Contributing to the SDGs
Clariant is committed to contributing to the Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs) of the United Nations. These 17 goals outline a clear path to a more sustainable future and offer key business opportunities for the company.
Sustainable development and market potential
The SDGs provide a global framework for the most urgent societal and environmental necessities. The goals are defined in everyday language and offer a well-defined set of actions for all stakeholders. They are at the heart of the United Nations 2030 Agenda for Sustainable Development.
The business community recognizes the SDGs as a powerful way to foster innovation and growth. According to the Business & Sustainable Development Commission’s »Better Business, Better World« report, USD 12 trillion of additional market value could be generated by 2030 if the SDGs are achieved.
Clariant can contribute to the SDGs with its innovative and sustainable products and services, strong environmental management, and a commitment to respect and protect human rights across its own operations and the supply chain.
012CLARIANT’S PRIORITY SUSTAINABLE DEVELOPMENT GOALS
Evaluating Clariant’s impact on the SDGs
Clariant assessed both the positive and negative impacts of its products and services, operations, value chain, collaborations, and corporate citizenship activities to evaluate the impact of its business activities in relation to the 17 SDGs, including all 169 underlying targets and the corresponding indicators. All business units and several service units were involved in performing, reviewing, and validating this analysis.
While Clariant contributes in some respect to every SDG, six priority SDGs were identified. Four of these SDGs were paired, as their relevance to Clariant cannot be evaluated independently, as Figure 012 describes.
- SDG 3 »Good Health and Well-being« and SDG 12 »Responsible Consumption and Production«
- SDG 7 »Affordable and Clean Energy« and SDG 13 »Climate Action«
- SDG 9 »Industry, Innovation, and Infrastructure«
- SDG 17 »Partnerships for the Goals «
In addition to this list, certain business units also contribute to SDG 2 »Zero Hunger,« SDG 6 »Clean Water and Sanitation,« and SDG 15 »Life on Land.«
013 EXAMPLES OF CLARIANT’S ACTIVITIES AND PRODUCTS CONTRIBUTING TO THE SDGS
Clariant’s commitment to the SDGs shows in all aspects of the company’s activities and policies. To enhance sustainable transformation, the company is executing two programs, »Sustainable Operations« and »Sustainability-Driven Portfolio Change.« Thus, the portfolio comprises a constantly rising number of sustainable products and services. As sustainability can be achieved only by joint efforts, the company is engaged in several collaborations and partnerships. Clariant also works in special initiatives, e.g., the EcoCircle and the Renewable Carbon Initiative. All business units have ambitious targets and work intensively on reducing water, waste, and air emissions, as Clariant is striving for 2030 science-based climate targets. Clariant shows social responsibility by engaging in corporate citizenship activities and supporting its employees volunteering in sustainable projects.
014EXAMPLE FOR CORPORATE CITIZENSHIP ACTIVITIES
Q&A
Richard Haldimann
Chief Technology & Sustainability Officer
Member of the Executive Leadership Team
In the difficult macroeconomic environment, what role does sustainability play for a company like Clariant?
Despite the disruptions from COVID-19 and the war on Ukraine, the transition towards sustainability has accelerated. Broad policy measures are being implemented in major economies around the world. In the EU, we have the Green Deal. In the US, the IRA provides huge incentives for the reduction of greenhouse gas emissions and for the acceleration of new technologies that Clariant products enable. And in China, the 1+N policy system introduces measures to increase energy efficiency, accelerate the energy transition, and achieve carbon peak by 2030. So, all over the world, sustainability is rapidly becoming the license to operate. These trends provide a competitive advantage for frontrunners like Clariant. Also, having a sound sustainability program is becoming crucial for attracting top talent.
Can you illustrate how Clariant’s sustainability strategy creates meaningful impact for customers and the world?
Many of our solutions help customers to come up with more sustainable products. Just think about our low-carbon surfactants, our catalysts that reduce greenhouse gas emissions in the production process of our customers, our DEPAL-based flame retardants which are critical for modern electrical vehicles, or our additives that foster circularity. And with CliMate, we provide carbon footprint information for many Clariant products, which helps to accelerate the transformation to low-carbon value chains. These efforts are being recognized in the industry: In 2022, our sustainable innovations received numerous awards. These included the ACC Sustainable Leadership award, several BSB Innovation Awards, the ICIS Innovation Award, but also the Sustainable Packaging Award for the Personal Care packaging concept »Design4Circularity« that resulted from an industry collaboration. In addition to providing sustainability benefits for our customers, we reduce our own footprint: By 2030, we will lower our CO2 emissions by 40 % compared to 2019.
Is Clariant on track to achieve these climate targets?
Yes, we are seeing good progress. In 2022, we implemented various projects to reduce our direct emissions, and we are switching to low-carbon or even climate-neutral raw materials while also supporting efforts to decarbonize entire value chains. In absolute terms, we reduced our Scope 1 & 2 emissions by 10 % and our Scope 3 cat. 1 emissions by 5 %, each compared to 2019. I think this is a great achievement in a year where the business grew by 24 %. In other words, we are now really starting to see a decoupling of growth from our GHG emissions.