The big picture
Environmental and social challenges remained major concerns in 2021. There was, however, progress as people, politics and businesses woke up to the gravity of the issues and their role in tackling them.
Setting environmental objectives
At the political level, the European Council approved the EU Taxonomy Climate Delegated Act. This new Act supports sustainable investment by clarifying which economic activities contribute most to meeting the EU’s environmental objectives. Meanwhile, COP26 in Glasgow demanded collective global climate action, focusing the world’s attention, including that of our customers, on carbon reduction.
Net sustainable products
Another arena with the same urgency: the Stockholm Resilience Center announced that the safe planetary boundary for pollutants, including plastics, has been exceeded – something that is very relevant to us as a chemical company. This is directly connected to our products and developing solutions that are net-sustainable, meaning that they are produced sustainably and provide sustainable benefits.
Building more resilient supply chains
The COVID-19 pandemic continued to have an impact throughout 2021. After curbed production in early 2020, we saw demand in construction rebounding globally as countries reopened. This created unusual stresses in the supply chain, with demand-supply imbalances, shortages of key raw materials, and an unprecedented raw material price escalation.
The crisis across the whole supply chain revealed the vulnerability of global markets and the need for companies to react flexibly. At Beckers, we managed to protect our customers and avert negative impact from these disruptions by successfully ensuring continued delivery of our service.
It is critical to learn from this experience and to make Beckers’ supply chain more resilient for the future. We have therefore started working on new solutions for improving our procurement strategy long-term, with implementation beginning in 2022.eastSee here how we manage Operations with Impact
Rising inequalities
The COVID-19 pandemic has revealed not only the fragility of supply chains but also the deep inequalities in our societies. We’ve seen how fragile many of our achievements are, for example in women’s and children’s rights. The pandemic set back progress in many of these areas, and it is clear that the most devastating consequences of the pandemic have been felt by the weakest in society. In 2021, we set our Common Cause and kicked off a program that takes a holistic approach to people sustainability. We must view sustainability through a wide lens – to be as inclusive as possible and make the maximum positive impact for our customers, for society and the planet.
