Eastman Launches 2030 ESG Goals Addressing Climate, Circularity, Social Inequity
Global chemical and specialty materials company Eastman announced today a series of new 2030 sustainability goals, along with the publication of the company’s 2020 sustainability report. According to Eastman, the company’s sustainability initiatives aim to address three key areas, including climate change, the plastic waste crisis and social inequities.
Mark Costa, Eastman Board Chair and CEO, said:
“Through process, systems and material innovations, we can create solutions that help to solve the climate and plastic waste crises while introducing products to market to care for an ever-growing population. We think of it as innovating for A Better Circle.”
The company’s new sustainability commitments align with the three focus areas. In order to address climate change, Eastman has committed to reduce absolute greenhouse gas (GHG) scope 1+2 emissions by one-third by 2030, on the road to carbon neutrality by 2050, and to innovate to provide products that enable energy savings and GHG emissions reductions down our value chains and at the consumer level. In terms of circularity, Eastman set 2030 targets to recycle more than 500 million pounds of plastic waste annually via molecular recycling technologies, and to catalyze improvement of the recycling system by continuing to expand capabilities to recycle more complex products and by participating in initiatives and collaborations to drive increased collection. On the social equity front, the company set 2030 goals to achieve gender parity in alignment with commitment to Paradigm for Parity, be a leader for racial equity within its industry, and to drive new product innovations that advance solutions for society’s most pressing needs while ensuring product safety and transparency.
Costa added:
“Our sustainability strategy builds on the progress we achieved in pursuit of our previous targets. We have gained crucial insights into how sustainability paired with innovation will drive our transformation to a specialty materials company, and we are committed to advancing both environmental and social practices across our corporation and within our communities, reporting our progress annually.”