How to be an industry leader in sustainability
Maria Almenar , group sustainability and SHEQ director of Azelis , explains how the company ’ s sustainability strategy has been key to obtaining the top ESG ranking in the industry
Azelis is a major innovation service provider in the speciality chemicals and food ingredients industry . As such , sustainability is essential to the company ; it is one of our three core business growth drivers , together with innovation and digitalisation . For us , sustainability is not only essential to building a resilient , successful and responsible business , but also to creating a positive and widespread impact on the environment and communities around the world .
Rankings & ratings
In August 2022 , Azelis obtained the highest environmental and social governance ( ESG ) ranking among a peer list of 178 international traders and distributors from Morningstar Sustainalytics , an ESG research , ratings and data firm that helps investors to develop and implement responsible investment strategies . This places the firm in the top fifth percentile of more than 14,500 companies worldwide .
The assessment confirms our performance across a broad range of ESG metrics and considers the Azelis Group to be at low risk of experiencing material financial impact from ESG factors . It also validates the company ’ s rigorous approach in measuring sustainability performance .
Also in 2021 , Azelis was the first global speciality chemicals distributor to receive a platinum rating with a score of 77 from EcoVadis , a provider of sustainability ratings that tests and rates the performance of companies in the areas of environmental protection , labour and human rights , ethics and sustainable procurement . This places it in the top 1 % of all 75,000 companies assessed by EcoVadis .
Key to obtaining these rankings was our sustainability strategy , ‘ Action 2025 ’. This is built upon four main pillars : people , products and innovation , governance and environment . To measure sustainability performance we employ the same approach as in measuring our financial performance . We work with an independent auditor to ensure consistency and integrity of our sustainability reporting , on the basis of set targets and key performance indicators ( KPIs ) defined for all four pillars .
Four pillars
With regard to people , it is our goal to be recognised as a global employer of choice for our industry , so employee attraction , development
and retention , diversity and inclusion , and working conditions are core KPIs for this pillar .
For diversity and inclusion in particular , we work together with our independent auditor to sustain ISAE 3000 limited assurance of the proportion of senior management positions held by women . In 2021 , this percentage was 23.5 %, only 6.5 % away from our 2025 target .
In terms of products and innovation , Azelis seeks to provide sustainable and innovative speciality chemicals and food ingredients that minimise or even eliminate the use and generation of hazardous substances and product carbon footprints . Our products and ingredients are meant to help reduce the environmental impact of our customers ’ businesses .
We have , for instance , developed several vegan products for the food and nutrition market , notably a vegan brioche and burger , and a pea protein shake . We also offer cleansing tablets for the personal care market that require no water and minimal packaging .
46 SPECIALITY CHEMICALS MAGAZINE ESTABLISHED 1981