Bio-sourced at the service of sustainability
The coatings industry has to find ways to implement sustainable solutions on a larger scale and reduce its carbon footprint over the next 5 to 10 years. About half of the carbon footprint of a coatings producer is caused by the raw materials. As biomass is capturing and storing atmospheric CO₂ thanks to photosynthesis, bio-based chemistry can support in the decarbonation journey.
Our mission is to facilitate this transition by placing eco-design at the heart of our customers’ R&D thanks to our alkyd high-carbon biobased binders.
As a matter of fact, since its fundation, Ecoat has been believing in bio-based polymers as an alternative to petro-based and water-based dispersion instead of solvent based to provide safer and more environmental friendly solutions to the coatings industry and their final users.
With a profound sense of purpose, Ecoat has integrated ecological transformation into its core strategy, by promoting the use of second hand/recycled equipments, by integrating low impact raw materials in its chemistry, by favouring local sourcing and using green chemistry and ecodesign principles at early R&D stages.
We leverage now our recognized expertise combining Life Cycle Assessment and Biobased to accelerate the shift towards lower impact coatings solutions.
As of July 2022, Ecoat has officially gained the qualification of “Société à mission”, through its registration in the national register of companies, which engraves a mission statement (“raison d’être”) as well as 3 statutory objectives driving our long-term strategy.
According to French law (the “Loi Pacte” of May 22nd 2019) a “Société à Mission” (Mission-driven company) refers to a new type of corporate structure in France aimed at combining economic activities with a commitment to social and environmental objectives.
This legal status requires companies to define and pursue a mission and statutory objectives that contribute to the common good, and to nominate a Mission Committee (“Comité de mission”). The company is legally obliged to assess and report every year operational objectives and indicators related to ambitious targets in line with its statutory objectives.
To keep its qualification of “Société à Mission the company needs to be regularly audited by an independant third party with a frequency depending on the size of the company,
The Mission Committee plays a crucial role in overseeing and ensuring the company’s commitment to its specified mission. The responsibilities of the Mission Committee include:
- monitoring the mission (to ensure that the company’s activities are consistent with the defined mission),
- assessing and measuring the social and environmental impact of the company’s operations,
- reporting this activity and providing to the company’s leadership recommendations on how to enhance or adjust its activities to better align with the mission and improve its social and environmental impact.
The milestone of 1000 “Sociétés à Mission” was reached end of 2022
A mission-based company
OUR GOALS
Innovate by integrating a sustainable dimension into 100% of the solutions we develop
Measure our impact on the environment and use our eco-design expertise to help our industry move forward
Engage our employees in an agile, high-performance organization, by encouraging free expression and initiative, fostering respect and listening, and giving them the opportunity to develop their skills and grow.
The Switcher offer to support your decarbonization roadmap
Ecoat’s commitment to sustainability goes beyond providing low carbon footprint products. Since the last quarter of 2021, we have developed a service offer to support the coatings industry into the ecological transition.
This includes:
- Raising awareness around environmental issues such as changing legislation and carbon footprints for the coatings industry
- Challenging strategic positioning and Corporate Social Responsibility (CSR) programs
- Assessing the carbon footprint and impact of existing paints, identifying areas for improvement, and developing working plans
- Engaging with raw material suppliers to collect primary data, embark them on the sustainability journey, and obtain further information about the process and sourcing
- Providing ecological paint formulations based on Ecoat’s technology, along with Life Cycle Assessment (LCA) to help customers eco-design, reduce, and measure their carbon footprint reduction compared to a reference scenario
- Using LCA as a decision-making tool for design, process, composition, distribution, sourcing, and communication purposes
- Offering support on marketing positioning.
Definition of your goals and strategy together
Sustainability scope, CSR scope, segment and timing selection
Answer your needs through formulation, LCA/EPD
Ecological design, formulation, life cycle assessment, EPD support, feedback on the outputs
We help you settle your new strategy!
