Highlights mark progress toward ESG goals to 2025 and beyond, including key emissions targets to drive the Company's journey to a net-zero carbon future
DOWNERS GROVE, Ill., June 13, 2023 /PRNewswire/ -- Univar Solutions Inc. (NYSE: UNVR) ("Univar Solutions" or "the Company"), a leading global solutions provider to users of specialty ingredients and chemicals, today released its 2022 ESG report, which is available through the Univar Solutions website at https://www.univarsolutions.com/sustainability. The report tracks Univar Solutions' progress against its ESG targets over the past year and shares 2022 metric highlights including:
Delivered significant progress on environmental goals:
- Reduced our absolute Scopes 1 and 2 emissions by 16.31 percent from our baseline.1
- Disclosed our second year of Scope 3 emissions and delivered reductions in key areas, resulting in an intensity reduction of 25.26 percent of our overall Scope 3 emissions.2,3
- Reduced absolute hazardous waste totals by 25.3 percent compared to our baseline.1
Strengthened positive impact on society:
- Experienced our safest year on record since 2015, reducing our global Total Case Incident Rate (TCIR) by 30 percent to 0.33 in 2022, compared to our baseline1 of 0.47.
- Increased diverse representation rates on gender and ethnicity at the people-leader level, achieving one of our targets ahead of schedule.
- Significantly evolved our community engagement program, launching our Community Bonds program and opening more volunteering opportunities for our employees.
Advanced governance issues:
- Strengthened our sustainable sourcing activities, rolling out our Supplier Code of Conduct to new suppliers and hundreds of legacy suppliers in the United States, covering over 32.5 percent of our product suppliers (measured by spend4).
- Commenced our global supplier sustainability assessment program, centered on employing the EcoVadis supply chain sustainability platform, with 44.5 percent of our product suppliers (measured by spend4).
- Increased our company's third-party ratings across the majority of our assessment platforms.
"I am pleased to see how our people continued to demonstrate excellence in all we do and to see our steady progress toward our new set of goals for 2025 and beyond, said David Jukes, president and chief executive officer. "As we remain focused on delivering environmental and social value through our business and value chain, we remain steadfast in our commitments to advance our sustainability journey."
Throughout 2022, Univar Solutions achieved multiple recognitions including being awarded a low ESG risk rating by Sustainalytics, placing the Company in the top 14 percent of our industry, as well as being named by Newsweek as a member of their America's Most Responsible Companies 2023 List. The Company was also named as a Best Place to Work for LGBTQ+ Equality by the Human Rights Campaign (HRC) Foundation, after receiving a score of 100 on the Corporate Equity Index (CEI) for a second year in a row while maintaining the recognition as a Great Place To Work® in Brazil and Mexico.
"I'm pleased to see our business making such strong progress to date, and I am truly grateful to our people worldwide for making this possible, said Jen McIntyre, chief people & culture officer and executive ESG lead at Univar Solutions. "ESG is fundamental to our ability to take care of our customers and suppliers while growing the Company and continuing our efforts to build a better tomorrow for future generations."
"Our journey in delivering on our ESG goals continues and I couldn't be prouder as we position Univar Solutions to meet these objectives while delivering on our purpose," said Liam McCarroll, global sustainability director. "While much work remains, I'm confident in our momentum and know we can make a positive contribution and overcome global challenges because sustainability is a core part of our strategic plan."
For a complete review of Univar Solutions' progress to a more sustainable future, please see the full sustainability report at: https://www.univarsolutions.com/esg-resources
About Univar Solutions
Univar Solutions (NYSE: UNVR) is a leading global specialty chemical and ingredient distributor representing a premier portfolio from the world's leading producers. With the industry's largest private transportation fleet and North American sales force, unparalleled logistics know-how, deep market and regulatory knowledge, world-class formulation and recipe development, and leading digital tools the company is well-positioned to offer tailored solutions and value-added services to a wide range of markets, industries, and applications. Univar Solutions is committed to helping customers and suppliers innovate and grow together. Learn more at univarsolutions.com.
1. Baseline for goals to 2025 is calculated from the average of 2019 and 2020 performance.
2. Baseline for Scope 3 emissions is calculated on 2021 performance.
3. Scope 3 intensity calculated on a (tCO2e per $M sales) basis.
4. Measured by percent total direct product spend.
Forward-Looking Statements
This press release includes certain statements relating to future events and our intentions, beliefs, expectations, and outlook for the future, which are "forward-looking statements" within the meaning of Section 27A of the Securities Act of 1933 and Section 21E of the Securities Exchange Act of 1934, as amended. Forward-looking statements are subject to known and unknown risks and uncertainties, many of which may be beyond the Company's control. These forward-looking statements are subject to risks and uncertainties that could cause actual results to differ materially from the expectations and assumptions. A detailed discussion of these factors and uncertainties is contained in the Company's filings with the Securities and Exchange Commission. Potential factors that could affect such forward-looking statements include, among others: general economic conditions, particularly fluctuations in industrial production and consumption and the timing and extent of economic downturns increased competitive pressures, including as a result of competitor consolidation; potential supply chain disruptions; significant changes in the pricing, demand and availability of chemicals; our indebtedness, the restrictions imposed by, and costs associated with, our debt instruments, and our ability to obtain additional financing; the broad spectrum of laws and regulations that we are subject to, including extensive environmental, health and safety laws and regulations and changes in tax laws; potential cybersecurity incidents, including security breaches; an inability to generate sufficient working capital; transportation related challenges, including increases in transportation and fuel costs, changes in our relationship with third party transportation providers, and ability to attract and retain qualified drivers; accidents, safety failures, environmental damage, product quality issues; delivery failures or hazards and risks related to our operations and the hazardous materials we handle, potential inability to obtain adequate insurance coverage; ongoing litigation, potential product liability claims and recalls, and other environmental, legal and regulatory risks; challenges associated with international operations; exposure to interest rate and currency fluctuations; possible impairment of goodwill and intangible assets; the ongoing and evolving COVID-19 pandemic, including impacts on the global economy, our employees, customers, vendors and suppliers, and our business, results of operation and financial condition; significant changes in the business strategies of producers or in the operations of our customers; an inability to integrate the business and systems of companies we acquire, including failure to realize the anticipated benefits of such acquisitions; negative developments affecting our pension plans and multi-employer pensions; labor disruptions associated with the unionized portion of our workforce; our ability to attract or retain a qualified and diverse workforce; our ability to execute on our strategies related to environmental, social, and governance matters, and achieve related expectations may be impacted as a result of evolving regulatory and other standards, processes, and assumptions, the pace of scientific and technological developments, increased costs and the availability of requisite financing and changes in carbon markets; and the other factors described in the Company's Annual Report on Form 10-K for the year ended December 31, 2021, as well as other filings with the Securities and Exchange Commission. We caution you that the forward-looking information presented in this press release is not a guarantee of future events or results, and that actual events or results may differ materially from those made in or suggested by the forward-looking information contained in this press release. In addition, forward-looking statements generally can be identified by the use of forward-looking terminology such as "may," "plan," "seek, "will," "expect," "intend," "estimate," "anticipate," "believe" or "continue" or the negative thereof or variations thereon or similar terminology. Any forward-looking information presented herein is made only as of the date of this press release and the Company does not undertake any obligation to update or revise any forward-looking information to reflect changes in assumptions, the occurrence of unanticipated events, or otherwise, except as required by law.
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