Clariant Has Published Its Sustainability Report for The 2013 Financial Year

Clariant, a world leader in specialty chemicals, has published its sustainability report for the 2013 financial year.

The report focuses on long-term value creation for internal and external stakeholders and the progress made over the year in the sustainable development of the company.

Highlights:
-Continuous improvement in sustainability work
-More products addressing the global megatrends
-Application of the new standards of the Global Reporting Initiative (GRI 4)

“The strategic importance of sustainability is undisputed. As part of the global economy, society and environment, we want to generate long-term value and provide benefits for all our stakeholders”, says CEO Hariolf Kottmann.

The fact that the company was last year included in the Dow Jones Sustainability Index (DJSI Europe) was one indicator of the continuous improvements made in the field of sustainability. Another milestone was the signing of the UN Global Compact. This United Nations Initiative commits signatories to bringing their business activities in line with recognised principles covering human rights, employment standards, environmental protection and fighting corruption.

By continuing to cut energy consumption (-26% since 2005), CO2 emissions (-53%), water consumption (- 28%), waste water (-38%), waste (-40%) and direct and indirect greenhouse gas emissions (-23% since 2007), Clariant has made great progress towards its environmental goals.

The sustainability report was written in line with the recently published global standard of the Global Reporting Initiative (GRI 4). The new standard shifts the focus even further towards the major sustainability issues, which helps to further improve the transparency of sustainability reporting.

Numerous examples included in the report highlight the diversity of Clariant’s sustainable solutions. Clariant offers innovative products at all levels of sustainability – economic, ecological and social – which create long-term value and help achieve sustainable growth. In 2013, for example, 29 products, displaying particularly sustainable characteristics over their entire life cycles, were labelled as EcoTain.

Last year Clariant introduced its Portfolio Value Program to define measures which further improve the sustainability of the company. The program will contribute towards even more products being developed for global megatrends such as environmental protection, urbanisation, resources and energy.