Environment
Umicore supports the goals of the Paris Agreement: limiting global warming to well-below 2°C above pre-industrial levels and pursuing efforts to limit warming to 1.5°C. Umicore 2030 RISE strategy is designed to accelerate the transition to a sustainable future, and includes a climate action plan, with ambitious targets, despite the exponential growth projected . That’s why we are currently having our targets validated by the Science Based Targets initiative (SBTi). Doing our part to reduce the impact of our operations on climate change, while making our business key to supporting the transition to a low-carbon future are integral parts of being a Sustainability Champion.
Net Zero GHG Emissions
… by 2035. Think big: carbon-neutral growth, green power, energy efficiency, plus inspiring society by developing innovative solutions that speed up the transition to a climate-positive future. As a tech company aimed at sustainability, we’re betting it all on distinctive technological approaches to decarbonization, focusing first in avoiding emissions, then replacing emissions and lastly capture the remaining emissions.
Scope 1 & 2 emissions
In 2019, Umicore’s scope 1 GHG emissions amount to 389 kTon CO2e and scope 2 GHG emissions are 403 kTon CO2e. We commit to carbon neutrality for Scope 1 + Scope 2 GHG emissions by 2035, with intermediate milestones of already reaching a 20% reduction in GHG emissions by 2025 and a 50% reduction by 2030. This ambitious goal sets a new standard for the industry and emphasizes Umicore’s pioneering role in its industry with regards to sustainability.
In addition to our net zero target, we are also committed to operating fully on renewable energy in Europe by 2025.
Net Zero GHG by 2035 100% renewable energy in Europe by 2025
Scope 3 emissions
The majority of Umicore's CO2 footprint consists of scope 3 emissions, amounting to 8.3 million tons CO2e in 2019. The upstream emissions linked to purchased goods amounts to 7.3 million tons CO2e in 2019. Umicore has set an ambitious target to reduce the carbon intensity of purchased materials by 42% by 2030. To this end, we will not increase the Scope 3 emissions of our raw materials, despite the exponential growth projected in our 2030 strategy.
-42% tons CO2e/ ton purchased materials by 2030
