OUR ACTIONS FOR SUSTAINABILITY

At Saint-Gobain we are committed to ensuring that our activities, our employees and our partners work together to build a more sustainable and inclusive world.

Mitigating climate change means decarbonizing our economies.

The goal is simple: by 2050, we must not emit any more carbon than we absorb. 

Saint-Gobain made this commitment in 2019, by signing the UN Global Compact’s "Business Ambition for 1.5°C" pledge. Our CO₂ roadmap incorporates the Group’s new commitments through to 2030 : to reduce not only its direct and indirect carbon dioxide emissions, but also the emissions along its value chain.

• 33% reduction in scope 1 and 2 emissions in absolute terms compared to a 2017 baseline
• 16% reduction in scope 3 emissions compared to 2017

These new targets for 2030 have been validated by the Science-Based Targets initiative (SBTi) which considers them aligned with our 2050 commitment.

To meet our targets, we will dedicate a targeted capital expenditure and R&D budget of around €100 million per year until 2030. 

Two internal carbon prices have also been introduced (€75/tonne of eq. CO₂ for investments, 150€/tonne for R&D projects) to encourage the use of low-carbon technologies.

The circular economy is a resilient growth model suited to changes in available resources. Successfully transitioning to the circular economy will make it possible to continue offering solutions and services over the long-term which take into account environmental, labor and societal expectations and which balance well-being, sustainability and performance for stakeholders.

Our strategy to develop circular economy has the following focus areas:

• evolve products and solutions to reduce the intensity in virgin raw materials and to promote increased integration of recycled or renewable materials, extend their lifespan and facilitate their recycling or reuse in order to reduce the resource intensity of the solutions;
• develop new manufacturing processes;
• work with stakeholders to develop new business models and value chains.

Saint-Gobain has been involved for many years in the promotion of Life Cycle Assessments (LCA) to better understand and control the environmental impacts of its products. These analyzes are useful for guiding innovation, better informing customers and responding to a growing market demand for greater transparency.
Saint-Gobain is committed to ensuring that, by 2030, 100% of the Group’s revenue is generated with products covered by verified LCAs (Life Cycle Analyses), or EPDs (Environmental Product Declarations), excluding distribution activity.
With more than 1,800 verified EPDs published in over 35 countries, the Group is the world’s leading supplier of verified EPDs – by volume – in the construction sector. 

Saint-Gobain’s Water policy confirms our desire to reduce the impacts of the Group’s activities on water resources as much as possible, whether in terms of water intake or discharge.
he long-term objective is to withdraw as little water as possible and to aim for “zero discharge” of industrial water in liquid form, while avoiding generating new impacts for other natural environments and/or for other stakeholders. To this end, Saint-Gobain does its utmost to:

• reduce water withdrawals from the natural environment and optimize processes to minimize water consumption;
• reuse “process” water whenever possible;
• recycle on-site or off-site with appropriate treatments;
• not degrade water quality by reducing and controlling discharges into the natural environment and preventing any accidental pollution;
• not compete with local populations for access to drinking water.