PPG has launched its 2020 Sustainability Report, highlighting the company’s strong, continued progress against key environmental, social and governance (ESG) areas. The report is available here.

“Our unwavering commitment to ‘protect and beautify the world’ guides our more than 46,000 employees to further advance our sustainability progress each day,” says Michael McGarry, PPG chairman and chief executive officer. “We continue to innovate, invest and develop sustainably advantaged products and processes that our customers and other stakeholders count on to create a more sustainable future. As highlighted in our latest Sustainability Report, we have made significant progress within our many ESG-related initiatives, and we continue to drive our ambitious targets forward.”

Throughout last year, PPG improved the sustainability of its products, processes and operations, decreasing its overall global environmental footprint.

Achievements included:

• 35% of sales from sustainably advantaged products and processes, including the launch of antibacterial and antiviral products, against the goal of 40% by 2025
• 35% of manufacturing and research and development locations with zero process waste to landfill
• 34% reduction in waste disposal intensity from the 2017 baseline – above the 25% goal by 2025
• 15% reduction in water intensity from the 2017 baseline against the goal of 20% by 2025
• 33% reduction in the spills and releases rate from the 2017 baseline
• 24% reduction in greenhouse gas emissions since 2017.

PPG people also supported the essential needs of communities around the world, implemented a thorough COVID-19 response plan to protect employees and serve customers in new ways, and took action to advance diversity, equity and inclusion (DE&I) progress.

Actions included:

• Committing $20 million from 2020-2025 to further social justice and educational opportunities in underrepresented communities
• Investing $4.5 million to support COVID-19 relief efforts, including the donation of 80,000 masks to hospitals
• Growing and strengthening the company’s focus on DE&I by identifying and taking action on a series of commitments

According to Fabrizio Mandingorra, PPG global segment manager, labels and graphics, Teslin products, “While we have made measurable progress towards our 2025 sustainability targets, we recognize there will always be areas for improvement. Sustainability is deeply ingrained in our corporate values and the way we do business. As a label solutions provider for the print packaging industry, we believe our commitment to ESG-related initiatives is essential to delivering value to our customers, and we will continue to focus on innovating and introducing sustainability-advantaged elements into our products.”

New or expanded sections of the report include cybersecurity and data privacy, COVID-19 response, supplier sustainability, climate-related risks, and diversity, equity and inclusion. PPG’s 2020 reporting disclosures also align with the Sustainability Accounting Standards Board (SASB) standards for the chemical industry as well as the Global Reporting Initiative Standards (GRI). PPG was also recently recognized with a Gold Sustainability Rating for its sustainability progress from EcoVadis, a leading provider of business sustainability ratings.