Value chain partners have joined forces with AkzoNobel in the fields of circular solutions, process efficiency and solvent reduction in a determined effort to collectively reduce carbon emissions in the paints and coatings value chain.

Five teams have been established following a recent Discovery Day, where results and learnings were presented from the first phase of the company’s Paint the Future Collaborative Sustainability Challenge.

This has now set in motion the next phase of the pioneering initiative, which was launched with 28 partners (including customers, suppliers, NGOs and academia) in May 2022. Since then, various teams have been working on possible solutions to a series of challenges that need to be overcome to help limit climate change.

A total of five agreed projects will now progress, with AkzoNobel involved in the following:

• Circular solutions – Help the coatings industry take sustainability into account by identifying potential value proposition-based metrics that could be used to measure sustainability of products and promote sustainable choices
• Process efficiency – Help raw material suppliers to realise disruptive new process technologies that enable sustainable product solutions by proposing working models that share risks along the value chain
• Solvent emissions – Help the marine coatings industry to provide products to the market with minimal solvent applications by campaigning for solutions for a faster decarbonisation of the value chain
• The following two projects will also move forward:
• Circular solutions – Help the paints and coatings value chain to increase the share and trust in sustainable raw materials by establishing a framework to categorise and create a common understanding of the benefits and limitations of sustainable raw materials
• Solvent emissions – Help partners in the European paints and coatings value chain to advance the reduction of solvent emissions by publicly disclosing third-party assured data on solvent usage as input for Lifecycle Assessments

Commenting on the outcome of Discovery Day, Wijnand Bruinsma, AkzoNobel’s Director of Sustainability, says: “I’m proud of what we’ve been able to achieve with partners from across the value chain.

“Multiple collaborations relating to sustainability have started among parties who wouldn’t normally work directly together. Now we’re transitioning to the next phase and we have the right parties in place to bring us closer to our mutual goal of reducing carbon emissions.” 

He adds that as well as identifying five projects to take forward, the company’s initiative has been a vital catalyst for connecting the value chain for more understanding and future carbon reduction opportunities.