As part of Tennant Company, we recently released our 2023 (FY22) Sustainability Report, which marks the conclusion of our previous sustainability strategy developed in 2014. The report details our sustainability and ESG commitments, along with progress, and actions including our new commitment to becoming net-zero by 2040.
We also launched our new sustainability framework — Thriving People. Healthy Planet. — which includes six impact areas.
The Thriving People pillar includes:
Employee Success: Ensure the health, safety, wellbeing, and development of all our employees, and continually improve diversity, equity, and inclusion in our company.
Social Impact: Help to improve the lives of people we engage with outside of our company, including the workers in our supply chain, the operators who use our products, and the local communities where we operate.
Shared Spaces: Partner with our customers and other stakeholders as we reinvent how the world cleans to enhance the health, safety, and wellbeing for all who use and rely on our collective and shared spaces.
The Healthy Planet pillar includes:
Climate & Energy: Contribute to global decarbonization by achieving net-zero greenhouse gas (GHG)emissions in our operations and reducing emissions in our supply chain. Increase our product energy efficiency and offer our customers solutions that will eliminate GHG emissions from the use of our products.
Water & Chemical Use: Improve water stewardship in our operations and continually strive to design products that require fewer cleaning chemicals and reduce water use while cleaning.
Circular Products & Waste: Design our products to enhance the ability to repair, replace parts, and recover materials, alongside services and manufacturing processes that reduce waste and help close the loop on the lifecycle of our products.
We recognize our unique opportunity – and our responsibility – to drive positive change while creating sustainable value for our business, our customers, and society.
Our legacy of leadership in sustainability is strong – we continue to make strides in reducing our greenhouse gas emissions, embedding sustainability into our products, and showing up for our people and communities.
We believe that by working toward ambitious commitments together with our stakeholders, we can help people thrive and contribute to a healthier planet.
Throughout this report we highlight our ambitions and accomplishments of our previous sustainability strategy. Key achievements from 2014-2022 include:
Products
- We achieved 38 sustainability targets through the new product development process since 2014.
- In 2022, 99% of products sold were electric.
- We conducted a carbon footprint analysis (aligning with the ISO 14067 certification standards) on 8 IPC products to better understand our products’ environmental impact and help our customers achieve their sustainability and ESG goals.
Climate & Energy
- In 2018, we were one of the first 104 global companies to have our science-based targets (SBT) for greenhouse gas (GHG) emissions reduction approved by the Science-Based Targets initiative (SBTi).
- In December 2022, Tennant Company committed to becoming net-zero by 2040 and submitted draft near- and long-term company-wide greenhouse gas reduction targets to SBTi for validation.
- In 2022, we expanded our GHG reporting boundary to include recent acquisitions and reduced the greenhouse gas emissions from the use of our products by 6% from a 2021 baseline for Scope 3, Category 11 GHG emissions.
- Received our fifth consecutive “A-” score from CDP, ranking our climate goals and actions as “Leadership level.”
- In 2022, 89% of electricity we purchased to power our buildings came from renewable sources.
Waste
- In 2022, we recycled 3,100 metric tons of materials, totaling 22,000 tons of recycled materials since 2017.
- In 2022, Tennant recycled and repurposed 5,111 pounds (2318 kg) of electronic waste and supported over 300 people by providing them with a no- or low-cost computer through our partnership with PCs for People.
Thriving People & Communities
- We invested over $6 million (over EUR 5.5 million) in our local communities through the Tennant Foundation since 2014.
- Since 2017, we have seen over an 80% decrease in global operations safety incidents.
- We made strides on commitments to DE&I, including a training program completed by more than 90% of senior management and global leadership in 2022.
- Our employees volunteered 1,900 hours in the communities where we live, work, and play, throughout 2022.
At Tennant, stewardship has long been one of our guiding principles. We believe that leaving things better than they were before and acting on the societal issues important to our business and stakeholders is critical to delivering on our purpose of creating a cleaner, safer, and healthier world.
To learn more about our approach to sustainability, 2022 accomplishments, other sustainability, and ESG initiatives, please view the 2023 (FY22) Sustainability Report.