Building on its industry leadership in environmental management, Firmenich has joined the Science Based Targets initiative, committing to reduce absolute Scope 1 and 2 CO2 emissions by 39% and Scope 3 emissions by 20% by 2030. Taking its ambitious 2020 environmental goals to the next level, the perfume and taste company is one of 149 companies worldwide to have approved science-based targets.
“I am proud that Firmenich is one of only 149 companies to have its goals approved by the Science Based Targets initiative,” said Gilbert Ghostine, CEO Firmenich. “These ambitious targets challenge us to work even harder to reduce our environmental footprint, while actively engaging with our suppliers and customers to reduce CO2 emissions through our supply chain.”
Cynthia Cummis, Director of Private Sector Climate Mitigation at World Resources Institute, one of the Science Based Targets initiative partners, added: “We congratulate Firmenich for committing to strong science-based targets, thus contributing to the global effort to keep global warming below the two-degree threshold set by the 2015 Paris Agreement. We are delighted that they are working closely with their suppliers to cut their greenhouse gas emissions (GHG) and thus accelerate climate mitigation.”
These goals complement Firmenich’s industry-leading 2020 environmental targets:
- 100% of electricity used in manufacturing sites from renewable sources or offset
- 20% reduction in absolute CO2 emissions
- 25% decrease of water use rate in water stressed areas
- Zero waste to landfill across our manufacturing sites
- 15% improvement in our waste efficiency rate
- Eliminate the use of ozone-depleting refrigerant gases at our manufacturing sites
Jane Sinclair, Head of Legal and Compliance and General Counsel added: “Firmenich is on a path to carbon neutrality and aims to solely rely on renewable electricity for our manufacturing sites by 2020. Today, 78% of our electricity globally comes from renewable sources or offsets, and in Europe all of our manufacturing sites solely rely on renewable electricity.”
Neil McFarlane, Senior VP Quality, Health, Safety, Security & Environment commented: “We look forward to working with the Science-Based Targets initiative and mobilizing our teams to make these ambitious targets a reality by 2030. To reduce our Scope 3 emissions, we are now engaging our own suppliers through CDP to disclose their climate change data and take action to set GHG targets.”
A collaboration between CDP, the United Nations Global Compact (UNGC), World Resources Institute (WRI), and the World Wide Fund for Nature (WWF), The Science Based Targets initiative champions science-based goals as a powerful way of boosting companies’ competitive advantage in the transition to a low-carbon economy. So far 497 companies are taking science-based climate action and 149 companies have approved science-based targets.
