Five CDP AAAs: business action for climate and nature

For the fifth year running, Firmenich has been awarded a triple “A” rating by CDP , widely recognized as the gold standard of corporate environmental transparency.?Of 15,000 companies globally that submitted data to CDP, just 12 companies worldwide achieved a triple “A” listing for climate change, water and forests in 2022.

Everyone at Firmenich is very proud of the 2022 rating itself - we are one of only two companies worldwide to achieve five consecutive years of triple “A “ratings. Furthermore, we are now the only one in our industry with a triple “A”. ?Above all, I am very grateful for, and always inspired by, the enduring passion and consistent focus of my 11,000 colleagues on effective action for the environment, staying true to our values through the recent global challenges.

Furthermore, we achieved record financial results in FY2022. Sustainability and good business are synonymous: our journey demonstrates that businesses can drive urgently needed change for the planet.

Strength of purpose

To gain such sustained external recognition of our ESG performance and ambitions is rewarding for the business.?CDP’s annual environmental disclosure and scoring process is well respected and influential.?In 2022, more than 680 investors with over US$ 130 trillion in assets and 280 major purchasers with US$ 6.4 trillion in procurement spend requested companies to disclose data on environmental impacts, risks, and opportunities through CDP’s platform. Furthermore, it’s a dynamic assessment, the bar is raised higher every year.

COP27 showed that transformational change is vital if we are to limit warming to 1.5°C. As Maxfield Weiss, CDP’s Executive Director Europe, underlined, with the EU’s new reporting regulation, the CSRD, now agreed, CDP A List companies are showing they are ahead of the game – taking clear action to reduce emissions and to address environmental impacts throughout their value chains.

As a purpose-driven responsible business with an eye on the long-term, sustainability has been a core part of Firmenich’s fundamental values for decades. Guided by the UN Sustainable Development Goals, we embed our ESG strategy for climate, nature, and people at the heart of our growth, making it an effective part of our business DNA.?

Measurable results

They say ”what gets measured, gets done” – and as you can read in our ESG Report, we are an ambitious company in terms of targets and achieving them! Firmenich aims to achieve absolute carbon emissions reduction by 2030 in line with limiting temperature rise to 1.5?C, as well as net-zero emissions by 2039 across its direct operations and value chain.

Our net-zero targets to combat climate change were validated by the Science-Based Targets initiative (SBTi) in August 2022, making Firmenich the first company in its industry to receive SBTi approval. Setting measurable and science-based targets is crucial to future-proofing sustainable business growth while stabilizing our planet and climate system for generations to come. That’s also why we have been working closely with other stakeholders to build global benchmarks for biodiversity and Science-Based Targets for Nature.

Only joint action can rise to the scale of these challenges.?Our early membership of the Business Ambition for 1.5°C coalition has demonstrated the value of working together in reinforcing and expanding commitments on climate action: alongside more than 600 companies now, we committed to a net-zero carbon future by no later than 2050.?

We succeeded in decoupling our growth from our CO2 emissions. In our audited ESG Report 2022, we reported substantial reductions in Scope 1 and 2 emissions (by 36.1% vs. 2017); while three manufacturing sites, in Norway, Singapore and South Africa, became carbon neutral, operating without the use of offsets. We have maintained 100% renewable electricity in operations worldwide since we achieved that threshold ahead of target in 2020.

And in terms of other external validations of our progress on sustainability overall, we retain a Sustainalytics score of 7.5, ranking 51st of approximately 15,500 companies worldwide, that highlights our Group's low ESG risk profile. ?

We realize it is a journey. We are glad to have a head start and have always been keen to learn from others, and we will continue doing so. We are also dedicating time to sharing our journey and experience in this space with our suppliers so that, together, we can make a bigger difference.

This is no time for us to rest on our laurels.?We are committed to do more to mitigate climate change and reverse biodiversity loss. We will continue to play our part and we are determined to keep on driving ahead for our people, communities, and our planet.