Tomorrow's earth, today's journey: Exploring pathways to sustainability
Market View
Produced by:
Interview with
Chris Brown
VICE PRESIDENT OF ENVIRONMENT, SOCIAL, AND GOVERNANCE, SYNTHOMER
Tomorrow's earth, today's journey: Exploring pathways to sustainability
Market View
Produced by:
Interview with
Chris Brown
VICE PRESIDENT OF ENVIRONMENT, SOCIAL, AND GOVERNANCE, SYNTHOMER
About Chris Brown
Chris Brown serves as the Vice President of Environment, Social, and Governance at Synthomer. In this role, he leads the company's sustainability initiatives, working closely with the board, C-suite, and global leadership team. Brown's primary responsibility is transforming sustainability discussions into actionable strategies and ensuring effective implementation of the company's environmental and social governance commitments. He spearheads Synthomer's sustainability journey, fostering cross-departmental collaboration to integrate sustainable practices into core business operations.
What do you see as the primary challenges in implementing sustainable practices within organisations?
The challenges are multifaceted. Firstly, there's often a disconnect between sustainability professionals and their understanding of the business. Many aren't sufficiently integrated into the process to influence and embed sustainable practices effectively. The main challenge is ensuring we're part of the core conversation, rather than being an afterthought.
Secondly, we need to act as a conduit in an ever-changing landscape without constantly shifting priorities. It's about prioritisation and understanding how sustainability integrates within the business. The ultimate challenge is transforming ideas and plans into concrete actions that achieve the intended outcomes and impacts.
Lastly, there's a systemic issue embedded within the business model itself. The current economic model often prioritises procurement discussions over sustainability. Despite what many may claim, sustainability experts are rarely involved in these procurement talks. Cost remains the dominant factor, overshadowing sustainability concerns.
How do you balance environmental goals with financial and operational objectives in the corporate strategy?
I'm not convinced that 'balance' is the right term. It's more about demonstrating the value of environmental goals within the company's strategy. What value do these goals offer? What outcomes and impacts are appropriate and how will these deliver value for our stakeholders?
We need to rethink how we assess financial hurdles. There's a common perception of what the financial threshold should be, typically viewed over a three-year period. Environmental goals might not fit this mould because they often require a longer-term strategy.
Take the example of aiming for net zero by 2050. If that's the target, what is the roadmap? What are the steps? You can't apply the same three-year forward-looking perspective when not taking action now could hinder your ability to achieve long-term objectives. This requires greater strategic thinking from sustainability professionals, who need to be fully integrated into the corporate strategy.
We need to rethink how we assess financial hurdles. There's a common perception of what the financial threshold should be, typically viewed over a three-year period. Environmental goals might not fit this mould because they often require a longer-term strategy.
How important is supply chain visibility in achieving your sustainability goals, and what approaches aid in this process?
Supply chain visibility is absolutely critical, especially for decarbonisation. At Synthomer, 85% of our carbon footprint is in our value chain, with 85% of that tied to our raw materials. When we prioritise, the top 20 materials account for 80% of this footprint. Understanding this is crucial to figure out what actions to take and then to establish the relationships and adapt our model accordingly.
We've recently completed a significant piece of work on raw material segmentation. Identifying key raw materials and their suppliers is crucial. We need to understand where they stand now and what their future plans are to make informed decisions about our sourcing strategies.
However, not all suppliers provide data readily, and legal issues often complicate matters. For our Scope 3 emissions, we rely heavily on secondary data. This reliance on estimates and secondary data means we are also dependent on our suppliers' historical data depth, which often doesn't go back far enough to provide a full picture.
How do you measure the impact of sustainability programs and what role do data analysis and visualisation tools play in shaping your strategies?
We underwent a process to identify material topics and set appropriate KPIs to deliver the desired outcomes and impacts. It's about considering what impacts and outcomes you are aiming to achieve, rather than just focusing on meeting the KPIs required by external reporting standards.
Data analysis is critical because it not only assesses current performance but also highlights potential future areas of focus. As for data visualisation, its role is to simplify the message. Those who can distil complex data into clear, concise visuals are extremely valuable. You want your audience to quickly grasp what you're trying to do, what has been achieved, and what the future actions will be.
We've initiated a data project this year aimed at getting a comprehensive grasp on these matters. Our goal is to understand the full scope of emissions—Scope 1, 2, and 3—from our suppliers and build a profile that helps us predict and influence environmental impacts for ourselves and our customers as well as prioritise the key raw materials and products that will help us achieve shared ambitions.
At Synthomer, 85% of our carbon footprint is in our value chain, with 85% of that tied to our raw materials. When we prioritise, the top 20 materials account for 80% of this footprint.
Looking ahead, what emerging trends or technologies in sustainability management are you most excited about, and what challenges do you foresee?
I'd highlight the growing realisation of how critical biodiversity is. We, as humans, are part of nature, a point we seem to have forgotten. We are deeply intertwined with nature, affecting it and depending on it. The current focus on biodiversity shows how far we've come, although there's still much to fully grasp about our interconnectedness.
From a technology perspective, I'm intrigued by AI. Artificial intelligence has the potential to accelerate our thinking, help with prioritisation, and enable quicker action and decision-making. It's fascinating to think about how AI can enhance operational efficiency and decision-making. I believe it's crucial to let humans focus on what we do best—being creative. Let AI handle the groundwork so that our creativity can be applied more effectively.
However, we face significant challenges, particularly in creating transparency about the real costs involved to deliver sustainable solutions. But I’m excited that by proactively engaging our suppliers and customers about potential lower-carbon solutions Synthomer is creating the necessary transparency across the value chain so that better business models can be developed that support risk sharing and equitable cost distribution.
Synthomer is creating the necessary transparency across the value chain so that better business models can be developed.
About Synthomer
Synthomer plc is a leading supplier of high-performance, highly specialised polymers and ingredients that play vital roles in key sectors such as coatings, construction, adhesives, and health and protection – growing markets that serve billions of end users worldwide. Their purpose is creating innovative and sustainable solutions for the benefit of customers and society.
Headquartered in London, UK and listed there since 1971, they employ c.4,200 employees with five innovation centres of excellence and more than 30 manufacturing sites across Europe, North America, Middle East and Asia. With more than 6,000 blue-chip customers and £2.0bn in continuing revenue in 2023, the business is built around three divisions, serving customers in attractive end markets where demand is driven by global megatrends including urbanisation, demographic change, climate change and sustainability, and shifting economic power.
