Lenzing Releases Annual And Sustainability Report 2023 As A Commitment To Sustainability Of Environmental Preservation

Photo: Doc. Lenzing Group

JAKARTA - The Lenzing Group, a world-class global textile manufacturer that provides regenerated cellular fiber fiber fiber or special fiber made of wood and environmentally friendly for the needs of the textile and non-woven industry, has just released the Annual and Sustainability Report 2023 or the 2023 Annual and Sustainability Report for the first time.

This report entitled Ready to join? is a form of the company's commitment to social and environmental responsibility. Through this report, Lenzing invites all customers and partners to participate in transforming the textile and non-woven industry and create positive changes for the environment. The Ready to join?' report is also available in digital form and can be downloaded through the report.lenzing.com page.

"This annual report also invites all to find solutions together. Lenzing always strives to create more sustainable businesses and transform textile business models from linear to circular ones, especially in countries where we operate. To realize this, further efforts are needed from the entire industry. Policies that support level playing fields for sustainability pioneers are also important. We hope this report can bring useful information. I hope our innovative projects can inspire and encourage us all to re-establish structure and business processes. Let's bring together positive changes, "said Stephan Sielaff, CEO of Lenzing Group, quoted Monday, April 1.

Lenzing has issued more than 200 million EUR investments over the past few years to modernize production facilities in China and Indonesia. In 2023, the company made engine updates to increase the production capacity of environmentally friendly fibers and significantly reduce the carbon footprint. Lenzing also managed to obtain Ecolabel EU certification for two products, namely a viscose fiber called LENZINGTM ECOVEROTM and VEOCELTM fiber produced in Indonesia.

In addition, Lenzing has succeeded in achieving progress in efforts to realize sustainability and mitigate climate change in its sustainability and climate targets. For example, the company managed to reduce greenhouse gas emissions by 19 percent (for categories 1, 2 and 3) compared to 2021 and reduce specific sulfur emissions by up to 58 percent compared to 2014.

In order to support the policies contained in the Paris Agreement and limit the increase in global temperature at 1.5o Celsius, Lenzing has just prepared the company's latest climate target. The climate target has been reviewed and recognized by the Science Based Targets Initiative (SBTi), which is an independent international scientific institution in the field of climate change mitigation.

With this, Lenzing is the world's first regenerative cellulose fiber producer with a scientificly supported net-zero target. By 2030, Lenzing aims to reduce the production emissions of fiber and pulp factories (category 1) and emissions from energy (category 2) to 42 percent, as well as reduce indirect emissions in supply chains (category 3) to 25 percent, where this initiative began in 2021. All of this is equivalent to emission reduction of 1,100,000 tons (compared to the previous target of 700,000 tons).

In line with Lenzing's "Better Growth" strategy, it also continues to encourage recycling activities to accelerate the transformation of the textile and non-woven industries from linear economic models to circulars. Lenzing has proactively developed and encouraged various innovations over the years to provide economical and measurable solutions to global textile waste problems.

Since 2021, Lenzing has teamed up with Soedra, a pulp producer from Sweden, to develop a new process of recycling used textiles that can be applied to the industrial level. The project is backed by a grant of 10 million euros from the European Union (EU) or the European Union (EU) and is part of the 2022 LIFE program.

In addition, Lezing has set new standards in the development of textile products by expanding the use of REFIBRATM technology which now includes LENZINGTM ECOVEROTM fibers. The viscose fiber produced using REFIBRATM technology contains up to 20 percent recycled material made from cellulose materials or polyester-capacity mixtures. With the successful development and increase of this production, the LENZINGTM ECOVEROTM fiber produced using REFIBRATM technology is now available to customers around the world.

In 2023, Lenzing received recognition from various organizations and international agency ratings thanks to the company's performance in the field of sustainability and transparent reporting. For three consecutive years, Lenzing was included in the "A List" list of CDP. In this list, Lenzing managed to get an A for the category Climate, Forest, and Water thanks to the company's environmentally friendly operations for these three aspects.

This also makes Lenzing one of the 10 best global companies (of a total of 21,000 companies) on the list capable of winning three "A". Lenzing also regains Platinum rankings in CSR EcoVadis. This places Lenzing in the one percent of the best companies to earn EcoVadis rankings worldwide. In addition, MSCI ranks "AA" to Lenzing for three consecutive times, placing the company in eight percent of companies that have the highest rankings for the same category.

Lenzing made a significant positive contribution in supporting the European Green Deal policy through various supply chain risk mitigation efforts for customers and risks for other stakeholders. With a scientifically supported net-zero target (category 1, 2, and 3), Lenzing also actively encourages climate protection measures. The first step implemented is the fulfillment of the supply chain regulation requirements listed in (Corporate Sustainability Due Diligence Directive, CSDD), where the company is starting to implement environmental impact analysis and suppliers to obtain EcoVadis certification or Together for Sustainability.

Lenzing also obtained certifications from the Higg Facility Environmental Module (FEM), Higg Facility Social and Labour Module (FSLM), and the ZDHC Foundation which are proof of the company's continuation to ensure production transparency and management. In this case, seven Lenzing Group production sites have been assessed by the Higg Facility Environmental Module (FEM) and obtained outstanding results in 2023.

As a pioneer of sustainability, Lenzing supports Green's Claims Directive's design to stop greenwashing practices and encourages industry players to provide honest information on environmental impacts on their products so that consumers understand better before buying them. In preparing reports of negligence for 2022 and 2023, Lenzing has also implemented the latest European Sustainability Reporting Standards (ESRS).

Sustainability reports and consolidated non-financial reports from the Lenzing Group are part of the annual report for the first time in 2023, compiled in accordance with standards of the Global Reporting Initiative (GRI) and Austrian Sustainability and Diversity Improvement Act (NaDiVeG) and audited by KPMG Austria GmbH Wirtschaftspr Zufungs-und Steuer beratungsgeselschaft.