Performance Management
We drive continuous improvement in all aspects of sustainability through corporate policies, a comprehensive management system and the commitment of our employees. We have key policies in the areas of Environment, Health and Safety (EHS), human resources and business integrity and ethics which provide the framework for managing performance.
Our policies and management systems apply to all operations worldwide. Legal requirements are a minimum standard and in many cases our policies and systems are in advance of these.
We have systems in place to measure our social, environmental, health and safety and financial performance. We participate in a number of external surveys including FTSE4Good, the Carbon Disclosure Project and the Dow Jones Sustainability Index. As well as providing further channels of communication with our stakeholders, these surveys help us to benchmark our performance and give us guidance on areas where we can improve. We are also a member of the London Benchmarking Group.
As we continue to embed the principles of sustainability, we are working to develop a broader framework for managing sustainability performance across the group and more widely through the supply chain. We are currently developing a group sustainability policy and management systems to outline group requirements and the responsibility of facilities and individuals in meeting the requirements.
Work has also continued on developing appropriate sustainability tools which will be used to benchmark and measure performance in new areas. We have begun to introduce the use of the streamlined life cycle assessment (SLCA) methodology as means to understand and define the impacts of our products at every stage of their life cycle. The methodology has been developed with a focus on ‘designing out’ unsustainable aspects throughout the whole life cycle and identifies the major issues in relation to a product or process in a qualitative manner, allowing key aspects to be strategically explored in greater quantified detail as necessary. Specific studies so far have included the examination of new precious metal containing products and scenario planning for base metal containing process catalysts at their end of life.
We have also continued to assess and develop appropriate carbon footprinting methodologies. Although many of our products deliver benefits with respect to energy efficiency, CO2 emissions and hence climate change, this must be balanced against the fact that some of our manufacturing processes are energy intensive. We have therefore embarked on a programme to assess the carbon footprint of a number of our product ranges. To date we have assessed the cradle to gate carbon footprint of two main process catalyst product families at our site in Clitheroe, UK and have studied the production process at one of our major emission control catalyst manufacturing facilities in the US. This work supports our longer term aim to extend our assessment of the carbon impact across Johnson Matthey’s supply chain.
Case study
Calculating our Carbon Footprint at Clitheroe
Read about our life cycle assessment studies
We continue to research and trial further sustainability tools to make sure we select those that will ensure consistent and comparable metrics across the group. During the year, we have also made further progress in developing systems to manage performance in the wider supply chain. We have conducted a detailed audit of one of our key suppliers and have begun to develop a sustainable procurement policy for the group.
