Management approach
Material topic: Sustainable innovations & products
[GRI 3-3]
Sustainability acts as a guiding principle for Lenzing’s innovation and product development, which is driving systematic change across the textile and nonwoven industries. The continual improvement of existing products and production technologies builds business resilience and reputation, as well as facilitating the supply of products to value chain partners that contribute to the eco-credentials of their own portfolios. Moving from linear to circular ways of working presents many opportunities for Lenzing to provide customers with a variety of environmental-friendlier solutions, such as biodegradable fibers for the manufacturing of agricultural and hygiene products.
Actual and potential negative and positive impacts, risks and opportunities
Positive
- Meeting market and stakeholder expectations
- Differentiating factor
- Being prepared for new challenges
- Being a pioneering company
- Building new cooperation and networks
- Challenging the status quo
Negative
Own activities:
- Loss of leadership in innovation carries potential regulatory, financial, market and corporate reputational risks
Policies and commitments
- “Better Growth” strategy
- “Naturally Positive” sustainability strategy with the “Sustainable innovations” strategic focus area
- Life cycle thinking
- Net-benefit concept
- Zero Discharge of Hazardous Chemicals (ZDHC)
- PRO2 project management system (product & application innovation and process & technology innovation) as part of Lenzing’s business processes
- Management review (ISO 9001:2015)
Actions taken
- Every idea is evaluated regarding its sustainability impact such as GHG emissions – R&D projects will proceed only if predefined sustainability criteria are met
- Adaption of processes and interfaces between innovation teams and other departments according to the new organizational structure, to ensure continuation of close and efficient cooperation
- Numerous R&D partnerships with customers, companies, universities, and institutes (national and international)
- Development of a digital global production overview system to optimize resources and energy use for the production of pulp and fibers
- Cooperation between Södra and Lenzing in the field of textile recycling
- Lenzing and Renewcell signed a large-scale supply agreement further closing the loop in fashion (chemical textile recycling)
- Lenzing is a partner in the Horizon Europe Circular and Sustainable Textiles and Clothing (CISUTAC) project
- Through CISUTAC, Lenzing participates in ECOSYSTEX, a community of 26 EU-funded projects focusing on textile sustainability that aims at ensuring collaboration across project consortia
- FFG-funded Reducing Energy and Waste using AI (REWAI) project together with Pro2Future, University of Linz and Graz University of Technology
- Advancing the renewable carbon concept as a member of the Renewable Carbon Initiative (RCI)
- 1,351 patents and patent applications filed across 163 patent families and in 50 countries
Sustainability targets, measures and progress
All of Lenzing’s sustainability targets can be found in the “General information” chapter.
Stakeholders
- Customers
- Regulatory bodies (national, European, international)
- NGOs, active in the field of (textile) sustainability, such as Canopy
- Associations and networks such as RCI, European Polysaccharide Network of Excellence (EPNOE) and the European Platform for the Future of Textiles and Clothing (Textile ETP)
- Technical and standardization committees
- Funding authorities (e.g. annual talk with FFG)
- Framework of the PRO2 process for project management system
- Södra
- Wood K Plus
- Christian Doppler Laboratory
- Reducing Energy and Waste using AI (REWAI)
- Circular and Sustainable Textiles and Clothing (CISUTAC)
- Bilateral research
- Industry associations and initiatives
Responsible
- CPO/CTO
- VP Innovation & Excellence
Supporting
- Commercial Nonwovens and Textiles
- Global Strategy and M&A
- Global Engineering
- Operations
- Corporate Sustainability
Sustainable innovations represent one of the strategic focus areas of Lenzing’s “Naturally Positive” sustainability strategy. Lenzing is committed to bringing cellulose based solutions to the market that offer consumers more sustainable alternatives without compromising on quality and performance. Sustainable innovations include substantial efficiency improvements in existing technologies and technological breakthroughs that lead to net-benefit products. Lenzing innovation also includes driving systemic change through forward-looking solutions, future-proof business models and a multitude of collaborative activities. Another growth activity is the implementation of digital tools and solutions to achieve even more transparent processes and products. For more information, please see the “Digitalization & cyber security” chapter.
