Nouryon, a global specialty chemicals company, published its fourth annual sustainability report themed, ‘Growing with Our Customers’, highlighting sustainability progress and milestones. The company’s sustainability strategy is centered on continuously improving its safety and environmental performance, growing and innovating sustainable solutions that address customers' needs, and engaging and partnering with employees, customers, and suppliers to drive sustainable progress.
Key 2022 highlights include:
- Nouryon introduced new eco-premium solutions: More than one-third of the company’s 2022 revenue was driven by Nouryon’s eco-premium solutions.
- Increased research and development (R&D) focus on solutions with sustainable benefits that meet growing customer needs: 77% of the company’s R&D product pipeline was focused on solutions with a sustainable benefit versus 69% in 2021.
- Nouryon established a GHG emission reduction roadmap: The report outlines tangible actions to achieve the company’s 2030 targets. Between 2019 and 2022, Nouryon decreased its total absolute Scopes 1 and 2 greenhouse gas (GHG) emissions by 1.3%. In 2022, 34% of the Company’s energy came from renewable sources such as hydro, wind, solar, biomass for power, and steam from waste biomass.
- Strong safety performance: Nouryon again achieved top-quartile safety performance. From 2018 to 2022, the company’s process safety incident rate (PSIR) was reduced by 79% and the company achieved a 12% reduction in the OSHA incident rate (OIR) for employees, temporary workers, and contractors.
- EcoVadis Platinum rating and Carbon Disclosure Project (CDP) Climate Change B score: Nouryon earned an EcoVadis Platinum rating, which places it in the top 1% of companies then rated by EcoVadis, the world’s largest provider of business sustainability ratings. In addition, Nouryon again voluntarily responded to the CDP Climate Change questionnaire which resulted in a B score.
- Partnerships and Engagement: Nouryon hosted its first-ever global month of service, with an emphasis on delivering science, technology, engineering, and mathematics (STEM) and safety education along with school supplies to underserved students and communities. Employee-led service projects were held at 24 locations across eight countries. The company also pledged donations to the International Committee of the Red Cross and Global Giving Ukraine Relief Fund and provided volunteer and financial support to the Philadelphia Eagles Autism Foundation.
“At Nouryon, our close attention to customer needs and societal trends, alongside our ability to translate these into business opportunities, has allowed us to earn a place among leading companies in our industry in terms of safety and sustainability,” said Charlie Shaver, Chairman and CEO of Nouryon. “This approach has consistently resulted in strong business performance and profitable growth. I am very proud of the solutions with sustainable benefits that we provide our customers, including some that were recognized with industry awards last year, as well as the overall contributions that Nouryon continues to make towards a sustainable future.”
“We continue to make progress on our sustainability priorities, and this is underscored in the report,” said Vivi Hollertt, Nouryon Chief Sustainability and Communications Officer. “In terms of continuously improving our environmental performance, we reduced our absolute Scopes 1 and 2 GHG emissions and we have several projects in the pipeline across all regions to help ensure we achieve our 2030 targets. We also continued to innovate for our customers, partner with our suppliers, and engage with our communities around the world. I am energized by how much we have been able to achieve in just a few years as a company.”
Nouryon recently announced that it had joined Together for Sustainability, a global initiative of 47 chemical companies committed to raising sustainability standards throughout the chemical industry. More information on the company’s sustainability progress can be found in the full report, the ESG data sheet and dedicated Sustainability section of the company website.