Sustainable sourcing

Driving Sustainability Together

Partners and suppliers

We encourage our suppliers to join us in our journey towards a sustainable future, ensuring that they evolve in sustainability in tandem with Nouryon and our customers. Every business partner, including our suppliers and customers, is required to comply with our Business Partner Code of Conduct. This outlines our expectations in terms of compliance, safety, ethics, human rights, fraud prevention, and sustainability support.


In 2023, we expanded the proportion of spend assessed for sustainability by EcoVadis to 66%, up from 60% in the preceding year. Additionally, in 2023, we became a member of Together for Sustainability (TfS), which has enabled us to strengthen our supplier audit capabilities and gain access to industry best practices, which we believe will benefit our customers and business partners by enhancing sustainability in our supply chain. TfS, founded in 2011, unites more than 50 member companies committed to elevating sustainability standards in the chemical industry.

Examples of renewable sources we use include plants, trees, animals, algae, marine organisms, and microorganisms. We also use waste materials as inputs for higher value products, including used cooking oil, cotton linters, and others

Supporter of UN Global Compact

TfS supports the principles of the UN Global Compact and Responsible Care® and partners with several industry councils. Membership provides access to TfS Assessments and Audits, enabling companies to evaluate and enhance sustainability performance. These tools measure supplier performance in environmental, labor, and human rights, ethical, and sustainable procurement areas, bringing about change beyond the chemical industry. The TfS Scope 3 greenhouse gas (GHG) emissions program assists members in reducing their emissions, offering tools to calculate and share high-quality product carbon footprints of chemical materials.

90%

of suppliers assessed for CSR risk using EcoVadis’ Risk IQ tool (% of spend)

66%

of suppliers were measured on their CSR performance by EcoVadis score

20%

of organic raw materials are from renewable sources

Driving Sustainability with Our Suppliers

Risk assessment

We employ EcoVadis and EcoVadis Risk IQ to evaluate and monitor the sustainability performance and risk of our suppliers across multiple categories, including environment, labor and human rights, ethics, and sustainable procurement. EcoVadis scores are based on the Company’s policies, actions, and results. If a supplier fails to meet specific performance criteria, we implement a corrective action process with such non-compliant suppliers to stimulate improvement or explore alternative sourcing when necessary. In 2023, 91 suppliers were engaged by global procurement to either participate in an EcoVadis assessment or implement a corrective action plan resulting in positive conversations and engagement to promote supplier’s sustainability journeys.

As outlined in our Sustainable Procurement Policy, suppliers that remain non-compliant and do not improve beyond our defined threshold are identified for phasing out. This approach gives us an opportunity to engage our suppliers on sustainability matters and promote improvement.

We assessed 90% of our suppliers for CSR risk using the EcoVadis Risk IQ tool (% of external spend), and 66% of suppliers were evaluated on their CSR performance by an EcoVadis score (% of external spend). This practice enables us to promote sustainability within our supply chain and serve our customers with credibility and confidence.

 

Two men discussing ethical business behavior and sourcing
We employ EcoVadis and EcoVadis Risk IQ to evaluate and monitor the sustainability performance and risk of our suppliers.

Bio-based raw materials

We continued to educate Nouryon category managers about sustainable sourcing and supplier requirements, including our sustainability approach and goals, with plans for new training opportunities. 

Through this supplier assessment, we are also able to reward compliance with our sustainability standards, taking their EcoVadis raw materials score in addition to exceptional partnership in sustainability, reliability, and strategic partnership into consideration. Our 2023 Supplier of the Year Award recognized LyondellBasell, Altivia, Sabic, Borregaard, Brenntag, Geodis and Independent Container Line (ICL) for outstanding collaboration.

We continue to explore market availability of lower-carbon alternative raw materials prioritizing materials that contribute the highest emissions in our production processes. By prioritizing our top emission contributing raw materials, we are able to make the largest positive impact as we look at reducing the product carbon footprint of our customers and lowering our upstream Scope 3 GHG emissions. We will continue this practice as we progress our Carbon Business Strategy and explore how these initiatives can contribute to improvements in our Scope 3 carbon footprint.

Share of raw minerals from bio-based sources

Supporting Responsible Palm Oil

Palm oil is a key bio-based feedstock in our operations. We support the industry benchmark for sustainable palm oil, represented by the Roundtable on Sustainable Palm Oil (RSPO), and have secured RSPO Mass Balance (MB) certification at five of our facilities. We use processed palm oil products, which means that we do not have any direct interaction with palm mills or plantations. However, through continued engagement with our suppliers, we strive to source from suppliers that do not contribute to further deforestation or violate the rights of workers and local communities. 

The EU Deforestation Regulation, [regulation (EU) 2023/1115], reporting requirements begin in December 2024. Nouryon is preparing all required due diligence surrounding any imported product as declared on Annex I [of regulation (EU) 2023/1115] to ensure we are compliant to all regional and global legislations

Learn more about the importance of responsible use of palm oil in our Sourcing Sustainable Palm Oil Statement

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Our Conflict Minerals Policy

In 2023, we repeated our risk assessment regarding conflict minerals for all our suppliers and identified those that could pose risks. Conflict minerals are tantalum, tin, tungsten, and gold (commonly referred to as 3TG), which are used in Central Africa to finance armed conflict, often fought with child soldiers.

We currently only leverage tin and have a very limited number of suppliers, allowing for increased due diligence and limited risk exposure. For any sourced materials containing 3TG, we ask our suppliers to complete the Conflict Minerals Reporting Template as part of our due diligence to ensure that conflict zones and groups are avoided, so that in turn, we can be sure that Nouryon is not inadvertently contributing to such conflict and practices.

Read our Conflict Minerals Policy

Reforestation collaboration with Tree-Nation

Through our collaboration with Tree-Nation, a non-profit entity enabling individuals and corporations to plant trees globally and neutralize CO2 emissions, we have successfully planted 7,462 trees. This initiative led to the reforestation of six hectares and the capture of a total of 2,298 tonnes of CO2 .

Genetically Modified Organisms (GMOs)

Nouryon does not manufacture genetically modified organisms (GMOs). We neither sell products that utilize GMOs to deliver any specific functionality, nor employ GMOs in manufacturing processes to impart variability. Certain raw materials that we use, such as soybean oil and cotton linter cellulose, are derived from crops that are produced from GMOs prior to our usage.

Position statements

Partners and suppliers

Sustainable palm oil documents

More on sustainable sourcing

Did you know?

In 2023, Nouryon commissioned a chlorine dioxide plant for Arauco in Chile, boosting pulp production capacity.

The project, the largest of its kind in the Biobío region, will bolster Arauco's manufacturing capabilities and position to better meet the growing global demand in the paper and pulp market.

Learn more - Nouryon's sustainability pillars

Improving our safety performance and environmental footprint

We continuously work to improve our safety performance and environmental footprint for the benefit of our employees, contractors, customers, neighbors, and the environment
Green field with tractor

Growing our sustainable solutions through innovation

We provide solutions that are essential in applications ranging from pharmaceuticals and farming to electric cars and building insulation. Our goal is to deliver not just the desired functionality but improved sustainability performance as well.

Engaging people, partners, and society

At Nouryon, we aim to achieve sustainable business growth and have a positive impact on people’s everyday lives through our essential solutions as well as our actions.

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