Members of the Sustainable Markets Initiative Health Systems Task Force have published an open letter to suppliers in the supply chain, asking them to commit to joining the initiative and working towards climate and sustainability targets. The CEOs of AstraZeneca, GSK, Merck& Co., Novo Nordisk, Sanofi and Samsung Biologics, and the chairman of Roche all signed it.

The independent Science-Based Targets Initiative (SBTi) has confirmed that Evonik’s greenhouse gas emission reduction targets are in line with the Paris Agreement on Climate Change. This seeks to limit global warming to well below 2°C.

Lanxess has announced the development of the Product Carbon Footprint Engine, which takes data from its various business units and automatically calculates cradle-to-gate greenhouse gas emissions for their products. This includes production, product-specific emissions related to raw materials, energy, operating materials, and transport and emissions from waste disposal.

The Science Based Target initiative (SBTi), a collaboration between the United Nations Global Compact, World Resources Institute, the Climate Disclosure Project and the World Wide Fund for Nature (WWF) to drive corporate climate action, has validated the latest greenhouse gas reduction (GHG) targets of three chemical companies as both science-based and aligned with the UN Paris Agreement to limit the global temperature rise to no more than 1.5ºC this century.

Chemours has announced plans to achieve a 60% absolute reduction of operations-related greenhouse gas emissions by 2030 and net zero emissions by 2050. It warned, however, that achieving this “will require significant collaboration in both the public and private sectors to deliver technological innovation and government policies that enable and incentivise the transition to a greener economy”.

Clariant has committed to new 2030 targets to reduce CO2 emissions in line with the Science Based Targets initiative (SBTi), which has validated them. This follows the establishment last year a dedicated unit to accelerate its sustainability transformation. The targets are:

* 40% absolute reductions in Scope 1 (made directly during production) and 2 (emitted indirectly, mainly through consuming steam and electricity) greenhouse gas emissions (GHG) emissions on 2019 levels

* A 14% absolute reductions in Scope 3 (other indirect) GHG emissions on 2019 levels

From 1 February, Sumitomo Chemical will establish a strategy council and a cross-functional team led by executive officers supervising research planning and coordination, Responsible Care and related functions to promote and formulate strategies for achieving carbon neutrality by 2050. This will be based on four approaches:

* Minimising greenhouse gas (GHG) emissions associated with its production activities through innovation, and deploying new technologies to that end