LANXESS

Stakeholder engagement

LANXESS discloses an overview of the issues raised during its stakeholder engagement activities. The company discloses how often and through which channels it engages with various stakeholder groups. This stakeholder engagement covers nature, including biodiversity, and social issues.

Water

LANXESS has a time-bound target to reduce water withdrawal in its operations and reports progress against the target. The company reports a decrease in water pollution, and it discloses its processes for managing and monitoring discharge water quality. The company regularly reports on its total organic carbon (TOC) as its water quality parameter and has targets to reduce water pollution by cutting 2% of this total organic carbon every year. The company also works with its business relationships to improve its practices regarding access to water and sanitation.

Solid and air pollution

LANXESS reports regularly on air quality parameters of emissions of harmful air pollutants, including NOx, SO2, CO, NH3 and NMVOC. The company has time-bound targets to reduce 25% of non-methane volatile organic compounds by 2025 across most material parts of its value chain and reports regularly against these targets.

No leading practices were identified in the social inclusion and community impact area.

Sustainability strategy and accountability

LANXESS discloses its process for identifying and prioritizing its most relevant sustainability impacts as well as the outcome of this process, concerning its sustainability strategy. While the company discloses some sustainability targets, no evidence that it has group-wide targets on key sustainability topics for the material parts of its value chain based. The company reports consistently against all its targets. However, it does not report whether it assigns decision-making and oversight responsibility for its sustainability strategy to the highest governance body. No evidence was found that it links performance criteria in senior executives’ remuneration policies to targets and objectives which cover nature, including biodiversity, and social issues. The company does not disclose whether its highest governance body has expertise regarding nature-related topics.

Lobbying

LANXESS does not report on its lobbying and advocacy practices on nature-related issues, nor whether these activities align with its sustainability strategy.

Impact and dependencies assessment

LANXESS has not holistically assessed its impacts or how it depends on nature, including biodiversity. It has an opportunity to start such an assessment across its value chains, focused on the quantification of its impacts or dependencies.

Key areas and species

LANXESS does not disclose key species or areas important for biodiversity affected by its operations or suppliers. It has an opportunity to increase its transparency.

Ecosystem conversion and restoration

No evidence was found regarding LANXESS’s efforts to avoid ecosystem conversion, including deforestation, or promote restoration. The company has an opportunity to develop a strategy and publicly report on specific, time-bound targets.

Resource exploitation and circularity

LANXESS does not disclose its inputs, including its material footprint. The company does not report quantitatively on its group-wide circularity performance. The company does not disclose efforts to improve soil health.

Water

While LANXESS discloses its amount of water withdrawal, no evidence that it reduces water withdrawal across the company’s operations. The company reports how much water is withdrawn for its operations in water-stressed areas, but does not disclose a commitment to respect the right to water. While LANXESS mentions its social engagement on water, it is unclear with the details of preventive and corrective action plans for the right to water and sanitation in its operations.

Solid and air pollution

No evidence that LANXESS reduces the production of hazardous substances. While the company discloses its use of SVHC (substance of very high concern) properties, no evidence that the company commits not to develop such products or that it reduces the production of other hazardous waste. There is also no evidence that the company reduces plastic use and waste in its operations nor that it reports on the amount of plastic waste generated and proportions directed from or to disposal.

GHG emissions

No evidence that LANXESS reduces its scope 1 and 2 greenhouse gas emissions. Nevertheless, the company has a time-bound target to reduce its scope 1 and 2 emissions but this target is not aligned with a 1.5-degree trajectory. No evidence that the company reduces its scope 3 emissions or that it has a time-bound target to reduce its scope 3 emissions.

Invasive species

LANXESS has not identified any activities that could lead to the introduction of invasive species in its operations.

Safe, healthy, clean environment

LANXESS does not disclose a commitment to respecting local communities’ right to a safe, clean, healthy and sustainable environment. While it identifies human health risk as one of its criteria for product sustainability, no further details on how it tracks the impact on the health of local communities have been found. The company is not committed to zero tolerance for acts of violence, threats, intimidation or judicial harassment committed against land and environmental rights defenders.

Indigenous Peoples’ and land rights

LANXESS does not disclose a commitment to respect Indigenous Peoples’ rights. The company does not disclose its processes for identifying and recognizing the rights of Indigenous Peoples when activities in its operations may impact their rights, nor does it describe how it obtains Indigenous Peoples’ free, prior and informed consent. The company does not disclose a commitment to respect ownership and use of land and natural resources and related legitimate tenure rights, as set out in the relevant part(s) of the VGGTs or the IFC Performance Standards. No evidence was found that the company requires its business relationships to have a process to identify legitimate tenure rightsholders, paying particular attention to vulnerable or marginalized tenure rightsholders, and negotiating with them to provide adequate compensation.

While LANXESS discloses that it conducts due diligence in general, it has an opportunity to specify that it conducts human rights due diligence that includes a process for identifying human rights risks and impacts through its business relationships. It also describes its processes for assessing its human rights risks. However, it has an opportunity to disclose what it considers to be its salient human rights issues. While the company discloses that it conducts routine human rights risk assessments and that it remediates in locations with the highest risk, no evidence was found that it has a global system to act on all its salient human rights issues. LANXESS provides a case study describing how it has acted on a salient human rights risk issue. However, while it discloses the categories of stakeholders it engages with generally on sustainability issues, it is not clear if these stakeholders are those whose human rights have been or may be affected by its activities.

No evidence that LANXESS has a publicly available policy statement committing it to respect the health and safety of workers. While the company requires business partners to comply with applicable laws and statutory provisions regarding health and safety in the workplace, it has an opportunity to require beyond compliance with local laws and regulations. It also has an opportunity to describe how it determines a living wage for the regions where it operates and discloses a time-bound target for paying all workers a living wage. Nevertheless, it does describe how it works to support the payment of a living wage by its suppliers. Even though it discloses the proportion of its total direct operations workforce covered by collective bargaining agreements it does not describe how it works to support the practices of its suppliers concerning freedom of association and collective bargaining was found.

LANXESS discloses a global tax strategy. While the company indicates its prevention measures for corruption risks, no evidence that it describes the process to identify its bribery and corruption risks and impacts in specific locations or activities covering its operations. The company includes anti-bribery and anti-corruption clauses in its contracts with direct business relationships. LANXESS outlines its approach to lobbying and political engagement but does not formalize this approach in a public policy document. No evidence that the company has a publicly available policy statement that specifies that it does not make political contributions was found.