Solvay launches Solvay One Planet
February 26 2020 - 1:00AM
Solvay launches Solvay One Planet
Solvay launches Solvay One
PlanetTen goals focused on positively impacting
climate, resources and better life
Brussels, February 26, 2020 –
Solvay today announces a new 2030 sustainability program, Solvay
One Planet. An integral element of the Group’s G.R.O.W. strategy,
the plan is directly aligned with Solvay’s purpose of bonding
people, ideas and elements to reinvent progress.
The plan outlines ten ambitious targets to drive
progress across three key pillars: climate, resources and better
life. To meet these goals, Solvay pledges to reallocate investments
to promote sustainability within its portfolio, operations and
workplace.
“With Solvay One Planet, we are setting bolder
objectives to solve key environmental and societal challenges
through science and innovation,” says CEO Ilham Kadri. “Beyond
climate change, we will tackle resource scarcity and promote a
better life. Together with our customers, we will create
sustainable shared value for all. This is Progress Beyond.
This is G.R.O.W.”
Solvay One Planet is inspired by the United
Nations Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs). It includes ten
measurable commitments in three key focus areas, to be achieved by
2030:
Climate
- Lowering greenhouse gas emissions worldwide.
Solvay will double the rate at which it reduces emissions, with a
goal of curbing greenhouse gas emissions by 26% and aligning its
trajectory with the “well below 2°C temperature increase” goal
outlined in the 2015 Paris Agreement.
- Eliminating the use of coal. Solvay will not
build new coal-powered plants and commits to phase out coal usage
in energy production wherever renewable alternatives exist.
- Reducing pressure on biodiversity. Solvay
plans to reduce its pressure by 30% on biodiversity in areas such
as terrestrial acidification, water eutrophication and marine
ecotoxicity.
Resources
- Increasing water use efficiency.
Solvay will diminish its impact on freshwater withdrawal by
reducing its intake of freshwater by 25%.
- Accelerating the circular economy. Solvay will
leverage its partnership with the Ellen MacArthur Foundation to
more than double the sales of products based on renewable or
recycled resources to 15% of Group sales.
- Increasing waste recovery. The Group will
reduce by a third its non-recoverable industrial waste, such as
landfill and incineration without energy recovery.
- Leveraging innovation to grow sustainable
solutions. Solvay will upgrade its sustainable portfolio
to reach 65% of Group sales, in collaboration with the Solar
Impulse Foundation.
Better
Life
- Prioritizing safety. Solvay targets
a zero accident policy, to protect the safety and security of its
employees.
- Embedding inclusion and diversity. Solvay will
work to achieve gender parity for mid- and senior-level management
by 2035. Solvay’s code of business integrity paves the way towards
an inclusive work environment that welcomes diversity of any kind
such as thoughts, race, color, national origin, religion, gender
identity or sexual orientation.
- Extending maternity and paternity leave.
Solvay is adapting its global policy of 14 weeks maternity leave to
16 weeks, extending it to co-parents employed by the company
regardless of gender, by 2021.
Furthermore, Solvay is also walking the talk by
taking concrete actions internally in the three focus areas:
- Climate: Solvay will start switching to
electric or hybrid company cars as of 2021.
- Resources: A new “Stop Office Waste” plan
includes phasing out single-use plastic, generating almost zero
food waste at canteens, and aiming to become a paperless
company.
- Better life: Solvay is establishing a “Better
Life Observatory” with managerial training to support work-life
integration.
“I am convinced that clean technologies can
accomplish impossible goals," said Bertrand Piccard, Chairman of
the Solar Impulse Foundation. "With its ambitious sustainable
commitments, Solvay is showing that solutions improving the quality
of life on earth and making our planet a better place for humans
already exist. The solutions labelled by the Solar Impulse
Foundation are proof of it. Science and research play an important
role to tackle the world’s environmental and health challenges and
I'm particularly happy that Solvay is leading the way.”
Ellen MacArthur, founder of the Ellen MacArthur
Foundation (EMF) promoting circular economy, commented: “With the
launch of its Solvay One Planet plan, the company is sending a
strong signal to the chemical industry and its value chain that the
circular economy is happening – and that Solvay wants to lead the
way. Its plans to double turnover from renewable resources from 7
to 15% is an important first step on the journey. We are also
pleased to see that Solvay will be measuring its progress on
circular economy transition by using the EMF circularity
measurement tool, Circulytics. We encourage other businesses to do
the same.”
The Group will report progress against these
initiatives annually in its integrated report. More information
about Solvay’s new sustainability goals can be found here.
- 2020-02-26 PR Solvay One Planet_EN
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