainability are held by volunteer instructors from the Clariant workforce.
  • Donation to neighboring communities in Japan: to create further relationship and trust with neighbors, and to engage with children and mind of art, Clariant donated to kindergarten and nurseries in the vicinity of Shizuoka plant.
  • At the Suzano location in Brazil, since 2010, Clariant has supported the project “The music won” (A Música Venceu) for children’s musical education. The project was developed in cooperation with the Bachiana Foundation, an initiative of the well-known Brazilian conductor, João Carlos Martins. As part of the project, more than 100 children and adolescents have been trained in classical instruments like the violin, cello, viola, and percussion instruments, as well as in singing. The project is not only of great significance for students in their education, the imparting of cultural values to them, and their personal development; it also has a positive influence on their families, classmates and the immediate neighborhood.