From sourcing raw materials to producing our paints and their application – we take responsibility for sustainability issues along our product value chain.
We have assessed the sustainability impact at each stage of our product value chain – from sourcing raw materials to the end of product life. Our actions proof of how we manage the identified challenges are disclosed through out this report. From our responsible sourcing strategy to our efforts to ➜ decarbonize our industry and co-creating sustainable product solutions with our customers, we partner with all stakeholders on our value chain in order to drive sustainable innovation.
“We include all our value chain partners in activities to develop and market sustainable products and encourage them to join us on this fantastic journey.”
Our value chain can be described in six distinct stages:
For the formulation of our paints and coatings we use materials from the fine and specialty chemicals industry, which are derived from fossil and mineral raw materials. Extracting and processing these raw materials along the upstream value chain potentially bears the risk of negative environmental and social impacts. We work on formulations that reduce or avoid hazardous and toxic materials. In this regard, supply risk management is crucial to reduce sustainability risks. Our ➜ Chain-up! process ensures sustainability performance along the supply chain. We also have a global raw material governance structure with aligned standards for handling, storing and labeling raw materials. For example, supplies need to provide a
➜ REACH-compliant safety data sheet for the raw materials we buy. In addition, we are actively working with players further upstream to identify lower carbon footprint technologies utilizing bio-based and recycled content. Inbound third-party delivieres made up 37% of the total CO2 footprint in scope 3 of Beckers' reporting in 2022. We are working on reducing the emissions stemming from our logistics by employing different levers. Inside Europe mulitmodal transport is key for this purpose. We also actively embrace any progress on rail infrastructure in the European Union for this reason, several supply chains have already been successfully converted.
We manufacture our paints and coatings at 23 production sites in 17 countries. Through the further processing of raw materials, we have an impact on occupational health, ➜ safety & well-being of the people at our premises. To address this, we continuously advance our standards and pursue our goal of achieving zero accidents. Moreover, our operations affect climate, energy and water use, as well as waste and ➜ volatile organic compound (VOC) emissions. We aim to reduce the volume of emissions we generate by using renewable energy, increasing energy efficiency, and by taking actions to develop and apply new technologies for resource efficiency.
In 2022, 19% of our carbon emissions were caused by outbound third-party deliveries. As for inbound third-party deliveries, we are working on reducing the emissions stemming from our logistics with the use of ➜ multimodal transportation,and we adapted products for better storage to reduce transport, e.g., with ➜ Beckry®Mix. To mitigate the emissions for packaging and distribution we aim to use recycled or reused packaging. We have made some progress with reconditioned drums in the US, in Germany and partially in France to reduce our footprint. Several of our sites in Asia reuse drums.
4. Customers’ Production: Co-creation for best results
Our customers apply our coatings on their products. During the application process, our products have an impact on occupational health, safety & well-being at our customers’ premises and they impact our customers’ operations through their effect on climate, energy use and VOC emissions. To mitigate the negative impact in this stage, we provide optimized products and services – for example with low VOC content and are now offering Ultraviolet/Electron Beam (UV/EB) curing as an alternative technology for the coil coating process. With these measures we reduce general emissions as well as paint and energy consumption.
5. Use of Final Products: Implementing functional products
We provide coatings for buildings, domestic appliances, core plates, vehicles and heavy-duty machinery. The function and performance of our products during use have an impact on sustainability. Taking this into account, we developed the ➜ Beckers Sustainability Index (BSI) to rate our products in terms of functional and material sustainability, enhancing sustainable purchasing decisions by our customers. We promote products that provide functional benefits for end users, such as ➜ Beckry®Therm, our solar-reflecting and heat absorbing coatings that save energy, our light-reflective coatings that save indoor lighting and energy or ➜ Beckry®Core, that can reduce power loss and thus improve electric motor efficiency.
6. End of Product Life: Prolonging the life of products
Our coatings can prolong the end of life of products, with little or no maintenance; prepainted steel and aluminum can be recycled without losing quality and original performance qualities. It is only the paint itself that is not yet recyclable. To ensure better product performance, we evaluate our products with a Life Cycle Assessment (LCA) and continuously improve our products. In addition, we collaborate with end users to support them in becoming sustainable.
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