Can you give us an update on recent developments at Together for Sustainability (TfS) over the last few years?

Firstly, we have made significant progress in further globalizing our organization and extending our membership. Although our roots are in Europe, we now have 10 member companies headquartered in the USA, one headquartered in the Middle East, and four headquartered in Asia. Moreover, these member companies already have large global footprints of their own. In turn, this allows us to globalize our internal structures and organization such that we can cover sustainability across the whole supply chain.

Secondly, we have progressed from our historical auditing and assessment activities, which have provided us with crucial data over the years. We have been applying the knowledge we have gained over the years to make actionable changes. In other words, we have pivoted from focusing on transparency to now focusing on results. For example, we have made significant investments in training and development initiatives, especially with our new TfS Academy. The Academy is free of charge for all our members and suppliers, and we are looking to develop it even further. We have over 300 courses in 10 different languages to ensure we cater to the global nature of this industry and its supply chain. 

What are some of the advantages of operating as a joint collection of companies? 

Our ‘member-driven’ approach is quite unique, and there are clear advantages in the sense of ownership; we are mainly staffed by volunteers who are simultaneously employees of the member companies. It also enables us to bring many industry experts together and allows information and knowledge to be shared very easily between members. As the saying goes, “If you want to go fast, go alone; but if you want to go far, go together.” This applies to us in the sense that although it may sometimes be possible for an individual company to act rapidly on its own, it will often struggle to get far in its sustainability efforts if the rest of the industry, and supply chain, is not following suit. 

What are the main challenges the chemical industry faces on its journey toward sustainability?

The main challenge is getting the massive global industry to work together, across different industries and the whole value chain. Tackling Scope 3 emissions is a crucial issue for the chemical industry as emissions occur all along the supply chain, not just at the top with final product manufacturers. Even if a company’s own emissions might be well under control, they may still use supplies that have huge carbon footprints. This is a serious issue the chemical industry has to face; Scope 3 emissions account for around 70% on average and can be as large as 90% of the total emission of a company in some cases. Isolated activities will not yield results, we need a global, coordinated approach to move the needle and reduce emissions. In many cases, chemical manufacturers have good standards and procedures in place to accurately track their Scope 1 and 2 emissions but lack accurate data and fall behind when it comes to Scope 3 emissions. This is where we start - ultimately, we need CO2 emissions to not only be accurately recorded but significantly reduced along the entire value chain. 

Can you outline your goals and strategy for the coming years?

We want to continue growing our membership, particularly with members who fit with our strategic vision and ethos around the sharing of knowledge and engaging with suppliers on sustainability improvements. We also want to push forward with our Greenhouse Gas Scope 3 program while continuing our programs of sustainability improvements and related training.

The framework is there, and our Product Carbon Footprint Guideline has been published so we know how we want to calculate emissions. We are running a pilot program around data collection and transfer between our members, some of whom are also suppliers to other members. Soon, we will expand this program to other suppliers across the wider chemical industry value chain. 

The next step is to move from data collection to taking steps to reduce emissions but to do that we need good data. We cannot simply look at averages across an entire industry, we need specific and accurate data so buyers can know the exact carbon footprint of products supplied across the whole supply chain. This way we can encourage suppliers to compete on their carbon emissions, not just their prices and products. We hope this will lead to them adopting more sustainable processes, using more sustainably sourced raw materials, and using a cleaner energy mix.