The world's leading industrial thread company, Coats, has released its 2021 Sustainability Report, titled 'Pioneering a Sustainable Future: Accelerating Our Journey,' which outlines the company's progress toward its Sustainability Strategy, which was established in 2019. The Sustainability Strategy outlined high goals that must be met by the year 2022.

In 2021, the following achievements were made: a 22% reduction in water usage; a 6.9% reduction in kWh per kilogram of production, compared to a target of 7% by the end of 2022; 82% of effluent was compliant with ZDHC, compared to a target of 100% by the end of 2022; 83% of employees worked in an accredited 'Great Place To Work,' exceeding the target of 80%; a 3% reduction in waste; and 19% of the sales of premium polyester threads were those made of recycled materials.

Rajiv Sharma, group chief executive, said that he is pleased with the tremendous progress they made in 2021 toward achieving their Sustainability targets. When they met their 2022 goals, their commitment to sustainability does not cease. There is still a long way to go as an industry, and Coats has long-term goals to ensure that it will be at the forefront of pioneering a sustainable future."

The company's social impact ambitions are outlined in the 2021 Sustainability Report, which includes maintaining a workplace free of discrimination, where every single employee feels respected and is treated fairly and equally, striving for gender parity in all managerial roles, and higher than local labor market representation for all other underrepresented communities at Coats locations.

The report also outlines how the company plans to meet its ambitious 2030 targets: 70% of global energy consumption will come from renewable sources; all products will be manufactured without the use of new oil-extraction materials; a shift to circularity, with products and packaging solutions that enable recycling and reuse within operations and across the industry; and a greater positive social impact.

The Science-Based Ambitions program just gave Coats approval for its ambitious climate targets for 2030. Furthermore, by 2050, Coats will be carbon neutral as a result of further improvements in water and energy conservation, a shift to more renewable energy, responsible wastewater treatment, and a material transition.

Coats recently stated that the Innovation Hub – Asia would be re-purposed to focus on the application of biomaterials and would have a new objective. The Coats Sustainability Hub has been renamed and is now entirely focused on its new objective.