Disclosure 103-1: Explanation of the material topic and its Boundary
Water is a crucial input factor for Sika’s production, and water quality and scarcity are important issues for Sika in water-stressed regions and geographies. This is the case for production facilities in certain areas of the Middle East, Latin America, South East Asia, and Australia where water can be scarce.

Increasing water scarcity in many regions of the world is a potential threat to business growth and expansion. Particularly in regions where freshwater is scarce, businesses may be exposed to water shortages, decline in water quality, water price volatility, and reputational issues.

The impact of Sika’s operations on water is mainly due to the use of water in its production processes and buildings. Water is used for cooling, processing, sanitary facilities, and in products.

A key attribute of many products of Sika’s is waterproofing. Through the application of its products, Sika has an impact on reducing water loss and increasing water quality, for example in drinking water reservoirs. Additionally, Sika offers its customers solutions which reduce water input in concrete production by up to 15%, applying standard production procedures.


Disclosure 103-2: The management approach and its components
Sika’s management approach aimed at reducing water consumption in its own operations and at constantly improving its products to increase their contribution to saving water.

The management approach for water within Sika includes the following components:

 

COMMITMENTS
Sika is committed to reducing the amount of water used by its own operations and to contributing through its products to the reduction of water use and the increase of water quality.

GOALS AND TARGETS
Sika’s 5-year target plan for 2014-2018 includes the following target for water:

  • 3% less water consumption per ton and year

RESPONSIBILITIES
Water efficiency in Sika’s operations is the responsibility of regional management reporting to the CEO. At the local level, the operations manager is responsible in helping to reach Sika’s targets with regard to the reduction of water use and for setting and achieving local targets accordingly.

SPECIFIC ACTIONS

  • Life Cycle Assessment (LCA): Sika carries out objective, transparent, and comparative assessments of the sustainability of its products – not only in manufacturing, but throughout their life cycle in accordance with internationally recognized standards. These analyses may pinpoint potential improvements for existing products. They may also deliver important insights into resource management (raw materials, energy, water, and waste), production processes or application efficiency, and thereby promote innovation and optimize the development of new products and systems.
  • Environmental management system ISO 14001: Sika production facilities are certified to ISO 14001, which allows for continuous efficiency improvement.
  • Sustainable solutions: Sika seeks to enhance the outstanding and widely appreciated usefulness of its products by optimizing their sustainability profile, and thus to create added value for customers.

Disclosure 103-3: Evaluation of the management approach
Sika evaluates its management approach through:

  • Monitoring: Sika measures its water use on a regular basis. Water use is reported quarterly to the internal Sustainability & Operations Technology team where results are followed up and management approaches adapted accordingly.
  • Evaluation of results from LCA: Sika carries out life-cycle assessments (LCA) during the product development process. These serve to quantify energy demand, resource efficiency, greenhouse gas emissions, or water demand during each phase of a product’s life cycle and measure the associated possible impacts on the environment.
  • Evaluation of results from environmental management system ISO 14001: Sika production facilities are certified to ISO 14001 and perform impact assessments, target setting, and management reviews of the effectiveness of the management system regarding water use.
  • Benchmarking: Sika compares water consumption per product unit internally through factory reporting and to benchmark with other similar companies.

Furthermore, Sika monitors and evaluates the effectiveness of its management approach according to target achievement.