CLIENT RÖHM

A sustainability program for the entire Röhm Group

fors.earth is developing a group-wide sustainability program with the Röhm Group in a series of digital workshops.

CHALLENGE

A customized sustainability strategy for the Röhm Group

Since its spin-off from Evonik Industries in August 2019, the Röhm Group has been forging its own path and looking ambitiously to the future. The goal of the globally active company is to become the world's leader in methacrylate chemistry. To achieve this, the Röhm Group is focusing not only on innovative production technologies but also on the issue of sustainability. The aim of this project was to create a uniform understanding of sustainability across all business units and to develop an overarching sustainability strategy for the Röhm Group that is in line with the corporate philosophy and positions the company for the future.

SOLUTION

Digital worksop series for joint strategy development

This sustainability strategy was developed by fors.earth in a series of covid-safe digital, interactive workshops together with the core team at Röhm, consisting of the project manager, the heads of all five business units, the respective sustainability officers, and representatives from communications, ESHQ, and energy management.

In the half-day kick-off workshop, after a brief impulse presentation, we developed a sustainability target image and ambition level for the Röhm Group: "Where are we today, where do we want to be in 5 years, and how and with which level of ambition will we get there?" were among the questions that had to be answered. In addition, the representatives of the business units assessed the maturity level of relevant sustainability topics within the Röhm Group and determined the level of ambition with which they would like to tackle them in the future. The focus topics were climate, resources, water, pollutants, and chemical safety.

In addition to a competitor analysis for Europe, we also examined ambition levels and sustainability issues among competitors in China and North America, as well as China's new five-year plan as an important market for the Röhm Group.

Based on some suggestions from fors.earth, Röhm decided on the program name "Track 2030". In further workshops, we developed a schedule for the CR tasks, a common understanding of sustainability, and a sustainability mission statement under the guiding principle "Supplying the world with methacrylate innovations to create the goods for a sustainable society". Based on a preliminary survey of the business units, we developed short- and medium-term targets, KPIs and initial measures at the Group and business unit level in further workshops. Among other things, the goal was set to reduce the carbon footprint of products by 30 percent per ton produced by 2030 compared to 2020.

In order to take the employees of the Röhm Group along on the "Track 2030", fors.earth developed an internal communications campaign to supported the sustainability program. As part of the campaign, we developed, among other things, elements to actively involve employees. Our input also flowed into the design of the "sustainability" section on the corporate website.

IMPACT

A good base for implementing sustainability at Röhm

During the strategy process, a common understanding of sustainability and an agreement on sustainability objectives were reached with the team members. A serious impact of the sustainability program suitable for the Röhm Group has emerged, which is being continuously developed and sharpened. The roadmaps and milestones provide Röhm with a good orientation for the implementation and the achievement of the goals. The implementation of the program is now being tackled in the various functional and business areas.

Find more information here.