Signify reaches carbon neutrality globally, revamps corporate goals for 2025

Signify will aim to double the revenue it earns from its “circular” products and services

Signify has achieved ‘carbon neutral’ status for its global operations through a mixture of integrating onsite renewable technologies and improving energy efficiency. The company has revealed that its sites are powered by 100% renewable electricity globally.

While offsets have been used to account for unavoidable emissions, the lighting company is now committing to move “beyond” its carbon-neutrality status. Specifically, Signify will reduce emissions across its value chain in alignment with the Paris Agreement’s 1.5C target as part of an ambition to double its positive impact on the environment and society by 2025.

Signify’s chief executive Eric Rondolat said: “This is not a time to pause and celebrate, but a time to become even more ambitious and accelerate our efforts to address these challenges. Growth for sustainability and providing a great place to work are firmly anchored as central parts of our company strategy.

“This means that when it comes to sustainability, we will go beyond carbon neutrality and double our positive impact on the environment and on society in 2025.”

Signify has reduced its operational emissions by more than 70% since 2010.

On the LED front, Signify plans to improve the energy efficiency of the lighting products that it sells. Research from the company – formerly Philips Lighting – suggests that a global switch to LEDs could avoid more than 400 million tonnes of CO2 emissions while generating more than £70bn in cost savings.

Additional targets have also been set alongside the 1.5C goal. Signify will aim to double the revenue it earns from its “circular” products and services, now targeting 32% of all sales by 2025.

It has also set a target to remove plastics from all of its consumer packaging by the end of 2021. The company currently uses 80% recycled paper for its packaging and the phase-out will avoid the use of more than 2,500 tonnes of plastic each year – equivalent to around 125 million plastic bottles. The company will also target zero waste sent to landfill.

Value chain targets for the green recovery

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This Roadmap report is brought to you in association with edie’s headline Green Recovery partner Centrica Business Solutions. The report maps out eight key principles for businesses to tackle
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Matt Mace