Through technical and marketing advice to avoid greenwashing allegations
Our Corporate Social Responsibility
Combined with our long term & strategic mission, we have set up a Corporate Social Responsibilty policy to monitor our sustainability at operational level. Since April 2022, Ecoat has pledged to uphold the principles of the Responsible Care® charter and use this highly relevant framework to structure its Corporate Social Responsibility policy.
RESPONSIBLE CARE
Responsible Care® initiative from CEFIC (European Chemical Industry Council) represents the global chemical industry’s shared commitment to the safe management of chemicals throughout their life cycle. It also aims to promote their role in improving the quality of life and their contribution to sustainable development.
For Small and Medium sized companies (SMEs) that do not necessarily have all the QHSE ISo certification, following Responsible Care® guidances ensures to integrate the main chapters of ISO 9001, ISO 14001 and ISO 26000 in their continuous improvment action plans.
France Chimie offers personalized support to help SMEs companies conduct their Responsible Care® self-diagnosis.
Ecoat is very proud to have taken part into the first collective action organized by France Chimie (European pilot for the self-diagnostic tool),
We were thus able to appropriate the self-assessment diagnosis according to the methodology and criteria put in place by France Chimie. Our diagnosis has been verified by peers and experts. Our action plan has been refined. We obtained the “confirmed diagnosis” in December 2022.
INTERNAL POLICY
Our commitment declaration signed by our leader team is aligned with our mission (Raison d’être), the UN Sustainable Goals, and Responsible Care®.
- ENSURE THE HEALTH AND SAFETY OF PEOPLE AND THE INTEGRITY OF INSTALLATIONS
- OPERATE ETHICALLY, RESPECTING THE PRINCIPLE OF LEGALITY AND THE PRIMACY OF LAW
- PUT OUR STAKEHOLDERS AT THE HEART OF OUR BUSINESS
- INNOVATE BY INTEGRATING A SUSTAINABLE DIMENSION INTO 100% OF THE SOLUTIONS WE DEVELOP
- MEASURE OUR IMPACT ON THE ENVIRONMENT AND USE OUR ECO-DESIGN EXPERTISE TO HELP OUR INDUSTRY MOVE FORWARD
- ENGAGE OUR EMPLOYEES IN AN AGILE AND HIGH-PERFORMANCE ORGANIZATION
Ecoat has submitted its second EcoVadis application during the first quarter of 2024. We have obtained the bronze medal, meaning that we are in the top 35% of companies regarding CSR policy and actions. Our overall rating having risen from 56 to 62 since our first medal in 2022.
EcoVadis is a comprehensive assessment service that offers Corporate Social Responsibility (CSR) evaluations. The EcoVadis rating emphasizes a wide range of non-financial management systems, with a particular focus on the consequences of Environment, Social & Human Rights, Ethics, and Responsible Purchasing. Each company is evaluated based on critical issues such as size, location, and sector of activity.
The service provides evidence-based assessments that are translated into clear scorecards displaying a score ranging from zero to one hundred (0-100), along with medals (bronze, silver, gold) where applicable. The scorecards offer guidance on strengths and opportunities for improvement, enabling assessed companies to focus their sustainability efforts and develop corrective action plans to boost their CSR performance.
PROOVES & TESTIMONY
We go beyond our legal obligations as we are voluntary measuring our GreenHouse Gas emissions (GHG) based on the 3 scopes and we are issuing a CSR report since 2022. Our Mission Committee & CSR teams organize event to foster Sustainability awareness of the employees : Challenges during the European sustainability weeks, “Green days” initiatives for the R&D-HQ team, CSR feedback during visio sessions…
Our involvement in professional associations related to green chemistry, the coatings industry, and local community initiatives also reflects our commitment to our mission and our interaction with external stakeholders to impact positively our community and industry.
As for examples, we can emphasize our historical and active membership to the french association of Biobased Chemistry (ACDV, “Association de la Chimie du Végétal“), our regular testimony & experience sharing during AFPTVA regional meetings (Association Française des Peintures, Colles, encres et Adhesifs), our active participation to the local community of EBG : ”Bois de Grasse Entreprises” (industrial zone where our R&D and Headquarter is located).
