AkzoNobel launches a 24-hour challenge to rally partners and combat climate change

AkzoNobel has started a groundbreaking program that is meant to help the paint and coatings industry as a whole cut carbon emissions faster.

In order to create a common strategy for combating climate change, the company has invited partners from all points along the value chain to participate in its Collaborative Sustainability Challenge.

The 24-hour event, scheduled for May, will bring together senior executives and emerging leaders from a select group of partners, including suppliers and customers, for open discussions in a non-confidential setting.

“Successfully tackling the impact of climate change is everyone’s responsibility,” says AkzoNobel CEO, Thierry Vanlancker. “Having set science-based sustainability targets to halve our carbon emissions across the full value chain by 2030, we’re fully committed to getting there. However, we know the only way for us to achieve that ambition – and play our part in limiting global warming to 1.5˚C above pre-industrial levels – is to collaborate with our partners.”

“There are unprecedented challenges we all need to overcome,” adds Klaas Kruithof, AkzoNobel’s Chief Technology Officer. “Achieving this will require collaborative innovation across the industry. We want to challenge ourselves and our partners to collectively identify opportunities in the areas we’ll be discussing, which will result in just one true winner – our planet.” The forthcoming Collaborative Sustainability Challenge will build on the success of Paint the Future, which has already established a strong collaborative innovation ecosystem with startups, suppliers, academia and customers. Continues Vanlancker: “Paint the Future has revolutionized innovation in the paints and coatings industry and this challenge is a natural progression, because our science-based sustainability target is clearly a driver for innovation. It’s about challenging ourselves and our partners every day to be better global citizens and protect the future of our planet – which is fundamental to our own People. Planet. Paint. approach to doing business.” AkzoNobel’s Collaborative Sustainability Challenge is scheduled to take place in Amsterdam, the Netherlands, between May 17 and 18, 2022.

Source: AkzoNobel newsroom