Royal DSM’s longstanding sustainability strategy a core value of the company.
Environmentally and socially-friendly responsibilities are often secondary to increasing profits for many companies. Royal DSM however has based its entire business foundation for more than a decade on sustainability, making it a role model as one of the Top Green Companies in Asia.
DSM produces a vast array of products encompassing health, nutrition, and sustainable living solutions across many industries that cater to consumers and business. What sets DSM apart from others is its continuous delivery of science-based, sustainable and scalable solutions with sustainability as a core value.
Obtaining the go-green stamp didn’t come through basic implementation of environmental practices in an orthodox business frame. Under its ‘Bright Science, Brighter Living’ philosophy the company continuously innovates with products such as fully-recyclable carpets and nutrition-enhancing enzymes for agricultural firms. Aligning with five UN Sustainable Development Goals, the firm seeks out and creates sustainable sources of raw materials to protect nature’s resource cycles and encourage environmentally responsible circular economies.
Each product goes through a Life Cycle Analysis (LCA) to evaluate its environmental and social impact at all production levels and life cycles. Machinery is powered by renewable energies like POET-DSM advanced biofuels and high-performance solar panels.
From resource extraction to waste management, the environmental and social impact of DSM’s products are continuously measured with the firm submitting regular sustainability audits according to Global Reporting guidelines.
This commitment has seen Royal DSM recognised for its consistent and longstanding performance in sustainability, with the Dow Jones Sustainability Index ranking it among the global leaders in the materials industry group for the past 14 years and holding the number one position in the sector seven times.
DSM works with UN agencies, governments, businesses and NGOs to provide long-term solutions for global humanitarian problems. Working with ‘the African Improved Foods (AIF) project’, a joint venture with the Government of Rwanda and a consortium, DSM manufactures nutritious fortified foods with the objective of ending malnutrition. DSM also helps combat micronutrient deficiencies around impoverished communities, with the development of Nu-Shakti, a fortifying food additive range which has already been distributed across India.
Recently the company held a Sustainable Evidence-based Actions for Change (SEAChange) workshop in Singapore, gathering partners from all industries with an objective to develop effective, affordable and nutritious products aimed at low to middle income consumers in Southeast and South Asian countries. The workshop prompted new collaborations between non-governmental organizations (NGOs), United Nations agencies, governments and private sector organizations to participate in projects such as rice fortification, new nutritious product development and focused advocacy for improving nutrition.
As part of the company’s efforts to promote good nutrition among its workers, DSM serves lunch meals that include fortified rice kernels enhanced with essential micronutrients to its factory workers at its Malaysia Premix Plant. In Singapore, these fortified rice kernels are also distributed by DSM through social enterprise 45RICE, to help address nutritional challenges of migrant workers.
With its success in combining sustainability and corporate performance DSM has been recognized both across the globe and regionally. In 2018, DSM was named on Fortune Magazine’s ‘Change the World’ List for the third consecutive year, among 57 companies that induced positive social impact through activities that are part of their core business strategy. DSM was also named on Forbes’s list of The World’s Most Sustainable Companies in 2017. In China, DSM was named “2016-2017 Most Respected Companies in China” by The Economic Observer. Earlier this year, DSM was also accorded “Best Stakeholder Engagement & Materiality” at Sustainable Business Awards 2018 in Singapore.
Its expertise in health, nutrition and materials fields has also enabled DSM to make significant progress in achieving UN Sustainable Development Goals, such as improving their greenhouse-gas efficiency by 40-45 percent by 2025. DSM is already well on its way to reaching this goal, having achieved 26 percent improvement in greenhouse-gas efficiency in 2017 from its 2008 base.
With its longstanding commitment to creating societal value in the areas of nutrition and health, climate and energy, resources and circularity, DSM is truly a Purpose Led, Performance driven company
