Syngenta Group announces new global sustainability goals and advances its ESG agenda

Date:05-02-2024

Syngenta Group unveiled its new sustainability priorities, celebrating a new milestone in its ESG agenda. The commitments made are intended to respond to the challenges imposed by the current scenario, in which the continuous increase in productivity and the reduction of impact on our planet are demanded, with emphasis on emissions linked to agricultural practices.

"We understand that only through innovation and constant practices, carried out in collaboration with and focused on farmers, will we be able to achieve concrete goals. This is how Syngenta Group's four sustainability priorities were born:

More productivity with less impact

Objective: to accelerate the productivity of crops in the agricultural sector while reducing the impact on the planet through more sustainable technologies.

Goals:

• By 2030, train 18 million rural workers per year in the correct and safe use of products;

  
  

• Connect 100 million hectares of farmland to CROPWISE^® digital technologies by 2030;

  
  

• Drive the portfolio towards better sustainability performance through the implementation of Portfolio Sustainability Criteria (PSF), starting in 2024 with the Syngenta Crop Protection business unit.

Regenerating soil and nature

Objective: To enable the adoption of regenerative agriculture practices to help farmers increase productivity, soil health, biodiversity, and improve the climate.

Goals:

• Enable the adoption of regenerative agriculture practices on 50 million hectares by 2030;

  
  

• Ensure 85% of seed production through regenerative agriculture practices by 2030.

Increasing rural prosperity

Objective: To strengthen the prosperity of low-income and low-access farmers by providing inputs, knowledge, financing and access to markets.

Goals:

• Reach 1,000 farmer service centers by 2028 and increase the income of served farmers by 8% compared to those not served;

  
  

• Through the launch of innovative programs for fruit and vegetable producers, increase the profit of our smallholder customers by 10% by 2030;

  
  

• Fair work program implemented in all countries where we produce and process seeds by 2025.

Sustainable Operations

Objective: To reduce the environmental impact of our operations and supply chain, strengthen our diverse and inclusive culture, and ensure the health and safety of our employees.

Goals:

• Reduce Scope 1 and 2 emissions by 38% by 2030 compared to 2022;

  
  

• Set the Scope 3* emissions target, starting with Syngenta Crop Protection and Syngenta Seeds by 2025 (*export activities are not in scope);

  
  

• Target of zero incidents in operations - The interim goal is for the injury and illness rate to be below 0.25 by 2025 across all four business units.

"We are proud to highlight not only our commitment to the evolution of our global ESG agenda, but mainly to keep sustainability absolutely connected to our strategy, as it really needs to be inseparable from the way we practice our business," said Grazielle Parenti, LATAM Vice President of Sustainability and Corporate Affairs at Syngenta.

The executive also highlights the relevance of Brazil and its tropical agriculture for the achievement of the global goals assumed by the group: "Here, we have seen efforts materializing in concrete actions, as is the case of the Reverte Program, which promotes the recovery of degraded areas through the application of specific agronomic protocols based on long-term financing. Thus, enabling the increase of agricultural productivity while regenerating the soil, capturing carbon and eliminating the need to open new areas. Currently, Reverte is present in 198 thousand hectares, having reached the milestone of R$ 1 billion in credits released to farmers who are signatories to the program, by Itaú BBA, our financial partner".

Since 2013, the company has had its "Good Growth Plan" as a sustainability compass. We achieved our initial goals, updating them in 2020, and we have dramatically evolved the practice of sustainability in agriculture, through the numerous projects, partnerships, and results achieved by the Plan.

Now, we're gearing up to do even more. Our objectives and goals highlight the incorporation of sustainability into our business strategy, as well as the ambition that guides our innovation and adds a new level of transparency to the way we will continue to work for the prosperity of agribusiness, in Brazil and around the world.