Our performance

We're committed to reducing our impact on the planet and delivering more sustainable products and solutions to our customers. But we can only do this if sustainability is at the heart of everything we do. That's why we've integrated sustainability into every area of our business - for the benefit of our clients, shareholders, employees and the world around us.

Managing Sustainability

Over the last years sustainability has become firmly anchored in our regular business processes. Sustainability is fully integrated in our Strategy and Management Tools. We have defined special Focus Area’s where we want to make a step change to become a true sustainability leader. Major business opportunities can be unlocked by applying sustainability thinking across the complete Value Chain, from Raw Material Extraction to disposal or recycling of end products. Of course excellence in operations, supported by robust Health, Safety, Environment and Security Management is a fundamental building block of our sustainability framework. Throughout AkzoNobel Functional Chemicals, we foster the same social values, reflecting the way in which we conduct our business and develop our employees. Our Stakeholder Engagement reflects the complexity of today’s society, ranging from partnerships with NGO’s to carrying out Community Service projects in emerging countries. We foster transparency, therefore we put high value on an open and trustworthy communication with stakeholders through Reporting and Verification.

Talent management

Developing our people is one of our top priorities. We aim to hire the best talent and continually improve our people’s skills. To do this, we invest in building and maintaining our Talent Factory.

Carbon strategy

Energy efficiency and zero/low-carbon energy consumption are key performance indicators for us. Overall, we have a low carbon energy mix for our power, with 73 percent coming from zero- or low-carbon energy sources. In addition, there’s an increasing demand from our customers for products that reduce their carbon footprint – a new opportunity for our business. Our carbon strategy will be reviewed in 2008.

Creating value from eco-efficient solutions

Around 18 percent of our turnover comes from products that contribute to above-average eco-efficient solutions. This is thanks to better use of raw materials, manufacturing processes and product innovation. These products also help create new business opportunities for us – and our customers. Our aim is to increase the share of products contributing to eco-efficient solutions to at least 22 percent of turnover by 2009, and 30 percent by 2015.

Sustainable supply chains

Over 80 percent of all our suppliers of raw materials had signed our Vendor Policy – covering €4 billion of product-related spend. This policy deals with relevant environmental, social and governance (ESG) issues. We’ve also set up a program of visits to key suppliers to encourage dialog on ESG benefits and build better partnerships.