Climate and Nature

Our commitment to protecting the planet

At Syensqo we’re working hard to protect the planet and preserve natural resources. Through ingenuity and innovation, we’re advancing lower-emission solutions in lightweighting, electrification, green hydrogen, renewable materials, and other areas across the aerospace, automotive, battery, and electronic markets.

Our climate and nature focus also incorporates targets we’ve set ourselves as part of our One Planet roadmap. We’ve integrated these goals into Syensqo’s growth strategy, including targets that align with the Paris Agreement objective to limit global warming to 1.5° C above pre-industrial levels.

Our targets include reducing our own greenhouse gas emissions(scope 1 and scope 2) and emissions along our value chain (scope 3), for which we’re also pursuing  Science Based Targets initiative (SBTi) validation. Syensqo is dedicated to minimizing its environmental impact as we aim to achieve carbon neutrality by 2040¹.

Achieving carbon neutrality by 2040

Syensqo cares about our planet and is determined to protect it for generations to come. We know that as a society, we need to make big changes to achieve this, and we need to make them fast. As part of this, we're striving for a 40% reduction in our scope 1 and scope 2 emissions by 2030², an ambitious benchmark for the chemical industry.

Fifty percent of the target is already achieved through structural progress. For example, we are using 100% renewable electricity at our sites in China and in the US. Steps we are taking to further our energy transition toward more renewable sources include plans to decarbonize our Aroma Performance plant in Saint-Fons, France by 2026 with more than 95% of its energy coming from renewable sources. It involves installing a new biomass boiler and using solar electricity which will make it the first aroma performance plant in the world to be powered by renewable energy.

For scope 3 emissions, we're targeting a 23% reduction in upstream and downstream emissions by 2030 compared to 2021. As of early 2024, 50% of this target has already been achieved from structural actions. We’re doing this by managing our product portfolio, focusing on circularity, developing biomaterial, and working closely with our suppliers and customers, for example through Together For Sustainability Initiative. We’re also using the power of digitization and accepted best practices to calculate the carbon footprint of our products and take action to reduce it. And to move us closer towards our goal of achieving carbon neutrality by 2040, Syensqo uses an internal carbon price of €100 per ton of CO₂.

Moreover, Syensqo is participating in the Renewable Carbon Initiative, through our Renewable Materials and Biotechnology Growth Platform. Our aim? To decouple the petrochemical industry from fossil carbon, by using renewable carbon.

Another chapter in our Act for Climate agenda  is to accelerate providing solutions that are instrumental in the transition to a net-zero world³. Several of our products already play a key role in advancing electrification and the switch to renewable energy, such as our diverse portfolio of battery materials, offering innovative solutions for offering innovative solutions for electric vehicles. 

We want to push beyond with our green hydrogen platform which aims to accelerate the adoption of our ion-conducting polymer membrane technology and deliver breakthroughs that will propel the green hydrogen economy forward. A vivid illustration of our determination is our partnership with Climate Impulse, the world’s first long-range hydrogen-powered plane aiming to fly around the world non-stop in nine days, with Syensqo’s hydrogen technologies on-board.

Committing to reduce fresh water intake by 2030

Syensqo is committed to reducing its fresh water Intake by 20% on average by 2030, compared to 2021, at sites facing water availability challenges. This ambitious target equates to a reduction of over 7 million cubic meters of fresh water intake. To achieve this goal and mitigate impacts on water quality, the company will focus on 15 key sites, implementing comprehensive water stewardship plans. These plans will address both water quantity and quality-related risks and impacts, while supporting the company's growth objectives. Syensqo has already made notable progress, achieving a 12 million cubic meter decrease in fresh water intake in 2023 compared to 2021.

Preserving nature

Beside reducing Greenhouse Gas emissions along the value chain, Syensqo is actively focusing on how we can preserve nature. We are measuring water use, waste management, air pollution and water effluents.

We aim to reduce the negative impact of our operations on biodiversity. By tracking our impact on biodiversity from cradle-to-gate (i.e. from the raw materials extraction to our factory output gate), we are able to identify the areas of our product portfolio that put the most pressure on biodiversity, and focus our actions accordingly at our sites. Implementing One Planet roadmaps at our plants enable us to go further, and our Star Factory program today elevates our holistic environmental actions locally.

We do this by training employees, ensuring an open dialogue with local communities, establishing partnerships with relevant authorities, associations, and universities – and making sure our preservation and restoration activities have a positive impact. It is our aim for all our industrial sites to have biodiversity roadmaps by 2025, and we are also looking to get our sites’ engagement certified by recognized organizations.

Society’s transition towards a net-zero and nature-positive future will profoundly reshape the economy - and Syensqo is fully committed to play a pivotal role in this process.

Working with the Wildlife Habitat Council

We work closely with the Wildlife Habitat Council, an organization that provides ecological stewardship and conservation certification through partnerships and education. As an international conservation NGO, they help instill accountability across private sector.

^{1 For scope 1 and scope 2 emissions 
2 Compared to 2021 
3 Syensqo's target is to reduce emissions of the Focus 5 categories: (1) purchased goods and services and (2) fuel-and energy-related activities (both upstream); and (3) processing of sold products, (4) use of sold products and (5) end-of-life treatment of sold products (all downstream).}