Resources and Environment
Group policy
Our business and communities depend on the sustainable consumption of natural resources and protection of the environment and biodiversity. We will work to improve the life cycle and circularity impacts of our products and supply chain.
Risks & opportunities
The key risks and opportunities associated with resources and environment are summarized in the table of materiality page (Materiality, Risk, Opportunity). While these are largely common across the consolidated group, though individual PCGs do have different focus areas and action priorities that reflect the local maturity of their improvement journeys.
Improvement & performance
In 2024, total waste generated increased 9.1% to 16 kg/t,
while the hazardous waste proportion increased 3.7 percentage points (pp) to 40.3%.
Waste recovered (recycled, reused) increased by 14.9 pp to 45.7% of total waste generated.
The changes are influenced by a range of factors, including inclusion of recent acquisitions
offset by improved efficiencies through implementation of waste recovery improvement initiatives,
and improvements in data consolidation and reporting.
For water performance, total water withdrawal
slightly increased by 0.9% to 0.55 kL/t, while water consumed increased 2.3% to 0.48 kL/t.
For 2024, 56% of total water consumption was from high stress regions, a decrease of
3.8 pp from the previous year. This high stress metric was established to improve understanding of
water consumption in regions of high or extremely high water stress. The metric is now in the second
year of reporting as we continue work across the PCGs to develop insights for the priority areas for improvement.
Performance
Performance and changes versus the prior year for individual PCGs are summarized in the following table, together with the key improvement priorities for the year.
Metrics and results related to Resources and Environment (2024)
* Figures in brackets indicate year-on-year change
| PCG | Waste | Water | Improvement Priorities | ||||
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Total Waste Generated (kg/t) |
Hazardous Waste Generated (% of total) |
Waste Recovered (% of total) |
Total Water Withdrawn (kL/t) |
Total Water Consumed (kL/t) |
Water Consumption in High Stress Regions (% of total) |
||
| NIPSEA Group | 12.1 (+16.3%) |
52.8% (+6.0pp) |
37.3% (-26.4pp) |
0.49 (+0.2%) |
0.48 (+0.8%) |
63% (-3pp) |
Nippon Paint China implemented a full lifecycle waste management system which enhances waste information tracking, improves recycling efficiency, and reduces or eliminates adverse environmental impacts |
| DuluxGroup | 32.9 (-17.9%) |
24.1% (-2.5pp) |
52.4% (-0.1pp) |
0.57 (+4.8%) |
0.38 (+12.2%) |
27% (-9pp) |
Continued delivery of the 2030 waste to landfill reduction target and roadmap which includes focus on reduction or diversion opportunities for the most significant waste streams and developed waste improvement plans to manage implementation of key initiatives |
| Japan Group | 53.1 (-0.8%) |
11.0% (-1.4pp) |
82.7% (-2.1pp) |
1.63 (-1.6%) |
0.57 (+7.5%) |
0% (0pp) |
Promoted the conversion of waste into valuable resources through improved separation practices. Also implemented initiatives to optimize water usage, including reuse of wash water (second-cycle use) in paint formulation, and increased recycling of wash water within operations |
| Dunn-Edwards | 36.4 (+267.5%)* |
2.9% (+1.9pp) |
15.3% (+9.8pp) |
0.85 (+35.5%) |
0.85 (+69.7%) |
0% (0pp) |
Commenced reporting waste from stores, increasing visibility on performance |
| Total | 16.0 (+9.1%) |
40.3% (+3.7pp) |
45.7% (+14.9pp) |
0.55 (+0.9%) |
0.48 (+2.3%) |
56% (-4pp) |
Ongoing sharing of best practices across the Group |
* Store waste is now included in reporting scope, which comprises approximately 70–80% of total waste
For details on Resources and Environment, see the ESG Data page.