Our approach to Risk Management

Facing global economic and political uncertainty, evolving power balances, changing growth dynamics, shorter market cycles, greater sensitivity to climate change and energy transition issues, and rapid technological evolution, Solvay reviews all its risks annually to ensure it can achieve its strategic objectives while fully complying with laws, regulations, and the Solvay Code of Conduct. Solvay’s risk management approach is always considered in the context of sustainability and enriched by stakeholder dialog. It enables us to anticipate and adapt to opportunities and risks in a volatile global marketplace.

As 2017 represented a milestone in our transformation, we paid attention specifically to assessing major projects linked to our portfolio upgrade – whether acquisitions, major capital investments, or transversal projects – with an appropriate risk assessment methodology, while carefully monitoring evolutions in our markets and our global environment. Along with risks linked to Solvay’s industrial operations, the Group focuses on ethics and compliance, as well as climate-related risks.

Evolution of Solvay’s main risks

We have designed a dynamic, highly-decentralized process where key players assess the risks in their areas of responsibility or expertise, at all levels of the Group. A dedicated dashboard is updated twice a year both for progress on mitigation actions and for new developments in the risk environment.

Contributing to the transition to a climate-friendly economy

Concerns over climate change are higher than ever today and companies must adapt to growing regulatory, environmental, and consumer pressures. Solvay focuses on two specific risks in this regard: climate transition risk and climate-related physical risks.

We develop concrete actions to contribute to the transition to a climate-friendly economy, among them:

• We align the transformation of our business portfolio with our climate commitments.
• We have appointed a Climate Supervisor at Executive Committee level, in charge of ensuring that climate related aspects are well considered in the Group’s strategy and operations.
• Through our Sustainable Portfolio Management (SPM) tool, we are deeply committed to developing climate-positive solutions which will help our customers address climate issues. SPM criteria include climate-related criteria aligned to 2° C scenarios.
• We apply an internal price of €25 per ton of CO₂ equivalent to greenhouse gas emissions in all our investment decisions, so climate-related impacts form part of our strategic choices.

Solvay endeavors to identify, assess, and manage climate transition-related risks, as recommended by the Task Force on Climate-related Financial Disclosures (TCFD).

-24%

Reduction of Greenhouse Gas emission over two years

49%

Net sales generated by sustainable Solutions

26%

Solutions linked to climate change mitigation
(lower greenhouse gas emissions and/or improved energy efficiency)

Beyond taking the necessary steps to anticipate and tackle climate-related risks, we believe that taking effective action will allow us to turn such risks into opportunities and a significant competitive advantage.

Vincent De Cuyper Member of the Executive Committee and Climate Supervisor