Firmenich Calls for Exponential Action at UN Climate Summit

GENEVA, Sept. 25, 2019 /PRNewswire/ -- At the United Nations Climate Week, Firmenich engages with leading businesses and heads of state to accelerate the race for climate. Committed to limiting the global temperature rise to 1.5°C, Firmenich is making its inclusive capitalism business model work for the planet, supported by ambitious science-based targets.

"Stepping up leadership and measurable actions to tackle climate change is a necessity. Business, government and society need to shift gears and work together for exponential climate progress," said Gilbert Ghostine, CEO, Firmenich. "With our science-based targets, we are making great inroads on our vision to be carbon neutral. For instance, today we operate exclusively with renewable electricity across Europe, North America and Brazil and are well on our way to achieving 100% worldwide by 2020."

In New York, Dr. Bérangère Magarinos-Ruchat, VP Global Head of Sustainability, took centre stage in a high level UN discussion to rally more business leaders on a zero carbon future: "At Firmenich, everyone has a role to play to mitigate climate change, and it is a critical pillar of our inclusive capitalism business strategy," said Dr. Bérangère Magarinos-Ruchat. "The science is clear, we must ensure global warming does not exceed 1.5°C. Our science-based targets give us a clear roadmap to achieve this."

One of only 36 UN Global Compact LEAD companies, Firmenich has been an active member of the business coalition for over a decade, placing the SDGs at the core of its growth strategy. The Group is also one of 87 visionary companies leading the "Business Ambition for 1.5C: Our Only Future" coalition, committed to stopping global warming. Together, they have set 1.5°C science-based targets for a net-zero carbon future by no later than 2050.

Advancing its ambitious sustainability goals, Firmenich was recognized as a global environmental leader this year, one of only two companies worldwide, out of more than 7000, to have achieved "triple As" with CDP, in Climate, Water and Forestry. Firmenich has clearly decoupled its manufacturing output from its CO2 emissions, with output up 18% and emissions down by 30% since 2015. This year, Firmenich also joined RE100, accelerating its commitment to 100% renewable power, alongside more than 194 of the world's most influential companies. Today, Firmenich's sites throughout Europe, North America and Brazil operate with 100% renewable electricity and the Group is currently at 86% worldwide.

To hear more about how Firmenich is embedding the UN SDGs across it business, watch the video here.

About Firmenich

Firmenich is the world's largest privately-owned perfume and taste company, founded in Geneva, Switzerland, in 1895. Driven by its purpose to create positive emotions to enhance wellbeing, naturally, Firmenich has designed many of the world's best-known perfumes and tastes, bringing delight to over four billion consumers every day. Renowned for its world-class research and creativity, as well as its leadership in sustainability, each year, Firmenich invests 10% of its turnover in R&D to understand and share the best that nature has to offer responsibly. Firmenich had an annual turnover of 3.7 billion Swiss Francs at end June 2018. More information about Firmenich is available at www.firmenich.com

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