UN Sustainable Development Goals

    These UN Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs) are important for us

    The UN 2030 Agenda, with its 17 Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs), is considered as a global plan for a better and decent future that should be implemented by 2030. It is about facing the challenges of our time: Ending poverty, injustice and inequality, curbing environmental destruction and the climate crisis, and securing peace. RENOLIT, within the framework of the ONE RENOLIT 2025 strategy, has also taken measures to help achieve certain of these goals and live up to our responsibility.


    More about our contributions to these sustainability goals

    SDG 3

    SDG 3 – Health and well-being

    To protect the health of our employees, our safety committees develop and implement a safety culture with technical and organisational measures. In addition, we offer health advice and preventive care for our employees as part of our occupational health management in cooperation with a health insurance company.

    As one of the world's leading developers of high-quality polymer solutions such as films, tubes and granulates for medical and pharmaceutical applications, we are well positioned for the topic of health with our Healthcare Market Unit. Our products and those of our partners ensure survival, support patient recovery and enable medical research. In the current COVID 19 pandemic, for example, our customised biotech films helped to significantly increase the production capacity of urgently needed vaccines within a short time. With partners, we are working on new, sustainable product solutions that serve human health.

    SDG 5

    SDG 5 – Gender equality

    In our Code of Conduct, we speak out against any kind of discrimination, e.g. based on ethnic origin, skin colour, language, gender, religion or sexual orientation. Through different working time models, we address the individual needs of our employees and contribute to offering women and men equal opportunities in our company. In addition, we create incentive systems that improve the work-life balance.

    In 2020, the proportion of women in the first and second management levels of RENOLIT was 19 per cent, and in total, 17 per cent were female employees in our group. To get more women interested in professions that are typically chosen by men, we are involved in the "Girls' Day" initiative. There, we offer female students insights into our company and present them with possible career fields at RENOLIT.

    SDG 8

    SDG 8 – Decent work and economic growth

    About 72 per cent of our employees are represented by collective agreements. In China, where trade unions do not play a key role in drafting employment contracts, we were able to conclude collective agreements for the first time in 2020, which include regulations on maternity protection and improve company benefits, for example. In addition, we have committed to complying with the labour standards of the International Labour Organisation and expressly prohibit any form of forced or child labour, both in our own company and with business partners. This applies equally to countries such as China or India, which are classified as risk countries in terms of human rights compliance according to the Business Social Compliance Initiative (BSCI).

    SDG 9

    SDG 9 – Industry, Innovation and Infrastructure

    With geomembranes for hydraulic engineering and civil engineering, we contribute to the expansion of infrastructure worldwide. We produce these at our subsidiary in Sant Celoni, Spain. Today, up to 20 percent recycled material is used - and the trend is rising.

    In numerous other industries, we are innovation drivers for films, sheets and other products made of plastic. As a customer-oriented company, the development of future-oriented solutions is a central element of our activities. The focus is on market needs and the issue of sustainability. Another example of this is our sustainable film solutions and services for the wind energy industry, which we offer in cooperation with WP-Windenenergie.

    SDG 10

    SDG 10 – Less inequalities

    In our Code of Conduct and Supplier Code, we clearly speak out against unequal treatment and any kind of discrimination. Our commitment also focuses on the areas of education, science, social issues and culture. In 2021, for example, RENOLIT Corporation LA sponsored the Light The Night event in Denver to promote leukaemia research.

    SDG 12

    SDG 12 – Sustainable consumption and production

    With our wide range of high-quality film solutions, we take into account of one of the most important properties of plastics: their durability. In contrast to single-use products with a short service life, this is a decisive advantage, e.g. for the construction sector, the automotive sector or civil engineering. In addition, many of our products are recyclable or already contain recycled material. We will continue to develop this potential in the long term in cooperation with our customers and partners.

    We are also increasingly focusing on sustainability and material efficiency in the manufacture of our products. We have made a commitment to the Circular Plastics Alliance (CPA) to recycle more recyclables from us and our customers' production and to use more renewable raw materials and recyclate in our transport packaging by 2025.

    SDG 13

    SDG 13 – Climate protection measures

    In the UN climate agreement in Paris, around 194 countries have committed to limiting global warming to well below 2 degrees, possibly to 1.5 degrees. This ambitious goal requires us all to rethink our behaviour. With our "RENOLIT Goes Circular" initiative, we will recycle materials more efficiently in future and use fewer fossil primary raw materials. In doing so, we are focussing on modern recycling technologies and developing new sustainable products. With many of our products and services, we are already helping to reduce greenhouse gas emissions, for example with façade or roofing films with a cooling effect or corrosion protection films for the efficient repair of wind turbines

    We also want to make an ambitious contribution to reducing global warming and have set ourselves the following targets for reducing our CO2 emissions: 

    • By 2025: - 30% compared to the base year 2010* 
    • By 2035: - 60 % compared to the base year 2010* 
    • By 2045: CO2 neutrality*
    *In 2010, RENOLIT emitted 197,229 tonnes of CO2 in absolute terms. This corresponds to 0.91 tonnes of CO2 per tonne of product.

    More about sustainability at RENOLIT