Ask-the-Expert: How is dsm-firmenich driving sustainable change this Earth Day 2024?

Summary

• The Earth Day organization is the world’s largest environmental movement, working with more than 150,000 partners in over 192 countries to drive positive action for the future health of our planet. To celebrate Earth Day 2024, we’re taking a closer look at what sustainability means at dsm-firmenich and how we’re contributing to this initiative.
• We sat down with Nelleke Barning, our Vice President and Global head of Sustainability for the Health, Nutrition & Care business, to explore how we’re working to create what is essential for life, desirable for consumers and more sustainable for the planet. 
• Delve into this inspiring conversation to discover how dsm-firmenich is driving sustainable change by reducing its environmental impact, addressing global nutritional challenges and helping customers keep up with rising consumer demand for sustainable products. 

To celebrate Earth Day 2024 (April 22^nd), we are taking a deep dive into what sustainability really means to dsm-firmenich. Since the very first Earth Day, over 50 years ago, the global celebration has turned into an impactful movement, bringing together more than one billion people who want to protect the planet.¹

Today, Earth Day is recognized as the world’s largest annual civic event, where people worldwide carry out activities such as cleaning rivers, planting trees, and advocating for environmental education. However, as society becomes more environmentally aware, it puts mounting pressure on companies to demonstrate that they’re taking sustainability seriously too. 

Within this climate of heightened accountability, dsm-firmenich is transparent about the bold steps it is taking to ensure sustainability is woven into every aspect of its purpose, products and operations. To take a closer look our commitment to sustainability, we sat down with Nelleke Barning, the Vice President and Global head of Sustainability for dsm-firmenich’s Health, Nutrition & Care business. In this insightful interview, Barning reveals why sustainability is more than just a buzzword for dsm-firmenich and how the company continues to champion it.

3. How does dsm-firmenich help to address major global challenges like food security, nutrition and climate change specifically? 

“As global challenges like food security, nutrition and climate change are all linked, we take an integrated approach to addressing them. Let’s look at building more sustainable food systems as an example. 

“First, our food fortification initiatives play a vital role in enhancing the nutritional content of staple foods like rice, wheat flour and cooking oils. This helps combat micronutrient deficiencies – also known as hidden hunger – which affect over three billion people globally, especially in developing countries.² By boosting the nutrient density of foods through fortification, we can improve nutrition and food security in an environmentally sustainable way. In addition, we develop innovative ingredients that relieve pressure on strained environments, like marine ecosystems. Our life's® portfolio of algal-based omega-3 ingredients is a good example of this. They provide a 100% plant-based source of crucial nutritional lipids – helping to preserve ocean and marine life. Being a scalable solution, our life’s® portfolio has the ability to support millions of people globally that do not get enough from their diet alone.³"

4. How does consumer demand for sustainability influence product innovation at dsm-firmenich? 

“We are constantly evolving to keep up with growing consumer demand for environmentally-friendly, ethical and sustainable products. A recent survey investigating the behaviors and attitudes of vitamin C supplement users found that 74% of respondents consider it important or extremely important that supplements are eco-friendly.⁴ Similarly, 74% expressed a preference for products with sustainability claims.These insights reinforce that we're on the right track, with initiatives like our Imp'ACT Card™, in making it easy for customers to transparently communicate environmental claims to their consumers.

“Taking a look at ‘greener’ ingredients specifically, the same study found that consumers consider sustainability when it comes to purchasing vitamin C.⁴ Specifically, over 50% of respondents revealed that they would be willing to pay a premium price for a vitamin C product with a low carbon footprint.⁴ What’s more, over 60% would consider buying a vitamin C product claiming to have ‘the lowest carbon footprint in the world’.⁴ Brands can make meaningful sustainability claims that resonate with today's environmentally-conscious consumers with our low carbon vitamin C ingredient.”

5. What’s next on the sustainability horizon for dsm-firmenich? 

“A key priority going forward is taking our integrated sustainability approach to the next level, with initiatives working simultaneously across climate and nature, health and nutrition, and social impact. We want to push the boundaries of what's possible. This looks like developing environmentally-friendly ingredients, collaborating closely with local communities to improve nutrition access, and accelerating our route to net zero with science-based targets – among other initiatives. 

“However, our vision only matters if we take the little steps every day to get closer to our purpose of bringing progress to life. It is making these small actions, combined with working closely with our customers and our suppliers towards joint ambitious goals for a more sustainable world – that’s what excites me and my team most.”