Essentra PLC has become one of the first companies of its kind in the FTSE250 to publish a Climate Transition Plan since new rules were published on how listed companies had to report in accordance with the Transition Plan Taskforce.
The plan sets outs Essentra's net-zero emissions reduction targets, and its approach to reducing Greenhouse Gas (GHG) emissions from its operations and value chain. The plan contains the actions, owners, timelines and anticipated costs to make the transition to net-zero.
A key element of the plan is the transition to the use of 100% renewable energy across all of its sites, worldwide by the end of 2030, and a target that 50% of the polymers used in the manufacture of new products will be sustainable by 2030, rising to 100% for its general protection and security seals ranges.
This will be helped by the continued investment into its Centre of Excellence at its UK site which is enabling the trial of innovative materials with lower emissions and improved environmental impacts. It has a longer-term ambition to publish the precise carbon impact of every component within its product range - data it can currently calculate in response to a direct customer request.
Such has been the dramatic rise in requests for this data (from six in 2023 to 80 already this year), the business is now looking at how the relevant carbon data can be published on its website for all 45,000 of its products.
The publication of the Climate Transition Plan coincides with the launch of Essentra's 2023 Annual Report that shows that the business has reduced its scope one and scope two emissions by an impressive 38% since 2019. It also reveals that 94% of all solid waste was diverted from landfill across all operations - an 18% improvement on its performance in 2022. Almost 8,000 (7,981) products across its entire range now have sustainability attributes, of which 750 have been launched within the last 12 months.
Jennifer Spence, ESG Director at Essentra PLC, says that 2023 proved a year of significant progress for the business across all areas of environment, social and governance (ESG): "In our first year as a pure-play components business, we have been able to sharpen our focus on the ESG topics that will drive us towards our goal of building a sustainable future," she says.
"Our purpose is to help customers build a sustainable future. With our unique business model combining manufacturing and distribution, we are ideally placed to provide a low-carbon service to our customers from design to delivery, and support them through a low-carbon transition."