Azelis announced it has joined Together for Sustainability (TfS), a global initiative for sustainable supply chains. This membership follows on Azelis’ membership to the UN Global Compact and its Gold rating from EcoVadis.
The company underlines how embracing this initiative is a testimony to the company's resolute course of action to be a catalyst of change when it comes to sustainable business models and to become a benchmark for the industry. As part of the global network of 25 TfS member companies, Azelis joins the effort to represent a global turnover in the chemical industry of €422 billion and a global spend of €281 billion.
TfS delivers the de facto global standard for environmental, social and governance performance of chemical supply chains. The program is based on the UN Global Compact and Responsible Care principles. Its framework–TfS Assessments and TfS Audits–allows TfS member companies to assess the environmental, labor and human rights, ethical and sustainable procurement performance of their suppliers and drive and deliver tangible, measurable improvements of their suppliers’ as well as their own sustainability performance.
The initiative works with three of its own KPIs that take TfS to a new sustainability level and greatly increases its impact.
Each individual TfS member company defines its own targets based on internal sustainability strategies, which are shared within TfS. The TfS KPIs are the aggregate of the individual numbers of the TfS member companies and form the basis for TfS to increase sustainability impact in the chemical supply chain.
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Azelis’ Corporate Social Responsibility (CSR) program is built around four pillars: resources and environment, labor and human rights, fair business practices, and sustainable procurement, all directly contributing to 10 UN Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs).
In December 2016, Azelis deployed its CSR strategy worldwide. It is based on ISO 26000 and linked with the United Nations Sustainable Development Goals, Global Reporting Initiative (GRI), Responsible Care & Responsible Distribution as well as membership to the UN’s Global Compact Initiative. The company has internally defined 26 KPIs that measure the progress of its CSR program.
'This was the right and logical next step and we are very excited about what lies ahead.'
“Our dedication to CSR and sustainable business models has been at the core of our business decisions for a while now,” Azelis CEO Hans Joachim Müller, Ph.D, said. “That dedication has been recognized twice by EcoVadis’ Gold rating so joining TfS was a next logical step for us. The TfS concept benefits both TfS member companies and suppliers, taking away bureaucratic burden from us so that time and energy can be spent on the improvement of sustainability performance.
"As a global business, with operations across EMEA, the Americas and Asia Pacific, Azelis takes its responsibilities very seriously, always looking for new ways to make a positive impact on society and minimize its footprint, whilst delivering the best possible products and services.”
“We have put a lot of effort, expertise and passion in our CSR program for the past four years, but now is the time to take it all one step further,” Maria Almenar, Group SHEQ director at Azelis and CSR program leader, said. “In line with UN SDG 17 (partnerships for the goals), Azelis is ready to build strong partnerships and join global chemical industry initiatives that contribute to sustainability.
"We see many benefits in joining TfS: EcoVadis assessment and methodology, third party evaluation, the possibility of developing action plans with suppliers, onsite audits, access to results through sharing principle of TfS, active participation in TfS activities and best practice sharing, improved management of risks, to name only some. In one word, this was the right and logical next step and we are very excited about what lies ahead.”
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“My colleagues and I warmly welcome Azelis to the Together for Sustainability Initiative,” TfS president Bertrand Conquéret said. “The arrival of Azelis marks an important step for TfS as it will enable the initiative to further deliver on its mission and core strategy to drive and improve the sustainability impact of global chemical supply chains.
"By joining TfS, Azelis will fully benefit from the TfS innovative framework, collaborative mindset and robust tools to assess and improve the sustainability performance of its supplying companies, while increasing its own responsible sourcing program. As TfS operates as a unique member-driven organization, Azelis together with the other 24 TfS member companies will contribute to shaping the future of the chemical industry.”
