Essity's 2018 Sustainability Report: Circular Economy and UN Sustainable Development Goals

Contribute to a Sustainable and Circular Society

Essity’s objective is to develop products and services for a sustainable and circular society. Circularity is a business model that involves striving to reduce resource consumption and an efficient recycling or composting of our hygiene and health products. This means we must include this in our innovation work and develop new business models that create new business opportunities for Essity. 

Our ambition is that our environmental footprint will be reduced by 33% in 2030. In December 2018, Essity’s expanded climate targets for carbon emissions were approved by the Science Based Targets initiative. The initiative is a collaboration between for example CDP, the UN Global Compact and the WWF and includes a scientific method to ensure that companies’ targets for the reduction of carbon emissions are aligned with the global climate target set by the Paris Agreement to keep global warming below 2 degrees Celsius.

We are committed to reducing our climate impact linked to energy use and purchased electricity (Scope 1 and 2), and our indirect climate impact from material use, transportation and waste management, which includes emissions from suppliers and consumers (Scope 3). Essity is working to promote sustainable and responsible business by choosing suppliers who share our values and  comply with our Code of Conduct and Global Supplier Standard. In 2018, we strengthened our target for sourcing of fresh fiber. This means all fresh wood based fiber raw material in our products and packaging will be FSC® or PEFC™ certified.

At Essity, we believe that the work to fulfill the United Nation’s Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs) will make the world a better place while offering favorable business opportunities for companies around the world, not least in the areas of health, hygiene and sanitation, where we possess substantial expertise. We are working to overcome global challenges together with like-minded partners. Essity has chosen to prioritize goals 3, 5, 6, 12, 13 and 15, which are most relevant to our business. For a number of years, Essity has been the convening partner for the United Nations Foundation Global Dialogue concerning these goals.

Read more about our commitment to the UN SDGs and our circular economy initiatives in our Annual and Sustainability Report 2018.