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Challenge
The client's customers were challenging them to reduce their carbon footprint to align with the Paris Agreement and various climate action plans.
Solution
The client improved its Ecovadis rating after RSM helped to establish a roadmap for carbon footprint reduction, enabling the client to achieve a 67/100 Ecovadis rating, placing the client in the top 5% of its industry peers.
Success
RSM’s guidance, analysis and reporting structures not only aligned our client with global climate action plans but also unlocked cost savings and strengthened their competitive position in the market.
Client overview:
RSM’s client in Belgium is a global market leader in the production of zinc-derived products. Their products are used in a wide range of applications, including agriculture, glass and ceramics, tyres and rubber, pharmaceuticals, cosmetics, chemicals and lubricants, polymers, paints and coatings, and batteries.
Background:
The client's customers were challenging them to reduce their carbon footprint to align with the Paris Agreement and various climate action plans. The market competition in the zinc industry is intense, and reducing carbon emissions could lead to energy transition, energy reduction, and improved energy efficiency. However, the client's organisation lacked the necessary expertise and maturity to address these sustainability challenges effectively.
Our project objectives:
- To analyse Scope 1, 2, and 3 emissions for all plants in Europe, Australia, USA, Canada, China, and Malaysia.
- To conduct a maturity assessment and establish an energy improvement action plan.
- Determining the company's carbon footprint and cost according to the ETS-norm.
Our approach:
RSM adopted a structured approach to achieve the project objectives:
- Stakeholder engagement: One of the client’s key requirements was for RSM to engage with a team that works in multiple languages and diverse cultures across multiple continents. Diversity is at the heart of RSM’s global community, and the project team ensured that this was reinforced throughout the engagement.
- Carbon footprint and emissions analysis: Taking a pragmatic approach to data collection, RSM engaged the client and suppliers within the client’s value chain to determine its overall carbon footprint.
- ESG maturity assessment: RSM performed a comprehensive maturity assessment to identify gaps in the client's current ESG performance. Our assessment helped to provide insight for formulating strategies and recommendations to enhance the client’s sustainability practices.
- Carbon footprint cost analysis: Having calculated the client’s overall carbon footprint, RSM used the EU’s Emissions Trading System to calculate the potential financial impact of this footprint on the organisation’s operations.
- Real-time insights: RSM’s proprietary RSiMS tool gave the client real-time insight into their carbon footprint, energy consumption and the cost impacts associated with it.
Challenges:
- Organisational readiness: The client's organisation was at an earlier stage of its sustainability journey, with different continents embracing sustainability at varying levels. RSM’s project team worked to foster a shared understanding of sustainability concepts by defining stakeholders’ roles and responsibilities and highlighting the strategic importance of the project.
- Market competition: Intense market competition and a customer-driven strategy meant that the client often prioritised delivery over sustainability considerations, causing carbon footprint reduction to be viewed as a burden rather than an opportunity. RSM’s maturity assessment and carbon footprint cost analysis helped to shift the organisation’s perspective in relation to ESG opportunities.
How success was measured
- Positive commercial impact: RSM’s guidance, analysis and reporting structures helped the client to renew contracts with major tire, decoration, and care-business customers based on its enhanced sustainability performance.
- Process analysis and improvement of efficiency: Aligning with global climate action plans, the client established energy-efficient processes and a clear roadmap for carbon footprint reduction (including Power Purchase Agreements, adapting its value chain to include lower-emission suppliers and an electrification of its fleet) based on the reporting structures and ESG consulting services provided by RSM.
- Cost reduction: Using RSM’s framework for carbon footprint cost calculation, the client identified opportunities for cost savings through energy efficiency and reduced carbon emissions.
- Comprehensive ESG reporting: RSM’s comprehensive reporting framework help the client to provide transparent, traceable, and auditable information to support decision-making.
- Improved Ecovadis rating: The client improved its Ecovadis rating after RSM helped to establish a roadmap for carbon footprint reduction. RSM’s guidance helped the client to achieve a 67/100 Ecovadis rating, placing the client in the top 5% of its industry peers.
- Leveraged proprietary tool: RSM’s proprietary RSiMS real-time reporting tool was leveraged to provide transparent and adaptable insights, gaining the client's trust and facilitating effective decision-making.
Creating a unique offering
The RSM team in Belgium collaborated with our client to create a comprehensive strategy to address their carbon footprint and enhance their sustainability practices. By leveraging our expertise and proprietary tools, we provided a transparent and accessible analysis of their emissions across all scopes and regions.
Through this collaborative approach, we tailored recommendations for energy efficiency improvements, process optimisations, and carbon footprint reduction measures. These initiatives not only aligned our client with global climate action plans but also unlocked cost savings and strengthened their competitive position in the market.
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