Azelis advancing on sustainability targets while intensifying formulation work, notes report

11 Aug 2021 --- Azelis, a service provider in the specialty chemicals and food ingredients industry, has published its 2020 sustainability report, demonstrating progress against its ambition to innovate and advance in sustainability. The report showcases Azelis’ environmental, social, and governance (ESG) commitments and reinforces its ambitions to become a leading sustainable solutions and services provider.

Azelis sustainability strategy, Action 2025, is built upon four pillars: People, Products and Innovation, Governance and Environment. The company was awarded a Platinum rating by EcoVadis, the highest distinction in the supplier sustainability rating scheme, recognizing its sustainability commitments.

Reducing carbon emissions
Azelis is also committed to a carbon intensity reduction target of 25 percent by 2025 and 50 percent by 2030. Furthermore, the company has set targets of using 100 percent of electricity in its offices and sites from renewable sources and decarbonization in its operations and supply chain.

Azelis also launched its “SpeakUp! Policy” and “SpeakUp! Line”, which are available to employees and any third-party stakeholder for reporting malpractices. This ensures a culture where employees are encouraged to speak up in a safe environment and not feel victimized or retaliated against. 

Products and innovation
Azelis also continued with identifying sustainable products and intensified sustainable formulation work, specifically focusing on products that minimize or eliminate the use and generation of hazardous substances. 

Progress was also made on the sustainable sourcing due to diligence procedure in 2020, notes the company. This was reinforced by Azelis’ membership to “Together for Sustainability,” a joint initiative and global network of 31 chemical companies, which delivers the de facto international standard for environmental, social and governance. 

Azelis’ sustainability journey started in 2015 when the company defined the fundamentals of its sustainability program, following the Paris Agreement on climate change and the release of the 2030 Agenda for Sustainable Development by the United Nations. 

The program consists of four pillars, each with goals and KPIs, based on the United Nations Global Compact (UN GC) initiative, ISO 26000 and the Global Reporting Initiative (GRI). Within each pillar, Azelis also contributes to several United Nations Sustainable Development Goals (UNSDGs). 

Success despite COVID-19 turmoil 
“Perhaps the most important lesson of 2020 was that we cannot and must not continue as before the COVID-19 pandemic. It is the responsibility of all of us, as businesses, as consumers, as human beings, to act more sustainably and responsibly,” says Dr. Hans Joachim Müller, Azelis CEO.

“Despite the turmoil 2020 brought, it has been yet another pivotal year of progress for Azelis. More than ever, sustainability is a driver of innovation for Azelis and innovation is a driver of sustainability. Across all market segments, our formulation experts are helping customers reduce their environmental impact by developing innovations that minimize or eliminate the use and generation of hazardous substances,” he says.

“They are also creating formulations and practices that deliver enhanced performance while protecting human health and the environment. Our innovations catalyze sustainability in the market segments we serve and their value chains and will help realize concepts such as the circular economy.”

Azelis has identified digitalization, innovation and sustainability as its growth drivers to further its sustainability goals. 

Edited by Gaynor Selby