SABIC’s 2017 Sustainability Report: Building a Better Future, its seventh such report, is an impressive achievement. It continues the company’s effort to lead in sustainability and tell this story to stakeholders through an engaging annual publication.
SABIC’s goal is to be the preferred global leader in petrochemicals. To achieve this, the company believes it is not enough to continue to improve its financial performance alone, it must also strive to give back to communities and society. This means supporting socially responsible initiatives through charitable giving and dedicated volunteers, but it also means providing jobs and training, lowering resource and energy efficiency intensities, driving innovation forward, improving safety and supply chain, and bringing best practices in compliance, product stewardship, transparency, and many other areas.
This report brings together many of the contributions SABIC employees have made to these areas in every corner of the world. It demonstrates that when employees all work toward shared goals, together their efforts really make a difference. SABIC’s culture of making business decisions while never forgetting the wider effects on society is ‘Chemistry that Matters™’ to communities and their future development.
SABIC’s efforts to support Saudi Vision 2030 feature strongly in this year’s report. This includes a study of its socio-economic impact on Saudi Arabia that revealed the company is contributing through economic value, human capital improvement, and its role as a catalyst for change. SABIC is also hosting events such as the SABIC Human Resources Forum to expand engagement with the community and public sector, and working to increase skills and leadership qualifications throughout the country.
In innovation, SABIC launched several disruptive material solutions for a large-size additive manufacturing platform and assessed the sustainability benefits and risks of more than 80 innovation projects. In resource and energy efficiency, it made progress on its 2025 targets and commissioned a new combined heat and power cogeneration plant at Mt. Vernon, Indiana, that provides 80 percent of the site’s electricity and steam and eliminates the use of coal. In EHSS, it had a strong 21 percent decrease in its EHSS rate. In addition, SABIC continued to invest in human capital and safer and more-efficient transport in the supply chain. SABIC’s community giving in 2017 totaled an impressive US$57.5 million.
SABIC hopes the report inspires the public to learn more about the company and employees to begin new initiatives that will feature next year.