CDP rating: Symrise receives award for effective climate protection in the supply chain

Symrise consistently reduces greenhouse gas emissions throughout the supply chain and belongs to the leading companies worldwide. After the company had already achieved a best-in-class triple A rating within the three categories of the renowned nonprofit organization CDP (formerly Carbon Disclosure Project) water, forest and climate, the Supplier Engagement Rating (SER) now also recognizes the special commitment of the company. The environmentally friendly procurement of resources plays an important role for the company. Therefore, Symrise has, among other things, rated all key suppliers according to sustainability criteria and ensured the traceability of all strategic raw materials. Thanks to measures like these, the Holzminden-based Group made it onto CDP’s Supplier Engagement Leaderboard for the first time, meaning that it belongs to the best of the 9,600 companies that participated in the survey in 2020.

When assessing the sustainability of companies, both the greenhouse gas emissions they generate directly and those of their suppliers play a role. According to CDP, the supply chain actually emits around 11.4 times more on average than the company itself. For this reason, the non-profit organization assesses every year both the climate protection, water usage and forest conservation of companies as well as how effectively the companies engage their suppliers in addressing climate change. Symrise made it to the top seven percent with this rating, earning a spot on the Supplier Engagement Leaderboard.

“Together with our suppliers, we are pursuing ambitious goals in the fight against climate change,” says Bernhard Kott, Chief Sustainability Officer at Symrise. “The excellent ranking shows us that we have chosen the right strategy. This motivates us to stay the course and thereby serve as a role model for other companies.”

Supplier Code of Conduct developed
Symrise uses 10,000 mainly natural raw materials and sources them from more than 1,000 suppliers from over 100 countries. The Holzminden-based Group focuses on sustainability in its procurement activities. Therefore, Symrise has developed a Code of Conduct to which all suppliers must adhere. This includes, for example, full disclosures about the raw material source. In addition, Symrise has rated its key suppliers, who together account for 80 percent of the purchasing volume, according to sustainability criteria. Additional suppliers will join by 2025, thus increasing the covered purchasing volume to 90 percent.

“Consumers take the origin of goods very seriously because they increasingly value environmentally friendly production,” says Dr. Helmut Frieden, Corporate Sustainability at Symrise. “For this reason, we consider the procurement of sustainable raw materials of central importance to our long-term corporate success. Transparency and traceability enable us to make our supply chain sustainable and thereby meet the high demands of our customers and end consumers.”