Toronto, Ontario — The ongoing climate crisis has made so that no individual, or corporation, can ethically sit on the sidelines when it comes to sustainability. As such, AkzoNobel has unveiled five key areas of attack to reduce carbon emissions in the paint sector.
Following a recent meeting to discuss the findings of the first phase of the company’s “Paint the Future Collaborative Sustainability Challenge,” AkzoNobel, along with 28 of its partners, will split into five teams to take on projects specific to certain aspects of supply chain sustainability. The topics of circular solutions and solvent emissions will be tackled on two fronts by two separate teams.
The focus and goals of each of the five teams are as follows:
- “Circular solutions (1) – Help the coatings industry take sustainability into account by identifying potential value proposition-based metrics that could measure product sustainability and promote sustainable choices.”
- “Circular solutions (2) – Help the paints and coatings value chain increase the share and trust in sustainable raw materials by establishing a framework to categorize and create a common understanding of the benefits and limitations of sustainable raw materials.”
- “Process efficiency – Help raw material suppliers to realize disruptive new process technologies that enable sustainable product solutions by proposing working models that share risks along the value chain.”
- “Solvent emissions (1) – Help the marine coatings industry to provide products to the market with minimal solvent applications by campaigning for solutions for a faster decarbonization of the value chain.”
- “Solvent emissions (2) – Help partners in the European paints and coatings value chain to advance the reduction of solvent emissions by publicly disclosing third-party assured data on solvent usage as input for Lifecycle Assessments.”
In a press release, AkzoNobel’s director of sustainability, Wijnand Bruinsma, said “I’m proud of what we’ve been able to achieve with partners from across the value chain.”
“Multiple collaborations relating to sustainability have started among parties who wouldn’t normally work directly together,” elaborated Bruinsma.
“Now we’re transitioning to the next phase and we have the right parties in place to bring us closer to our mutual goal of reducing carbon emissions.”
