Sustainable Investment

We have integrated sustainability comprehensively into our corporate strategy—from research & development through portfolio management to our corporate culture. The core process is the sustainability analysis of our business. We already generate 43 percent of our sales with products and solutions that have a strongly positive sustainability profile. We aim to increase the proportion of sales generated with these Next Generation Solutions to over 50 percent by 2030.

Evonik supports the objectives of the Paris Agreement on Climate Change. This is underscored by our commitment to the Science Based Targets initiative (SBTi). Between 2021 and 2030, we aim to reduce our scope 1 and 2 emissions by 25 percent. For the reduction in our scope 3 emissions, we are committed to a target of 11 percent 1. Our targets are aligned to the SBTi target level of “well below 2 °C”.

Evonik supports the United Nations Sustainable Develop­ment Goals (SDGs) and intensively examines its own contributions to achieving them. We have identified the four most important SDGs for the Evonik Group and pay special attention to them (SDG 3, SDG 6, SDG 12, SDG 13).

We bundle our contributions to achieving the SDGs into four Sustainability Focus Areas: Fight Climate Change, Drive Circularity, Safeguard Ecosystems, and Ensure Health & Wellbeing. For each of these fields, we show how Evonik is reducing its own environmental footprint and the handprint of using our products and solutions in their respective markets.

We systematically address the positive and negative effects of our business activities along the value chain (inside-out) and the external influences on Evonik (outside-in). Early identification of future opportunities and risks makes our business model more resilient and sharpens our understanding of the long-term value that our activities create for society.

We achieve our transparency aspirations by continuously improving our sustainability reporting. The capital markets notice and value our strategic and operational progress towards greater sustainability. Evonik is positioned among the leaders in renowned sustainability ratings and rankings. In May 2022, we successfully issued our second green bond.

The executive board bears overall responsibility for sustainability and all climate-related aspects at Evonik. Direct responsibility is assigned to the chief human resources officer. The Sustainability Function sets the strategic framework for sustainability in the Group and coordinates Group-wide implementation in close cooperation with other corporate functions and the operating segments. In view of the increasing strategic relevance of sustainability in the company, we intend to anchor sustainability more firmly in the executive board and management compensation from 2023 onwards.