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Johnson Matthey’s Sustainability Report 2010/11 reviews the company’s progress and performance during the year.
Johnson Matthey is an international speciality chemicals company and a world leader in sustainable technologies. Many of our products have a beneficial impact on society, improving the quality of life for millions of people around the world.
Sustainability is a key element of our strategy for continued growth. We believe that the resource efficient, environmentally responsible manufacturing of products that deliver sustainability benefits for our customers can leverage commercial advantage for the group.
During the year we undertook a comprehensive review of the group’s business strategy for the next ten years. This revealed that many of the key global trends that will support growth in the business over the next decade are linked to sustainability and thus will drive the development of products that directly benefit the environment, society and human health. The review also reconfirmed that research and development (R&D) is a key factor for us in realising these growth opportunities and over the next few years the group will increase its annual investment in R&D to target further growth. This investment will support the delivery of products and technologies for existing and new markets that are driven by global sustainability trends.
Johnson Matthey’s sustainability strategy is underpinned by two business drivers, five key elements and seven sustainability targets and these are described in the report. The group’s Sustainability 2017 Vision sets out our direction and aspirations in this area and includes challenging targets to support business growth. It is now just over three and a half years since the launch of the vision and in February 2011 a detailed review of sustainability strategy was carried out. The review confirmed support throughout the company for Sustainability 2017 and highlighted several areas where the group is now working to evolve the strategy.
Sustainability 2017 was defined following an assessment of the risks, major impacts and future commercial opportunities open to the business. These issues, together with the group’s high level long term targets to address them are described in the report.
This year, Johnson Matthey’s global businesses have continued to focus on their sustainability efforts. There has been continued steady progress towards the Sustainability 2017 Vision during 2010/11 with five out of seven targets on track or progressing very well. Progress to date is discussed, together with plans to address any areas of underperformance.
The report describes how Johnson Matthey has remained focused on the two key drivers of the Sustainability 2017 Vision:
- To be more efficient with the resources we use as a business; and
- To design new products and services which help our customers to be more sustainable and competitive.
Incremental resource efficiency savings in the group’s businesses are now becoming harder to find and we are shifting emphasis further towards applying our innovation to develop sustainable solutions, both in our manufacturing technology and our products. We describe the work underway to explore innovative new ways of processing in our manufacturing operations and to develop new products and technologies that will help our customers to be more resource efficient. Case study examples are provided throughout the report to illustrate the initiatives underway, and our strategies to support the introduction of new sustainable products and technologies are outlined.
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