Sustainability for the Company means delivering long-term value for all our stakeholders. It underpins AkzoNobel’s purpose and brands, it’s core principles and employee value proposition. It also act as the driver for growth, innovation and productivity. AkzoNobel focuses on resource productivity and value selling as key drivers of sustainability, with explicit goals.
Sustainability is at the heart of everything we do at AkzoNobel. It’s vital for the future success of our company, our society and our planet.
That’s why we’ve adopted a Planet Possible sustainability strategy. It’s our commitment to doing more with less and creating more value from fewer resources. By working together with all our customers and partners, we aim to make life more liveable, healthy and inspiring. With the world’s population growing – while the availability of resources is not – we need to think in new ways if we’re to meet customers’ growing needs and expectations, without compromising on quality.
So we continue to innovate, in many different ways. Recent examples include our Dulux Weathershield solar reflective paint, our Rediset additives that allow asphalt to be mixed at lower temperatures and our Intersleek marine coatings that help ships to reduce fuel consumption and cut emissions.
We’re also purchasing steam from a local waste incinerator in the Netherlands and have entered into a major partnership to explore the possibility of extracting chemicals from waste.
Increasing stakeholder value by delivering sustainable solutions to our customers is crucial for the success of our company. Sustainable business operations are a prerequisite for meeting our challenging targets.
In 2016, we issued a new Policy Statement on Health, Safety, Environment and Security, which is fully aligned with our commitment to meeting all of our stakeholders’ expectations in running a profitable and sustainable business, while at the same time meeting all of our commitments to society and the environment.
To help implement the Policy’s requirements we have a comprehensive HSE&S Management System – including Corporate Directives, Standards, Guidance Notes and Operational Management Systems at our Manufacturing Sites – in place.
Product Stewardship, the ongoing performance improvement of products in terms of safety, health and environmental impact is an important part of our Value Chain approach to sustainability. AkzoNobel’s Eco-premium solutions program, which focuses on the development of products with lower toxicity; improved energy efficiency; use of natural resources/ raw materials, reduced emissions waste, land use and risks (e.g. of accidents) is the logical next step in Product Stewardship.
