ESG: 2023 ROUNDUP AND 2024 OUTLOOK

This is far from being the only performance indicator of importance to the group, which is conscious of its corporate social responsibility (CSR). In this article, we are proud to present our ESG (environmental, social and governance) approach and progress.   

Going above and beyond financial success

Sustainable development has been a key commitment for Safic-Alcan for several years now. In fact, we are commited to the United Nations Global Compact (UNGC) and Responsible Care initiatives, and see it as the driver of innovation within our growth strategy. 

Our ESG strategy contributes to four of the seventeen Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs) established by the United Nations. Made up of five pillars, it emphasises the role we play as a distributor to be the “durable link” between our partners, innovating responsibly together – in other words, integrating social and environmental responsibility into our work. 

Develop a sustainability-advantaged product portfolio

The adaptation of our portfolio is fuelling our growth and driving our future success, enabling us to provide our customers with innovative and responsible solutions. We are focusing our efforts on carefully selecting new partners and understanding the impact of our current portfolio. 

Deploy sustainability into our value chain

Our aim is to strengthen collaboration between all our partners to improve our products and solutions and foster clear and transparent communication. 

Contribute to circular operational practises

We want to work in a more environmentally responsible way. To this end, we have incorporated circular economy principles into our operational practices to lower our footprint, and that of our value chain. 

Pursue ethical business practises

Safic-Alcan is committed to carrying out all of our business activities in a sustainable and ethical manner, in accordance with the relevant laws and standards; and to ensuring responsible conduct throughout our value chain. 

Enhance our commitment to our people and culture 

To truly make a difference in our value chain, we need to call on our most valuable asset: our staff. We encourage responsible employment, focusing on health and wellbeing, trust and integrity. These principles form the foundation of our culture and enable us to attract and retain talented employees. We are also concentrating our efforts on ensuring our company culture remains human-centric.  

2023 highlights 

In the top 5% for ESG performance

Since 2014, Safic-Alcan implemented continuous evaluation of its ESG performance and has decided to deploy it at Group level. We use the EcoVadis rating method, which is widely used and recognised by both our suppliers and our customers. This method assesses environmental, working conditions and human rights, ethics practices and responsible procurement. 

The group completed its first assessment in 2023, achieving “Silver” recognition with a scoring of 66/100, which placed it in the top 5% of companies assessed by EcoVadis.  

Updated third-party code of conduct

Safic-Alcan had previously drawn up a code of conduct for third parties which laid out the requirements our partners must meet in order to work with us. In 2023, we updated this code and launched a communication campaign to remind our partners of the importance of respecting standards relating to human and labor rights, environment, and ethics principles, as well as of their commitment to sustainable development. 

A new tool for measuring our carbon footprint

A climate strategy was developed to track and reduce our greenhouse gas (GHG) emissions. We began with a group-level carbon assessment in 2022, which calculated our emissions for 2021. Then we implemented Toovalu, a tool designed to make it easier to collect data and measure our scope 1, 2 and 3 emissions. We established emissions reduction goals then created and launched an action plan that relates to scopes 1 and 2 and focuses on three aspects: mobility, electricity, and our buildings. 

Two new training programmes to improve our work

Anti-corruption 

Our code of conduct outlines our values and business ethics, which underpin our company culture. This year, as part of our ethical compliance programme, all our employees and managers received a refresher on these principles via a dedicated 30-minute training module. The training aimed to help our team understand the challenges involved in preventing and combating corruption, as well as the main obligations and penalties imposed by France’s “Sapin II” law. By the end of 2023, 95% of employees had completed the training, available from April 2023 on Safic’Academy, our new internal training platform for all employees.  

Information security 

All Safic-Alcan employees undergo information security policy and procedures training. This training programme covers cyber risks and basic security principles, including the safe use of systems and managing sensitive data. Staff can also benefit from additional training tailored to their roles, responsibilities and specific needs, on topics such as data security, password management, threat awareness and electronic communications security. 

2024: onwards and upwards

We are continuously striving to improve and meet the needs and expectations of our stakeholders. 

Reporting

With the EU Corporate Sustainability Reporting Directive (CSRD) now in effect, we are in the process of updating our materiality assessment process to integrate the principle of double materiality. It will be followed by the preparation of our reporting that will be published annually from 2026. 

Climate strategy

In order to help us contribute the objectives of the Paris Agreement, we will continue implementing our action plan relating to scopes 1 and 2. However, since our suppliers represent 94% of our scope 3 emissions, this year we will also start to work on an action plan focused on scope 3 and suppliers engagement.   

Social 

In order to engage employees and raise awareness to important issues, we launched in April 2023 our Safic’Academy, an internal training platform for all teams. Safic’Academy provides all employees with access to content designed to develop their scientific, technical and marketing skills.  

This has now been expanded to enable them to learn about sustainable development and our ESG policy. We are also going to launch an employee satisfaction and engagement survey. 

Governance

We will continue to roll out our third-party code of conduct to suppliers to ensure we are reinforcing our responsible procurement and compliance programmes. Meanwhile, our internal code of conduct will be updated to focus more on our people’s commitment to environmental protection. 

Product portfolio

As a distributor, we are ideally placed to act as the durable link between suppliers and customers, understanding the needs of consumers and the way that we can work together to innovate responsibly in our markets. 

Our challenge is therefore to better understand the products that we distribute and to communicate with our value chain to identify areas for improvement. But it is also our responsibility to carefully select new partners, ensuring they will meet the challenges of today and tomorrow.  

Collaboration throughout our value chain is key to successfully transforming our industries, and that can only happen with the commitment of each and every one of our partners. 

Find out more about responsible chemistry and our role as a distributor.