As part of Tennant Company, we recently released our 2024 (FY23) Sustainability Report, which marks the first year of reporting on our new sustainability framework Thriving People. Healthy Planet.
Our Thriving People. Healthy Planet. framework provides a lens through which we can set goals, align plans, and integrate sustainability across our business to create shared value for our business, our customers, and society framework provides a lens through which we can set goals, align plans, and integrate sustainability across our business to create shared value for our business, our customers, and society. The framework is centered on two pillars: Thriving People and Healthy Planet. This includes six impact areas where we know we can create change: employee success, social impact, shared spaced, climate & energy, water & chemical use, and circular products & waste – because our business cannot be successful without a healthy planet and thriving people.
We’re proud of the work we’re doing to embed sustainability across our plants, operations, and products and the significant progress against our goals and ambitions.
Highlights from 2023 within each impact area include:
Employee success
- Launched our Global DE&I Council and expanded the activities and outreach of our Employee Resource Groups (ERGs)
- Established a new ambition to increase the number of BIPOC (Black, Indigenous, People of Color) employees in the U.S. to 30%, or approximately one in three U.S. employees, by the end of 2030 and to increase the representation of women in leadership positions globally to 33% by the end of 2030
- In 2023, 23.0% of leadership positions globally were held by women, an increase from the 2022 base year and on track toward our 2030 ambition
- In 2023, 25.4% of U.S. employees identified as BIPOC, an increase from the 2022 base year and on track toward our 2030 ambition
Social impact
- Invested over $1.1 million to support the communities in which we operate through the Tennant Foundation and corporate philanthropy gifted 33 new scholarships, with awards of $1,750 per year for full-time study
- Throughout the year, the Company organizes various events for employees to participate in, including park and public space clean-ups, Habitat for Humanity builds, meal packaging, and delivery
Shared spaces
- We established a baseline to determine the total square feet our products enable our customers to clean. We were then able to set the ambition to enable the cleaning of 63.5 trillion square feet across our shared spaces by 2030
- In 2023, in partnership with our customers, our products enabled the cleaning of 9.7 trillion square feet of shared spaces
Climate & energy
- Tennant is leading the way in the cleaning equipment industry with our net-zero by 2040 targets that were validated and approved by the Science Based Target initiative (SBTi) in 2023
- Integrated targets into product line strategies and maintained progress toward these targets by:
- Reducing our Scope 1 and 2 (operations and fleet) greenhouse gas emissions by 13% compared to the 2021 base year
- Sourcing 92% of our global electricity from renewable energy sources
- Reducing our Scope 3 Category 11 (use of sold products) emissions by 8% compared to the 2021 base year
Water & chemical use
- In 2023 in response to stakeholder engagement, we set the goal to establish water baselines at our manufacturing facilities
- Eco-mode, adjustable solution flow, and ec-H2O NanoClean® technology are our innovations that reduce water and chemical usage during the cleaning process
Circular products & waste
- In 2023, we focused our efforts on enhancing how we integrate research, development, and sustainability throughout the life cycle of our products and the goal-setting process
- We’ve identified five themes where we can drive the most impact throughout the life cycle of our products, based on customer inquiries and will be embedded into our existing product line strategies as well as the product development process so we continue help our customers achieve their sustainability goals
- In 2023, the Golden Valley, Minnesota manufacturing plant diverted over 99% by weight of the total waste generated away from the landfill or incineration
We recognize our unique opportunity and our responsibility to drive positive change to fulfill our vision to create a cleaner, safer, healthier world. To learn more about our approach to sustainability, 2023 accomplishments, other sustainability, and ESG initiatives, read the 2024 (FY23) Sustainability Report.