The Lenzing Group introduced a new organizational structure in innovations in 2023. Application and product development is now part of the business units Textile and Nonwovens, both with dedicated innovations groups. This brings new developments and innovations closer to the customers. Technology development and more basic research (Global Research) is part of the Innovation and Excellence department – together with Global Technology. There is strong interaction and exchange between all innovation-related groups as well as with other departments.
Due to the reorganization, a straight comparison of the R&D expenditure with former years is not completely feasible. In 2023, R&D expenditure, calculated according to the Frascati method (minus funding received), accounted for EUR 31.6 mn (2022: EUR 34.8 mn, 2021: EUR 31.6 mn). The 1,351 patents and patent applications (in 163 patent families) that Lenzing holds in 50 countries worldwide are another indication of the Lenzing Group’s innovativeness.
Funding for sustainable developments
Sustainability criteria are becoming more and more important as guidelines and requirements for R&D funding, both on a national and European level. Lenzing, which has been active in this field for a long time, uses this opportunity to boost in-house developments. It is also active in cooperative research projects.
Lenzing was one of the few companies to receive the highly coveted “Green Frontrunner” funding for a project in the first call in 2021. In 2023, Lenzing intensified its activities in the field of EU-funded projects, which are also useful for networking and building new cooperations. Lenzing now is a partner in CISUTAC, LIFE-TREATS (Textile Recycling in Europe at Scale) and ESCIB (Developing environmental sustainability & circularity assessment methodologies for industrial bio-based systems). Several other proposals are pending. For more information, please see the “Research collaborations” section.
Resource- and energy-efficient production processes (and the R&D infrastructure) are the foundation for the development of new fibers that offer both sustainability and performance. These fibers serve as raw materials for the textile and nonwoven industries, and are often developed together with value chain partners or other stakeholders. As new fibers are mainly tailored to special application fields, this goes hand in hand with the development of the respective applications.
Management approach
Material topic: Sustainable materials & life cycle assessment (LCA)
[GRI 3-3]
Actual and potential negative and positive impacts, risks and opportunities
Positive
- Strengthening market position in sustainable net-benefit products and specialty fibers
- Communicating sustainability benefits of Lenzing’s products
- Involvement in creating future standards for environmental communication (product environmental footprint, product category rules, etc.)
- Gaining expertise in life-cycle thinking to proactively demonstrate sustainable development
- Supporting current and future customers in achieving their sustainability targets
Negative
Own activities:
- “Greenhushing” – producing sustainable materials/products but not being able to communicate
- Loss of reputation from not being transparent
- Potential regulatory, technology and market risks
Policies and commitments
- “Better Growth” strategy
- Partnering for systemic change as part of the “Naturally Positive” sustainability strategy
- Sustainability Policy
- Group Policy for Safety, Health and Environment
- Group Environmental Standard
- Wood and Pulp Policy
- Branding Strategy
- Higg MSI
Actions taken
- Further extension of LCA studies for standard and specialty fiber portfolio
- Further extension of low-carbon fiber products with corresponding offsets of remaining emissions
- Start-up of strategic growth projects in Brazil and Thailand
- Lenzing’s fibers listed as “preferred fibers” in Textile Exchange’s Preferred Fiber Report
- Lenzing contributed to the Textile Exchange’s Corporate Fibers and Materials Benchmark Program (CFMB) including the Biodiversity Benchmark
- Yearly update of Textile Exchange’s MMCF Producer Transparency Questionnaire to provide information about the sustainability performance at the group and production site levels
- Lenzing contributing to leading multi-stakeholder initiatives
- Broad range of third-party certifications
- LCA updates involving independent third-party
- Continuation of cooperation with Cascale (formerly SAC) and its’ Material Sustainability Index (MSI)
Sustainability targets, measures and progress
All of Lenzing’s sustainability targets can be found in the “General information” chapter.
Responsible
- VP Corporate Sustainability
- EVP Commercial Nonwoven
- EVP Commercial Textile
- SVP Global Supply Chain/Purchasing
Supporting
- Global QESH
- Research & Development