Progress against our DSM Responsible Care Plan

We made good progress on our environmental ambitions, as defined in our DSM Responsible Care Plan (DRCP). The DRCP defines our ambitions, targets and actions in the Planet-related fields of environmental footprint, value chain sustainability and climate adaptation. Our new 2022–2024 DRCP fully aligns with our updated strategy and reflects the industry’s standards and expectations. Key topics remain climate and safety, with other principal areas of focus being product stewardship, industrial hygiene, employee health & well-being, water and waste and biodiversity.

Our key targets are our Science Based Targets

The key targets in the DRCP are our Science Based Targets (SBT), which represent our contribution to climate change mitigation. In 2022, we again increased our ambition level based on our strong performance on greenhouse gas (GHG) emissions reductions and to reflect the latest scientific insights from the Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change (IPCC). Our SBT are an absolute reduction of GHG emissions from our operations (scope 1 + 2) by 59% (increased in 2022 from previous ambition of 50%) and a value chain (scope 3) intensity reduction of 28%, both by 2030 versus our 2016 baseline. These are also the foundation for our net-zero-by-2050 commitment. The independent Science Based Targets initiative (SBTi) reviewed and approved our targets and our plans to achieve them first in early 2019 and again for our step-ups in ambition in 2021 and 2022. Our scope 1 + 2 target has been determined to be in line with the latest climate science and in limiting global warming to 1.5°C.

Evolving our GHG targets to reflect the latest science

Our scope 1 + 2 target is supported by a renewable electricity target (100% of purchased electricity to be sourced from renewables by 2030, increased in 2022 from our previous ambition level of 75%) and our annual average energy efficiency improvement of at least 1% until 2030. A scope 1 + 2 reduction program drives progress, with multiple activities and projects year-on-year. The scope 3 target is supported by the CO2REDUCE supplier engagement program.

Besides mitigating climate change, we are also working on climate adaptation. In 2020–2021, we conducted physical risk assessments on our top 30 sites to improve the resilience of our assets against potential physical impacts of climate change. In 2022, we established and piloted a process in our Business Groups to identify and assess the potential impacts of the different speeds of transition to a net-zero world. We will expand and continue this work iteratively in the coming years. More information on our risk assessment is provided in Risk management.

Our other company targets are driving improvements in the areas of water, waste, other emissions and substances of concern. We will continue to implement the various water improvement plans that we identified during the water risk assessments in the past years. We commit to reduce our water intake in water-stressed areas. Furthermore, we continue to enhance our insights and capabilities to steer more circularity through waste reuse/recycling and we are further developing action plans for selected products containing substances of concern, with the aim to set a target in 2023. We regularly review progress on our plans and update our targets accordingly. Our target-setting process is underpinned by the plans and measures needed for their realization.

In 2022, we made good progress on the key objectives of the DRCP as reported elsewhere in this section. Additional information about our Planet performance is provided in the five-year summary – Sustainability tables, our Value creation model and Stakeholder engagement.

Main Targets

Sub-targets