Organization
Sustainability is both our core value and the backbone of our whole organization. Sustainability has the attention of the entire Managing Board, with Feike Sijbesma, Chairman of the Managing Board, as the primary focal point. Sustainability at DSM is organized in a network supported by the Corporate Sustainable Development department under the responsibility of the Company Secretary, who reports directly to the Chairman of the Managing Board. The sustainability champions working in our businesses are supported by the Corporate Sustainable Development Department, which reports directly to Feike Sijbesma, the Chairman of the Managing Board.
Furthermore, members of the Managing Board chair different sustainability-related projects and areas, such as DSM’s partnership with the World Food Programme (Stephan Tanda), Diversity (Feike Sijbesma), Base of the Pyramid (Feike Sijbesma) and SHE (Safety, Health and Environment) (Nico Gerardu).
In addition to the Corporate Sustainable Development department, we have a dedicated Corporate Operations & Responsible Care department. It is among other things responsible for all corporate SHE issues. Sustainability champions in all business groups and the DSM Innovation Center and SHE managers at business group level support line management. The DSM SHE Council, which is composed of all business group SHE managers, plays an important role in sharing experiences and developing practices and communications regarding SHE issues. In this way we have integrated and strengthened the functional network approach to sustainability, which focuses on sustainability performance, with a business approach focusing on sustainability as a business driver.
Creating sustainable excellence
The key focus of our DSM Innovation Center is sustainable, long-term innovative growth. The center contains a dedicated ‘Business Incubator’ focusing on climate change-induced innovation and cradle-to-cradle solutions.
Our LCA Competence Center ensures a standardized approach to Life Cycle Assessments throughout DSM. This enables us to improve the various environmental impacts of a product throughout its entire life cycle.
Developing and monitoring sustainability
DSM is committed to the need to formulate, develop, implement, monitor and report on its social and environmental policies. To make this process even better, the DSM Supervisory Board installed a Corporate Social Responsibility (CSR) Committee in 2009. The committee, consisting of all members of the Supervisory Board with Mrs. P. van der Meer Mohr as Chair, supervises the Managing Board on sustainability matters.
