Leadership at AkzoNobel recently announced that the company has already achieved its 2030 ambition of halving carbon emissions in its own operations. Validated by the Science Based Targets initiative, the company set the target in 2020 to lower its Scope 1 and 2 emissions by 50%, using 2018 as a baseline. Reaching it four years ahead of schedule highlights how strongly sustainability has become part of day-to-day business, illustrating a strong determination to lead by example, company leaders say.
“We set out a clear vision to become carbon neutral by 2050 and we’re very proud to have taken an important step towards realizing that goal,” says Wijnand Bruinsma, AkzoNobel’s director of sustainability. “As a leader in the global paints and coatings industry, we also aim to be recognized for our leadership in sustainability – and that’s not going to stop. Because it’s all about leading by example; managing carbon emission reduction in our own operations so we can convince the value chain to do the same.”
AkzoNobel officials say the company is currently operating on 100% renewable electricity in North America, Latin America and Europe, covering 69% of its manufacturing sites. The full switch over was also recently completed in South Africa and Vietnam. In total, 92 of the company’s locations now use 100% renewable electricity.
According to those company officials, one of the most important contributions to achieving the 2030 Scope 1 ambition has come from the Pilawa site in Poland, where a recent €1.7 million ($1.9 USD) investment was made to replace the facility’s gas boilers with heat pumps. The site is also home to the company’s largest solar energy plant in Europe. The installation has been operational since 2024 and features 3,551 solar panels.
“We’re not just focused on our own operations,” says Bruinsma. “We also have a 2030 ambition to halve carbon emissions across our full value chain. That’s proving to be more of a challenge, but we’re making progress and will continue to innovate with suppliers, customers and other partners as we step up our efforts around Scope 3.”