A Message From Our Chairman
To our valued stakeholders,
While 2021 presented many challenges, including the ongoing COVID-19 pandemic, global supply disruptions, raw material scarcity, labor shortages and unprecedented cost inflation, one thing remained certain: PPG’s steadfast commitment to our sustainability journey, guided by our purpose: We Protect and Beautify the World.
As an industry leader for nearly 140 years, we have experienced difficult times before, and we always find a way forward. We know that these challenges often underscore the importance of a sound, sustainable business strategy that includes a comprehensive, welldefined environment, social and governance strategy.
From furthering the equity of communities where we live and work, to operating safe, healthy facilities, to developing paints, coatings and specialty materials that help to extend the life of our customers’ most valued assets, our commitment to sustainability shined bright last year.
Our more than 50,000 employees globally made it happen, and helped to deliver against our progress, including the achievement of:
- 38% of sales from sustainably advantaged products, totaling approximately $6.3 billion;
- 37.5% reduction in waste disposal intensity from a 2017 baseline;
- 40% of locations achieving zero waste-to-landfill status;
- 90% of locations with 50 or more employees with a wellness program;
- $8.7 million invested in COLORFUL COMMUNITIES® since 2016; and
- $7.4 million invested to advance racial equity through educational pathways for Black communities and people of color.
While we achieved solid progress last year, I also recognize the many opportunities in front of us during this defining moment to reverse the detrimental effects of climate change. As part of our efforts to help protect the planet from warming more than 1.5 degrees Celsius, we have committed to the Science-Based Target Initiative and plan to announce new, aggressive sustainability targets that will define PPG's decarbonization strategy going forward. As a trusted partner to our customers, we will also continue to innovate and operate in ways that further our customers' sustainability goals, contribute to the circular economy, and continue to reduce our overall environmental impact.
I encourage you to learn more about PPG's progress in our 2021 ESG Report, and I look forward to continuing on this journey. Thank you for your collaboration, partnership and continued interest in PPG.
Michael H. McGarry
Chairman and Chief Executive Officer
A Message From Our Vice President, Global Sustainability
To our valued stakeholders,
As I engage with countless employees across PPG's global footprint, I am consistently encouraged and motivated by the many actions taken to make our products and processes - and ultimately our customers, partners and suppliers – more sustainable. While we look back on 2021, it's clear that we have much to be proud of despite the many challenges facing the global business environment.
Last year, we identified new partners to further our use of renewable energy, launched products that provide an added layer of protection against the virus that causes COVID-19, found new ways to contribute to the circular economy, and continued on our journey to further the diversity, equity and inclusion of our workforce and our communities. All of these efforts contribute to our purpose: We Protect and Beautify the World.
In addition, we continued to strengthen our governance practices in 2021 by enabling oversight of our ESG efforts from our Board of Directors. We established a dedicated sustainability organization - a team working alongside our businesses and functions to execute a strong global ESG strategy, aligned to our targets. We also launched our first-ever Diversity, Equity and Inclusion (DE&I) report, a major milestone in our decades-long journey to cultivate a sense of belonging for all of our employees and to harness the power of diversity to ignite innovation and performance. I encourage you to read that report as well.
As we look ahead to arguably the most critical moment for climate change, we are proud to have committed to the Science-Based Target initiative, which will help define PPG's decarbonization vision and strategy going forward. We are currently working to define and quantify our scope 3 emissions. When this work is complete, we will define new SBTs aligned to the Paris Agreement.
We will continue focusing on the roadmap to accomplish our more near-term 2025 goals, and we plan to establish more ambitious carbon emissions reduction goals for 2030 to do our part in protecting the planet from warming.
While our organization has achieved significant progress in 2021, we recognize the responsibility we have to further the adoption of industry-leading environmental, social and governance practices. Our team is dedicated to continuing to report our progress regularly and transparently.
Thank you for reading our 2021 ESG Report. We welcome your input, and we look forward to sharing our continued progress.
Diane Kappas
Vice President, Global Sustainability