Corporate Sustainability

Incorporating sustainability in corporate social responsibility is a growing trend.

Listed below are examples from companies in the biofuels sector and their perspectives on sustainability:

Novozymes

To be sustainable means to meet the needs of the present without compromising the needs of future generations. At Novozymes, sustainability is a balanced approach to business and an integral part of the company’s personality and conduct. Novozymes creates sustainable solutions for a changing world through bioinnovation. By developing biotech solutions for more than 40 industries with more than 700 products that improve industrial performance and reduce consumption of the world’s resources, Novozymes envisions a future where biotech solutions create the necessary balance between successful businesses, a cleaner environment, and better lives.

Novozymes’ main business is the development of enzymes for industrial processes. Enzymes are nature’s way of improving processes and products. Enzymes are proteins found throughout nature, in plants, animals and humans. Because of their catalytic function, small quantities of enzymes can have the same effect as large quantities of chemicals, energy, and water, and can produce more end product from less raw material. The immediate benefit of using enzymes is the more efficient and effective use of resources and the reduced use of chemicals and energy. Further, enzymes have minimal environmental impact because they are biodegradable.

Enzymes can increase efficiency and yield for a wide range of processes in our society and can produce more with less, contributing to the decoupling of economic growth and use of natural resources. Some of the ways in which Novozymes’ enzyme applications are improving lives and sustainability around the world include:

Detergents – Clean our clothes and stonewash our jeans. Enzymes are used in laundry, dishwashing and industrial detergents, resulting in better cleaning performance, shorter wash times, reduced energy consumption through lower wash temperatures and reduced water consumption through higher cleaning efficiency.

Biofuels – Turn biomass - including waste - into fuel. State-of-the-art enzymes convert cellulose in various feedstocks into simple sugars, which in turn can be fermented into biofuels. Every day, Novozymes moves closer to developing technologies that will enable more types of agricultural and urban waste to be converted into commercially-viable advanced biofuels that can reduce greenhouse gas emissions by almost 90 percent as compared to gasoline.

Food and Beverage – Produce our food and drink. Enzymes are natural high-performance alternatives to the chemicals and additives used in the food and beverage industry, and can enhance quality and production efficiency in such products as bread, cereal, juice, pasta and beer.

Animal feed – Improve animal feed to enhance meat production and reduce environmental impact of farming, thereby making industry more efficient and less polluting. Adding enzymes to animal feed increases the nutritional value of the feed and improves phosphorus absorption in the animals. This process leads to faster animal growth, and less environmental impact since less phosphorus is released into the environment.

Novozymes’ sustainable solutions have the potential to help solve some of the world’s most pressing challenges, especially in the reduction of CO2 emissions and overcoming global resource scarcity. For example, in 2008, the use of Novozymes’ technologies in customer industries resulted in the reduction of global CO2 emissions totaling more than 28 million tons – the equivalent of taking four million cars off the road.

As a global company with significant production activities all over the world, Novozymes further demonstrates responsible business practices by operating and conducting business in an ethical manner. By adhering to a triple bottom line: people, planet, profit, Novozymes creates a balance in its business operations.

With an understanding that every purchase from suppliers has a significant impact not only on the company’s financial performance but also its environmental footprint, Novozymes has evaluated key suppliers based on environmental performance since 1996. In 2009, a new system has been developed which makes sustainability criteria such as environmental performance, human rights and business integrity an integrated part of supplier evaluations alongside commercial and quality-related criteria. Ultimately, Novozymes wants to collaborate with suppliers who contribute to all three aspects of the company’s overall vision: a better business, a cleaner environment, and better lives.

Novozymes North America is recognized as a Steward in the North Carolina Environmental Stewardship Initiative – the top level in a program administered by the North Carolina Department of Environment & Natural Resources. To be named a Steward, Novozymes has gone beyond what is required and been proactive. As a result of continued corporate responsibility efforts, Novozymes has been recognized as a leader in sustainability.

* Ranked number one on the Dow Jones Sustainability Index for eight years.
* Listed among the world’s most ethical companies by Ethisphere Institute¹, 2008, and 2009
* Ranked among the top 20 companies on the SB20 list - The World's Top Sustainable Business Stocks²
* Novozymes qualified to be considered “best in class” by Storebrand Investments SRI³
* Selected on the Global 100 list by Innovest Strategic Value Advisors and Corporate Knights

References
¹ Ethisphere Institute
² Sustainable Business Stocks
³ Storebrand Investments SRI

External Links:

Novozymes