Can you talk about you or your company’s efforts relating to renewability, sustainability or other environmentally- friendly activities?

In our recent Global Sustainability Report, our CEO, Mark Douglas noted that “Future generations depend on companies like FMC to take a more active role in solving global challenges such as climate change, food insecurity and social injustice.”

In early 2022, we announced a new set of commitments to augment our sustainability strategy and drive tangible progress in three areas: Protection, Innovation and Engagement. These pillars, along with the strategic imperatives we’ve defined to drive progress in each, are the foundation of FMC’s global sustainability platform, which will serve as our roadmap for the future, and hold us accountable to our commitments on climate, food security, conservation and diversity, equity and inclusion. Notable achievements over the past year include: A commitment to achieve net-zero greenhouse gas emissions by 2035 and we have submitted our near-term, 2030 targets to Science Based Targets initiative (SBTi) Business Ambition for 1.5°C; long-term environmental goals to drive absolute reductions in water and waste; signing on to the Task Force on Climate related Financial Disclosures (TCFD) and conducting scenario analyses to inform management decisions related to climate risks and opportunities; continued progress on Diversity, Equity and Inclusion, particularly on our gender and race equity goals, which we tie to executive compensation and performance goals for leaders throughout the organization; and investing in and strengthening our partnerships to accelerate agricultural innovation in precision and digital technologies to benefit farmers to grow more today while protecting the environment for tomorrow.

Why are in-house lawyers well-placed to drive change in their organisations?

As guardians of reputation and risk managers, in-house lawyers are well placed to influence leadership to drive change in the company’s journey to green goals attainment. With access to internal stakeholders across the organization, intimate understanding of the company’s business, its strategy, the legal, regulatory, and competitive landscape, we are uniquely placed to offer robust governance, help apply pressure on suppliers to embrace ESG considerations, provide informed sustainability advice, and influence use of ESG lens in investment decisions, transactions, and supply chain souring.

There is little point of having a seat at the table if one doesn’t use it to influence positive change for not just one’s organization but society at large. This can pay dividends by making one’s organization have an ESG leadership position, something that not just regulators, but also stakeholders are demanding. With increasing green consciousness, driving ESG considerations isn’t just the right thing to do for our future generations but also makes critical business sense and addresses the expectations of savvy customers. It is moved well past the ”nice to have” to a “must have”.

Besides, we can also lead by example and use the collective voice of the in-house legal profession to commit to embracing sustainability considerations and set the tone for our respective organizations.

It can be difficult to truly measure a company’s track record and accomplishments in terms of their environmentally friendly behaviour. What do you think has, until now, been mostly missed when discussing how green a company is?

Unfortunately, a fair amount of greenwashing has slipped through the cracks resulting in companies getting away with portraying that they are doing more to protect the environment than would be demonstrable. Fortunately, more examples of companies walking the talk are coming to the forefront, which hopefully can counter the prevalence of greenwashing.