DSM well on track
with climate actions

The latest Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change (IPCC) report serves as another stark reminder of the need for urgent climate action. Net-zero is not just a distant, abstract number for us but a guide for our immediate actions. We were the first European company in our sector to have targets that are science-based and independently validated by the Science Based Targets initiative. The SBTi NetZero Standard and Business Ambition for 1.5°C commitment framework guide our ongoing rapid and deep emissions reductions as we head towards net-zero across our value chain by 2050 at the latest. Our actions today put us firmly on track to deliver the reductions needed to limit global warming to 1.5°C.

 

DSM has long taken significant steps to reduce our emissions. Prompted by the 2015 Paris Agreement, DSM set revised greenhouse gas (GHG) reduction targets to cut our emissions even more rapidly. We have several supporting processes, even tying top managers’ pay to environmental improvement as far back as 2010 and working with an internal carbon price, initially of €50 per ton of CO2 and subsequently doubled to €100 in 2021, to further future proof our decisions towards a net-zero economy. We have cut our own total emissions by 27% (in absolute terms) since then, even as our business has expanded, as we decoupled our emissions from our growth.

 

A major contributor has been our transition to renewable energy, which is now the source of 72% of our global electricity needs and growing. All the electricity we use in the Netherlands has been from renewable sources for the past four years already. Together with our investments in renewable electricity generation and energy efficiency, our strong sustainability progress enabled us to further increase our targets in 2021 to now halve emissions from our operations by 2030. We continue to work with long-term roadmaps that will bring us as close to zero emissions as possible as fast as possible. In the long-term we will also deploy permanent carbon removal methods to neutralize any residual emissions.

 

We intensely work with our suppliers and customers to reduce emissions across our value chain too in order to accelerate a broader transition towards net-zero. Hundreds of companies are already part of our CO2REDUCE supplier engagement program which aims to drive best practice and collaborative action. By focusing our considerable scientific and technology investments, our customer innovation pipeline is also targeting groundbreaking changes to the sustainability of global food production. For example, our new feed additive Bovaer® reduces livestock methane emissions by around 30%. We recently started Europe’s first large-scale pilot with FrieslandCampina in the Netherlands and we are working with dairy companies from Belgium and Finland and beef companies from Brazil and Australia too. This is just one of many examples of our purpose-led approach which is how we will make the most impactful contribution to the sustainable health of people and our planet.

 

Transparency is a key means to achieve widespread rapid science-based climate action. We routinely report our progress publicly in our Integrated Annual Report. We are also one of the few companies in the world to have our figures independently audited to the highest possible level. More information on our climate plan can be found on our website, as well as in our in-depth, public response to CDP, which awarded our climate change strategy the top A rating.

 

However, we cannot succeed alone. When Milieudefensie asked 29 companies in the Netherlands, including DSM, to share a climate action plan, we welcomed the opportunity to work together to encourage broader urgent change in the Netherlands and elsewhere. We look forward to continuing this dialogue and identifying solutions to accelerate systemic transformation towards a healthier future for our planet, for people and their livelihoods.