The 10 priority areas and the related objectives were defined through a materiality analysis and take into consideration global initiatives such as the Paris Climate Agreement of 2015, the work of the UN International Resource Panel and the EU’s Green New Deal.
The priority areas and objectives are:
Social
- Safety & health: Our ultimate target is zero harm. Our improvement path aims at reducing our Recordable Injury Rate to below 3 by 2025.
- Community engagement: We strive to play a positive role within our communities and 100% of sites should have an approved community engagement plan in place by 2025.
- Attractive employer: We aim to embed a consistent culture that helps Sibelco attract, engage and retain the best people. Our goals are to achieve a min 30:70 gender balance for executive leadership and a minimum 25:75 gender balance for our total workforce by 2025. In terms of employee engagement we target consistent improvements on the score achieved in the 2019 employee survey.
- Human rights & business ethics: The Sibelco Code of Sustainable Conduct represents Sibelco’s commitment to uphold ethical business practices. We aim to ensure 100% adherence to the Code by our employees.
Environmental
- Water management: Each of our sites is expected to manage its impact on local water sources. By 2025, half of our sites should have implemented water management systems using BATNEEC principles (best available technology not entailing excessive cost).
- Rehabilitation: Before mining begins, we are already planning ahead to ensure that all land disturbed by our activities is proactively managed and restored. By 2025 100% of our sites are expected to have a Sibelco-standard closure plan.
- Climate & energy: The biggest challenge of our age is reducing CO2 concentrations in the atmosphere to limit the extent of global warming. By 2025 we aim to:
- reduce CO2 emissions by 2% per year;
- improve energy efficiency by 2% per year;
- ensure that 30% of our purchased energy comes from green sources;
- have 20% of our electricity consumed on-site coming from on-site renewables.
Economic
- Access to resources: Our customers depend on us to provide an uninterrupted, long-term supply of high-quality materials. Our goal is to maintain a minimum of 25 years of property life for at least 80% of our own mine business by gross margin.
- Customer satisfaction: Customers are at the centre of everything we do. Our goal is to provide our customers with material solutions through an intimate knowledge of their processes and markets. We aim to improve on our 2019 net promoter score by an average of 5% per year by 2025.
- Technology & Innovation: Technology & Innovation (T&I) is a primary driver behind Sibelco’s transformation from an industrial minerals supplier to becoming a leading provider of material solutions for our customers. We aim to commercialise one new product a year from our innovation pipeline between 2020 and 2025.
