Jun 19, 2023 - 5 mins
Accelerating the shift to more sustainability
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Why is shift important?
The need to transform our society and adopt responsible lifestyle touches virtually every industry and every citizen in the world.
Richard Jenkins, Senior Vice President, Arkema Coating Solutions: The need for sustainability impacts every aspect of our society. In the last decade, “climate change” or “circular economy” were not common terms. Now, they are in the news every day. The need to transform our society and adopt responsible lifestyle touches virtually every industry and every citizen in the world. We have to collectively adapt to this new paradigm by adopting a holistic approach including the social, environmental and economic dimensions.
Hélène Pernot, Coating Solutions Sustainable Offer Manager: The coatings value chain – from the raw material through to the finished products – has to adapt to these new expectations. Everything we do has the potential to significantly change our world. How we design our products, what they are made from, how they are used and how they are able to be reused matters. Our expertise in materials science is continuously focused on developing solutions to meet the sustainability challenges faced by the markets and our customers.
How can we change?
To change our impact on the world, we have to adapt the materials and processes we use.
Hélène: To change our impact on the world, we have to adapt the materials and processes we use. And, we need to do it together. A transformation is possible only if all industry players collaborate. We have to move as one toward safer solutions for people and the planet, lowering the carbon footprint across the value chain and enabling circular practices to preserve resources.
What are we doing to get there?
Richard: Arkema is committed on its whole supply chain to align with the 1.5°C trajectory set by the Paris Agreement on Greenhouse Gas (GHG) and to transition 65% of our sales to meet the UN Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs) by 2030. In the coatings industry, our teams are continuously focusing on three areas - designing and producing more sustainable performance materials; supporting the transition to more sustainable technologies (decarbonization, responsible manufacturing, etc.); and fostering the emergence of new markets driven by mega trends to enable the shift toward more sustainable uses, such as home efficiency, living comfort or electric mobility.