Smit & Zoon publishes 2021 ESG report
Leather chemicals group Royal Smit & Zoon has published its environment and social, governance (ESG) report for 2021.
It said major achievements in the course of the year included receiving the royal predicate from King Willem-Alexander of the Netherlands; in July 2021, the company became “Royal” Smit & Zoon. It said the honour, was “a visible reward for the efforts of seven generations of entrepreneurship, innovation, and care for our customers”. It said the award was also an incentive to continue along the road of sustainable innovation.
The company also highlighted its achievement in receiving a gold ranking from global business sustainability assessor EcoVadis, putting it in the top 7% of all companies EcoVadis audited last year.
It also pointed to its zeolite-based Zeology tanning system and the Nera brand it has set up to bring the technology to market, saying they had succeeded in moving “from concept to products” in 2021.
“The future of our industry depends on our ability to convince the end-consumer of the environmental, social and economic competitiveness of leather as a circular material,” Smit & Zoon said on presenting the report. “The technologies exist. However, we collectively need to do the right thing and attract the young generation.”
It said it hoped its ESG report would be a contribution towards the industry’s efforts to achieve this goal.
