Sustainability Strategy

Partner for all stakeholders

Sika is a reliable and long-term partner for all its stakeholders. Financially sound, Sika is able to create value. The company aims to be a respected employer, a provider of high-performing and durable products, an attractive long-term investment opportunity, a responsible tax payer, and a good corporate citizen helping communities to flourish. Sika focuses on global technology leadership and market penetration, from new-build construction to refurbishment.

Seven target markets, plenty of opportunities

Sustainability in construction relates to both new-build and refurbishment projects. As a global market leader in the construction chemicals industry, Sika continuously leverages its growth potential in all target markets through innovation, quality, and service. Sika’s seven target markets are Concrete, Waterproofing, Roofing, Flooring, Sealing & Bonding, Refurbishment, and Industry.

From product to solution provider 

Sika provides its customers with innovative solutions that boost the efficiency, durability, and aesthetic appeal of buildings, infrastructure facilities, installations, and vehicles throughout construction and use. The integrated concepts and solutions address the entire life cycle of a facility, from initial construction to repair, refurbishment, and deconstruction. The extension of a facility’s life span through appropriate maintenance and modernisation creates economic and environmental value.    

TARGET 1: All new product developments are reviewed against sustainability criteria using a standardised methodology, including a documented sustainability profile and an appropriate improvement plan where necessary.

TARGET 2: The major Sika national subsidiaries prepare a sustainability action plan and implement all key projects planned in this context. The plan is aligned with local trends and with market requirements, and encompasses the key projects and topics that are geared towards the global initiative. In 2018, this target was achieved.

Innovation drives growth and sustainability

Since the early days of Sika, continuous innovation has been the key driver of the company's successful growth strategy. Sika innovates to reduce the environmental footprint, to increase the efficiency of products and solutions along the entire value chain, and thus responds to the market demand for sustainable solutions.

Implementing life-cycle thinking into practice, from product development to application at customer’s site, marks Sika's aim to move away from being a mere product supplier to a provider of innovative solutions which enhance the efficiency, durability, and aesthetic appeal of buildings, infrastructure, and installations. Integrated concepts and solutions address the entire life-cycle of a built structure, from initial construction and maintenance through to refurbishment or expansion to deconstruction. Sika’s sustainable solutions include a product portfolio which is supplemented by services, tools, and reference projects to quantify the sustainability performance. Quantifiable data on solutions provide evidence about the promised value.

Increasing customer benefit and reducing environmental impact

The contribution of Sika’s solutions with regard to sustainability megatrends is evaluated from a life-cycle perspective along the value chain. The sustainability profile of products, systems, and services is closely linked to their excellent performance. Sika stands for products which are technically superior, user-friendly, and sustainable during their life span, from application to deconstruction. Sika’s products are designed for long-term use, providing more value and causing less impact than comparable alternative products over their life cycle.

TARGET: 5% more social projects per year. Social projects benefit all non-commercial stakeholder groups of local companies and their neighbourhoods. They encompass monetary benefits or material donations, local projects and community engagement programmes, dialogue with stakeholder groups, communal consultation procedures, social activities and programmes, training, environmental projects, or recovery programmes.

Sika wants to sustain local communities in order to help people to help themselves. Fields of activities are:

• buildings and infrastructure for social and ecological projects or
• education, preferably in connection with construction-related professions or
• ecological water projects correlating indirectly with Sika's field of waterproofing activities

The main goals, among others, are to support communities in infrastructure development for social projects, to promote trainings in construction professions and trades, and to provide emergency aid to disaster-stricken regions.

TARGET: 3% less energy consumption per ton and year. This includes the total energy produced and consumed by all Sika companies.

Efficient use of energy

Apart from raw materials, energy is the main resource input for Sika’s operations and thus a relevant cost factor. Therefore, the efficient use of energy is highly important for the company. CO₂ emissions are a consequence of fossil fuel consumption, which can be limited by increasing energy efficiency. The CO₂ footprint of purchased electricity depends on the power production in each country and cannot be influenced easily.

For self-produced electricity, Sika seeks to use low-CO₂ energy sources where possible, for example natural gas instead of oil. Sika is committed to reducing the use of non-renewable energy, thus minimising negative impacts on climate change, reducing costs, and increasing competitiveness.

TARGET WATER: 3% less water consumption per ton and year. This includes water consumed by all Sika companies, whether from public utilities, or from ground or surface water sources.

TARGET WASTE: 3% less waste per ton and year. This includes all waste material sent to external contractors for disposal – except materials returned to suppliers – and covers all Sika companies.

Water - an undervalued resource

Sika takes measures to use water economically by reducing consumption, treating water, and using lower-grade water qualities especially in geographies with water scarcity. Efficient production projects have been implemented using closed-loop cooling, cooling towers, and switching from public to groundwater in order to reduce the amount of processed drinking water used in production. With these measures, the re-use of treated wastewater, and the collection of rainwater at various production sites, Sika reduced its water consumption on a large scale over the past years.

Waste – raw materials waste

Efficient use of input materials is important for all Sika companies. Sika’s production processes are material intensive, using high volumes of resources like sand, cement, fillers, organic raw materials, and packaging and transportation materials. The major commercial impact of input materials makes their efficient use and reuse a mandatory element at Sika. Efficient production means reducing and reusing production scrap and packaging materials, as well as improving packaging design, resulting in higher productivity and lower material use.

TARGET: 5% less accidents per year. This refers to the number of work-related accidents leading to injuries, and covers all Sika employees. This includes temporary and subcontracted staff.

Safe and effective equipment, organisation, and work processes

Health, safety, and well-being of all employees and partners are essential for the success of Sika's business, and are core concerns throughout the organisation. This requires focus and a systematic approach: Management commitment, risk analysis, health and safety standards, employee involvement, and training and education are key components of Sika’s health and safety framework.

Health and safety culture

Sika strives to live up to its commitments regarding health and safety: “Nothing we do is worth getting hurt for”. The company has implemented management systems according to ISO 14001 and OHSAS 18001 in all major sites. A strong safety culture is embedded in every Sika site.