Fragrance and taste company Firmenich announced the launch of its new ESG strategy, including 2030 carbon positive and water neutral targets.

Firmenich’s sustainability strategy is focused on the key areas of ‘acting on climate change,’ ‘embracing nature,’ and ‘caring for people.’

Berangère Magarinos Ruchat, Chief Sustainability Officer, Firmenich, said:

“The UN Sustainable Development Goals (SDG) are embedded throughout our business, providing us all with a clear vision of the transformation we will achieve within a decade. We remain firmly committed to science-based targets and measurable, independently-verified action to achieve these ambitious goals on our way to a positive-impact future.”

The company reached the milestone of powering operations globally with 100% renewable electricity in February 2020, and achieved 45% Scope 1 and 2 CO2 emissions reductions since 2015, despite increasing manufacturing output. Going forward, Firmenich has set new climate goals including becoming carbon neutral in its direct operations by 2025, and carbon positive by 2030, water neutral in its operations in water-stressed areas by 2030, and recycling or reusing 100% of plastic waste by 2030.

“Embracing nature” includes initiatives to protect biodiversity and encourage regenerative agriculture. Firmenich has committed to having all of its produced fragrances be renewable, using 99% partially or ultimately biodegradable ingredients in its fragrance portfolio, and having 100% of its nature program reporting against science-based targets by 2030. The company also committed to lead the global diet transformation with green proteins, contributing to soil regeneration.

On the “caring about people” front, Firmenich stated that it is committed to reinforcing its actions to protect human rights, with new goals including a global living wage and ethnic pay equity certification, improving safety performance, creating 5,000 job opportunities by youth by 2030, and to reach 10% of differently-abled people in its workforce by 2030.