Environment

Environmental responsibility is a key element in making Johnson Matthey a more sustainable business. We have an impact on the environment in many ways – through the resources we use, the way we operate our processes and the action of our products and services on enhancing the environment for others.

We take raw materials and apply our knowledge and expertise to turn them into more valuable products. The costs of these raw materials are likely to increase in future as they are depleted or become harder to access. By increasing the efficiency with which we use these valuable resources, we will generate cost savings for our business today and help to conserve resources for the future.

The recycling and reuse of precious metals are a fundamental element of what we do. We shall continue to draw on our expertise in this area to benefit the resource efficiency of our own operations and provide enhanced solutions and services for our customers.

Environmental targets are a key part of our Sustainability 2017 Vision. The group aims to become carbon neutral, achieve zero waste to landfill and to halve the key resources per unit output consumed by 2017. In order to meet these aspirations, long term environmental improvement plans and performance indicators have now been established.

The group also has a target to achieve ISO 14001 registration at all major manufacturing sites by 2010. Good progress has been made during the year and by the end of 2008/09, 32 sites had achieved ISO 14001 registration representing 80% of our manufacturing workforce. All other manufacturing sites have plans in place to achieve registration during 2009/10.

Biodiversity

By the nature of our business activities, Johnson Matthey has very little negative impact on the biodiversity of terrestrial, freshwater and marine environments. We do not have any manufacturing facilities located in areas of significant eco-importance. As part of all significant investments and acquisitions, we complete a detailed environmental impact assessment. In addition, all our manufacturing sites that have an ISO 14001 compliant management system undertake an environmental impacts assessment that formally identifies how their operations may have an effect upon local biodiversity. Over the years, we have managed a number of projects looking at improving the areas of biodiversity at our operating sites.

Read more about our environmental policy and management system

Back to top