Evonik aims to become more sustainable with new Group strategy

Sustainability is to be integrated into all elements of Evonik's corporate strategy. The German chemical company is fully aligning its portfolio with the three growth divisions Specialty Additives, Nutrition & Care and Smart Materials. "We are positioning businesses that we are divesting for strategic reasons in the best possible way in order to responsibly pave the way to a bright future for them," says Evonik CEO Christian Kullmann. Preparations for the separation of all three businesses of the Performance Materials Division - Superabsorbents, Functional Solutions and Performance Intermediates - have already begun. Evonik aims to find new owners or partners for each of the three businesses in the course of 2023.

The proceeds from the sale of the Performance Materials Division's businesses and the operating cash flow of the coming years will flow into the green transformation. By 2030, Evonik plans to invest more than €3 billion in Next Generation Solutions, i.e. products with superior sustainability benefits. This corresponds to around 80 percent of annual growth investments. Over the same period, a further €700 million will be invested in Next Generation Technologies, i.e. in the further development of production processes and infrastructure to reduce CO2 emissions. "We are significantly increasing our handprint and reducing our footprint at the same time," says Thomas Wessel, the Executive Board member responsible for sustainability. Evonik aims to reduce its footprint by significantly reducing direct and indirect greenhouse gas emissions from its own production and manufacturing processes.