Protecting the planet

“Climate change is impacting our planet and our health. We recognise the environmental impacts of our own operations, our upstream supply chain, as well as the downstream distribution, use and final disposal of our products. We also understand the ripple effects climate change has on our stakeholders in the long term, through physical and social risks such as water shortages, desertification, pandemics or forced migration. We recognise the multiple benefits of taking proactive action to address our impacts, increasing resilience in our manufacturing operations and the ability to meet customer expectations with more sustainable products.”
John Haller, EVP, Chief Global Quality & Operations Officer

Our approach
Throughout 2022, we made progress on our environmental strategy in many ways:
- Carbon and energy: updating our targets to ensure carbon emissions reductions in our own operations are in line with the Paris Accord
- Sustainable product design and supply chain: ensuring innovation in product design to reduce the cradle-to-grave carbon footprint, including completing a baseline study on Scope 3 emissions
- Waste: increasing attention to the environmental impacts of waste at the end of the production and use lifecycle
- Water: addressing the impact of production and manufacturing on freshwater ecotoxicity and the consumption of water in water-stressed environments
- Governance: facilitating and ensuring coherent action across the company to reduce the Group’s impact on the environment
Our targets & commitments
In 2022, we reduced our Scope 1 and 2 GHG emissions by 32% against our 2021 baseline through improved energy efficiency and sourcing of renewable electricity. However, we know we can do more and have set targets to:
- Achieve net zero carbon by 2045
- Achieve validation of aligned SBTs (Scope 1 and 2 and 3 emissions) in 2023, using a 2021 performance baseline
- Reduce our combined Scope 1 and 2 GHG emissions by 70% against a 2021 baseline by 2030
For more detail on our environmental targets, see page 66 to 71 of our 2022 Annual Report.
Energy
Energy efficiency case studies
Reynosa, Mexico
We have implemented an improved control strategy of the HVAC (heating, ventilation and air conditioning) systems at our manufacturing plant in Reynosa, Mexico. The new strategy optimises the start-up and run time of the air-cooled chillers which provide chilled water to air handling units, maintaining the clean room cooling supply in a more efficient manner. The Clean Room air change rates have also been optimised, reducing the power used for the air handling units, while maintaining the validated state. This project is delivering 1,371 MWh per annum (9% of total site energy), which equates to a 546 tCO2e carbon reduction.
Haina, Dominican Republic
The fixed speed air compressors have been replaced at our Haina manufacturing plant in the Dominican Republic. The new units are water cooled with variable speed-controlled motors realising both energy reduction and maintenance cost savings, supplying the production equipment with efficiently generated compressed air. In addition, the system is equipped with a central monitoring tool to analyse and optimise performance. This project will save approximately 529 MWh per annum (3% of total site energy), which equates to a 312 tCO2e carbon reduction.
Smart metering
A global energy management initiative was undertaken at our manufacturing sites to install smart metering on high energy using equipment. The meters are connected to a cloud-based platform for data recording, trending and analysis. The enhanced visibility of consumption patterns enables identification of energy efficiency opportunities, continuous improvement and the quantification of energy savings following project implementation. This project will save approximately 318 MWh (1% of total global energy) per annum.
Emissions
As part of our climate change and environmental strategy, Convatec has confirmed a 2021 baseline for our Scope 1 and 2 GHG emissions, our commitment to setting Science Based Targets (SBTs), as well as a commitment to achieve carbon net zero (Scope 1, 2 and 3) by 2045. In 2022, a reduction in Scope 1 and 2 GHG emissions of 32% was achieved at our manufacturing locations, achieved. However, Scope 3 (value chain) emissions are estimated to be more than 93% of Convatec’s total carbon footprint. As such, monitoring, managing, and reporting of Scope 3 emissions are essential if we are to achieve our net zero target by 2045. In 2022, we completed a Scope 3 materiality study to assess which of the 15 categories of value chain carbon emissions are relevant and quantifiable based on the data available. This informed our Scope 3 SBT which we target to have validated by the end of 2023. See pages 68 and 69 in our 2022 ARA for more information on our GHG emissions and energy efficiency.
Product life-cycle
TCFD
We are committed to implementing and fully complying with the recommendations of the Task Force on Climate-related Financial Disclosures (TCFD), providing investors and other stakeholders with useful information on climate-related risks and opportunities that are relevant to our business, including their financial implications. See page 75 of our 2022 ARA for our TCFD disclosure.
Our management approach
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