Climate change
We’re taking action to limit climate change. In our value chain, we’re aiming to halve our carbon emissions. We’re also developing solutions to help our customers reduce their carbon footprint.
Carbon emission reduction
Own operations (baseline 2018, absolute)
Carbon emission reduction value chain
Scope 3 emissions, selected Scope 3 upstream and downstream (baseline 2018, absolute)
Renewable electricity
(of total electricity used in own operations)
Energy reduction (baseline 2018, relative)
We’re aware that climate change could affect our operations, our supply chain and our customers. So, in 2017, we committed to becoming a carbon-neutral company by 2050. In 2021, we announced an ambitious target of reducing carbon emissions across our full value chain by 50% by 2030, taking 2018 as our baseline.
These ambitions are aligned with the Paris Agreement – which aims to limit climate change and ensure the global temperature doesn’t rise more than 1.5˚C above pre-industrial levels – and are approved by the Science Based Targets initiative (SBTi).
For our own operations, we’re moving to renewable electricity and reducing our overall energy consumption. Across our value chain, we engage with our suppliers and develop sustainable solutions that help our customers reduce their carbon footprint. In addition, we’re exposed to risks and opportunities that follow from climate change, which we detail in this section.
Our carbon footprint explained
- Scope 3 upstream: the processes required to produce the materials we use in our products contribute 46% to our total footprint. Engaging with our suppliers is one of our main priorities in reducing this part of our carbon footprint
- Scope 1 and 2: the production of our products contributes 2% to our total carbon footprint, which is within our direct control
- Scope 3 downstream: the application and curing of our coatings accounts for 30% of our total carbon footprint, mainly due to coatings cured at elevated temperatures. VOC emissions make up 11% of our total footprint. We added this category to our SBTi commitment as VOCs are an important emission factor for the paints and coatings industry
- Scope 3 downstream: end-of-life emissions relate to the carbon in our products which is released at the end of their lifecycle, accounting for 11% of carbon emissions
The carbon footprint in our value chain
% contribution to carbon footprint
2022 sustainable solutions for climate change
Many sustainable solutions that help our customers lower their carbon footprint were launched during 2022.
Energy efficiency – new low-curing powder coatings in the agriculture, construction and equipment market segment help our customers reduce energy consumption.
Reduced solvent emissions – we continued switching wood care and trim paints to water-based technology, which is making up more than half of our volume in Decorative Paints EMEA in 2022.
Circular solutions – we scaled up the use of bio-based renewable raw materials in our wood finishes for the furniture market.
The total amount of greenhouse gas (GHG) emissions caused during a defined period of a product’s lifecycle. It is expressed in terms of the amount of carbon dioxide equivalents CO2(e) emitted. Greenhouse gases include CO2, CO, CH4, N2O and HFCs, which have a global warming impact. We also include the impact of VOCs in our targets.
Volatile organic compounds.
The total amount of greenhouse gas (GHG) emissions caused during a defined period of a product’s lifecycle. It is expressed in terms of the amount of carbon dioxide equivalents CO2(e) emitted. Greenhouse gases include CO2, CO, CH4, N2O and HFCs, which have a global warming impact. We also include the impact of VOCs in our targets.
Europe, Middle East and Africa.