Coats, the leading industrial thread company, has published its 2019 Sustainability Report covering key sustainability performance data for the period 1 January 2019 to 31 December 2019.

The report, ‘Pioneering a sustainable future: making it happen’, gives an update on progress against the targets for 2022 published in the 2018 Sustainability Report. In order to accelerate the company’s progress towards a more sustainable future five, priority areas were identified: water, energy, effluent and emissions, social and living sustainably.

“Setting this bold new strategy last year was the first step,” the company said in its statement. “Since then, Coats has gone further and confirmed participation in, and commitment to, the United Nations Global Compact (UNGC). Coats is fully committed to the UNGC Principles on Human Rights, Labour, the Environment and Anti-Corruption, and continues to progress the implementation of these Principles in operations and across its supply chain. It also identified the most relevant UN Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs) to its business operations and will continue to ensure that its activities are contributing towards the achievement of these goals.”

Rajiv Sharma, Group Chief Executive, Coats, said: “For many years, Coats has had a robust approach to sustainability and 2019 saw progress made in the first year of our new strategy. We have set ambitious goals to deliver by 2022 as we continue pioneering towards a more sustainable future. The commitment and enthusiasm of our employees, management teams and partners gives me confidence that the progress we have made in 2019, will set us on a glide path to achieve our sustainability targets. Sustainability is a source of differentiation and value to multiple stakeholders.”

The 2019 report combines a broad overview of Coats’ sustainability activities with the first formal Communication on Progress (COP) as UNGC participants. As a COP, the report describes Coats’ actions and performance in relation to the Principles and the progress Coats is making towards the sustainability targets set and the relationship that these bear to the SDGs.

www.coats.com/sustainability