Having a positive impact on society and the environment
Sustainability is in our DNA. 160 years ago, our founder Ernest Solvay reinvented the soda ash process, making it cleaner and more sustainable, while also championing social responsibility. We continue his legacy today by prioritizing sustainability in everything we do, from caring for people to driving our businesses and running our plants.
Not only is it beneficial to people as well as the environment, it also helps our business maintain its market-leading position. Our commitments include reaching carbon neutrality for Scope 1 and 2 by 2050 and improving the quality of life for our employees and communities.
Accelerating sustainability in our processes and solutions
In 2023, we made significant strides in making our processes and products more sustainable to meet the growing demand for environmentally friendly solutions. Here's what we've achieved:
- e.Solvay Technology: After investing €40 million over 30 years in our new, patented soda ash production technology, we're now testing it on an industrial scale with promising results.
- Eco-friendlier Tires: We've developed a patented process to produce bio-sourced silica from rice husk ash for eco-friendly tires, with production starting in 2025 at our Livorno plant in Italy.
- Rare Earth Magnets: Our expertise in rare earths laid the groundwork for a European supply chain for rare earth permanent magnets, partnering with Cyclic Materials and Hastings for use in automotive, wind energy, and electronics.
- Green Hydrogen Peroxide: In collaboration with Sapio, we're creating Europe's first hub for green hydrogen peroxide production at our Rosignano, Italy plant, set to be completed by 2026.
- Clean Energy Storage: Through our partnership with Corre Energy, we're repurposing our salt caverns to store renewable electricity, addressing energy intermittency in Europe.
Our key targets
Solvay is committed to enhancing sustainability across two main areas: Climate and Better Life. We regularly set and review targets for environmental and social initiatives and implement governance to ensure we achieve what we set out to do.
Our sustainability objectives include:
- Environmental initiatives: Taking steps to mitigate climate change by supporting the energy transition and drawing on process innovation to help us become carbon neutral by 2050.
- Social initiatives: Improving the health and welfare of our employees and communities around the world.
- Governance: Using a robust ethics and compliance framework – complete with suitable processes, competencies, and oversight – to integrate our sustainability commitments into our business and reporting.
2023 | 2021 | Progress | Targets | |
CLIMATE | ||||
Scope 1 & 2 GHG emissions | 7.3Mt | 9.0Mt | -19% | -30% by 2030 Carbon neutral by 2050 |
Scope 3 GHG emissions (Focus on 5 categories) | 12.4Mt | 14.7Mt | -16% | -20% by 2030 |
Coal phase out (where renewable alternatives exist) | 24.4 PJ | 27.2 PJ | -10% | Coal phase out by 2030 |
BETTER LIFE | ||||
Safety (RIIR) (Reportable injuries and Illnesses per 200,000 work hours) | 0.27 | 0.34 | -21% | Aim for zero |
Diversity (% of women in mid/senior management) | 26.30% | 28% | -1.7pts | Gender parity by 2035 |
UN Living wage initiative | New in 2023 | Pilot | Living wage for 100% of workforce by 2026 |
Climate
It’s our aim for Solvay to become fully carbon neutral by 2050. To reach this goal, we need to make significant reductions by 2030:
Reduce scope 1 and scope 2 carbon emissions from Solvay sites by 30%
Cut emissions across our value chain by 20% (compared to 2021).
To achieve this, we are investing to phase out thermal coal in our soda ash production sites by 2030, where renewable alternatives exist.
Nature
Solvay is focused on reducing its environmental footprint. We are prioritizing actions to cut greenhouse gas emissions and support biodiversity worldwide. We are implementing biodiversity action plans, improving waste management and prioritizing water stewardship. Discover how we're working to minimize our environmental impact and care for the natural world.
Better life
Solvay is committed to workplace safety, aiming for zero accidents as one of our Better Life objectives. We believe diverse teams are the strongest and aim for gender parity in mid and top management roles within 10 years. Additionally, we are committed to paying a living wage to all employees by 2026.
Successful close of Solvay One Planet*
Driving long-term sustainable growth
Our Sustainable Portfolio Management (SPM) tool helps us align our business strategy with sustainable practices – ensuring we make a positive contribution to the environment and society, while maintaining our profitability and competitiveness. Every year, we run SPM assessments to gauge the market’s understanding of the sustainability of our businesses. More than 80% of the company's revenue and future spending projects are included in these evaluations.
The STAR Factory program
Nearly 100% of our production sites have joined the Star Factory program which aims to radically transform our production sites, to improve their competitiveness and sustainability. Launched in 2021, the program involves creating a detailed 10-year sustainability roadmap for each plant, with short- and long-term goals. It addresses all aspects of the plants, such as safety, operational excellence, sustainability and employee engagement, with digitalization acting as a catalyst for change.
Independent ratings of our performance
In previous years, we have focused our action plans on addressing the common strengths and weaknesses identified by the ratings agencies. This allowed us to achieve results in the top quartile, and sometimes even the top ten.
We continue to take comments from ratings agencies very seriously. This includes addressing operational eco-efficiency, the need to reduce emissions while monitoring our impact on biodiversity and on the entire value chain. We have developed an ESG risk management approach for our supply chain, to address human rights and environmental impacts across our value chain, and we are implementing specific actions, among others, with our suppliers.
Solvay is making progress, earning a C+ grade with ChemScore, showing significant improvement over the past four years. We've improved in making our business more circular but still need to work on reducing hazardous substances. We are addressing this with extensive assessments like the life cycle assessments and intrinsic hazard evaluations and expect positive impact in 2024.
We are also performing gap analysis with the rating agencies to better understand our areas of improvement and to implement actions and initiatives accordingly.
Basics to start your ESG data analysis
ESG Policies
Solvay Code of Business Integrity
To foster a culture of integrity, we established a Code of Business Integrity under our Ethics & Compliance program. This applies to all Solvay employees and third parties, including suppliers. Our Speak Up service, an ethics and compliance hotline, allows employees to safely report or seek help for any inappropriate or unethical behavior.
Product sustainability and safety
The responsibility for the safety of the products Solvay provides to its customers is essential all along the life cycle of products, down to their end-of-life and recycling.
Safeguarding people and the environment
Solvay is committed to safeguard people, decrease our impact on the environment and ensure our product stewardship over its life cycle with a culture of continuous improvement. Click to view our Responsible Care Policy.
Responsible Sourcing, a global Procurement initiative
Before entering into a business relationship, we expect our suppliers to commit to all principles of our Supplier Code of Business Integrity.