Leading the industry on environmental sustainability

For over 200 years De La Rue has helped countries trade, companies sell, and citizens participate in the global economy. To continue doing this over the next 200 years we are playing our part in the fight against climate change by submitting science-based targets to reduce our emissions in support of keeping global temperature increases below the 1.5°C level and aiming to be carbon neutral by 2030 for own operations.

We will achieve this by dramatically reducing what we dispose of and consume, and we will do this whilst transitioning towards a business model based on renewable sources and circular economy principles. We already rigorously measure and transparently report our impact on the environment, and we will continue to do so on our journey to net zero by 2050.

Net-Zero-Graphic

Our approach is holistic – using measurements to reduce our impact across our products and our operations, whilst working with our partners and customers to improve the end-to-end lifecycle of our products.

The past two years have showed us the potential for global disruption, and we believe the climate crisis could be even more devastating. The time to act is now and the time to have a viable route towards the end goals is now. We are taking that action and making that commitment to play our part in securing a sustainable future for everyone.

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Environmental Sustainability

Environmental sustainability is at the core of our business strategy. We believe in embedding sustainability in our approach, integrating it into our governance, decision making, and business principles. We have set clear climate targets and we are steadfast in our determination in achieving them. Our belief is echoed in our thoughts and actions, as we build upon existing environmental and social regulations to deliver on our climate commitments for all our stakeholders. Our purpose is to secure trust between people, businesses, and governments, and through sustainability we aim to create value and long-term benefits for both the business and the wider community.

By signing up to the Science Based Targets Initiative (SBTi), we are reinforcing our commitment to reaching net zero by 2050. We have submitted ambitious targets to reduce our Scope 1, 2 and 3 emissions by 45% by 2030 in support of keeping global temperature increases below the 1.5°C level. De La Rue is also committing to be carbon neutral for our own operations by 2030 by increased energy efficiencies and through using a phased carbon offset programme for our Scope 1 and Scope 2 emissions in our control.

In 2020, De La Rue launched the Transform Sustainability Programme with the aim of creating ambitious and innovative solutions to reduce our energy consumption, waste generation and plastic usage across the organisation. Our holistic approach has helped us reduce our consumption in a sustainable manner and we continue to make progress in developing and improving the sustainability of our operations.

De La Rue water consumption has been significantly reduced by 16% in the last 4 years, partly achieved by the stopping of production at our Gateshead site. We continue to track our water consumption aiming to reduce usage of this valuable resource as an environmental impact. Note: The reduction stated does not include any figures relating to the disposal of the De La Rue paper mill operations that was completed in 2018.

On our journey to net-zero, De La Rue has been successful in fostering a passion for environmental sustainability amongst all our stakeholders. We engage our employees though Environmental and Sustainability Training to encourage awareness, and thus promote forward thinking and innovation throughout our organisation.

Credentials

At De La Rue we take pride in our approach to environmental sustainability and thus, we strive to maintain the best practice in our approach. We have received recognition for our efforts throughout the years and we continue to be transparent in our reporting. The following is the latest list of De La Rue’s credentials:

ISO-14001-1

ISO 14001

De La Rue has been certified for 14001 since 2003 in the UK and for all our manufacturing sites globally since 2011. We have strong environmental management systems in place, and we continue to uphold the high standards we have set ourselves.

Financial Times Award Statement

We take our commitment to being an industry leader on environmental targets seriously, and we are proud to say we have been recognised as one of Europe’s Climate Leaders by the Financial Times in 2021. This award is a culmination of the strides De La Rue has taken in the fight against climate change, and we continue to lead the way.

CDP (previously the Carbon Disclosure Project)

CDP is a not-for-profit charity that has run a global disclosure system for investors, companies, cities, states, and regions to manage their environmental impact for more 20 years. De La Rue participates in the CDP and has submitted data for the past 11 years. This has required us to build an in-depth understanding of climate related risk, enabling us to review and improve on our carbon impact. We have steadily improved our CDP score each year and in FY 2020/21 we achieved a score of B.

FTSE4Good

De La Rue has been independently assessed according to the FTSE4Good criteria and has satisfied the requirements to become a constituent of the FTSE4Good Index Series. Created by the global index provider FTSE Russell, the FTSE4Good Index Series is designed to measure the performance of companies demonstrating strong Environmental, Social and Governance (ESG) practices. The FTSE4Good indices are used by a wide variety of market participants to create and assess responsible investment funds and other products.

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TCFD

De La Rue support the recommendations of the Task Force on Climate-related Financial Disclosures (TCFD), which was established by the Financial Stability Board with the aim of improving the reporting of climate-related risks and opportunities. We announced in FY2020/21 that we intend to work constructively with the TCFD, and others, to improve and develop market transparency and stability. De La Rue have publicly declared our support for the TCFD recommendations and have joined the TCFD Supporters Group to work with like-minded organisations on acknowledging that climate change represents a financial risk. We will publish our TCFD framework in our Annual Report 2022.

Biodiversity

The Earth is currently undergoing a sixth mass extinction event as the rich and vast biodiversity of our planet becomes increasingly endangered. De La Rue acknowledges the fundamental link between climate change and biodiversity, and the need for global transformative change and action. That is why we are reviewing our position on biodiversity with the intent of taking action to restore, maintain and enrich nature at our facilities.

De La Rue have worked with customers to maintain wildlife and combat climate change through our carbon offsetting programme for bank notes. We have worked with multiple certified Verified Carbon Standard (VCS) projects including the India Wind Power Project and the Portel Para, Brazil-Avoiding Deforestation Project, with whom we have offset a combined total of over 5000 tonnes of carbon dioxide emissions. Our actions help our customers to sustain our environment for future generations and promote space for wildlife.

“We will plant 10 trees for every one we have to remove at Malta during the current expansion project and two trees for every one at Westhoughton during site transformation. We also maintain a natural habitat in the grounds of our site in Kenya.”

Global HSE Team, De La Rue

Customers

De La Rue has embarked on the journey to provide our customers with sustainable products and services. We are committed to helping our customers realise their needs through our Safe, Secure, and Sustainable assurance approach and through our Transform Sustainability programme. Our Currency and Authentication pages have more information on our sustainable products.

Suppliers

Our suppliers are key to our sustainability mission and business, and we aim to work with responsible suppliers. De La Rue is committed to vetting and evaluating our suppliers and we aim to set out criteria to ensure we are delivering our products more sustainably.

Investors

De La Rue recognises that as the climate crisis worsens, there are climate change risks that we evaluate and mitigate where possible. For more information, please look at our Annual Report and our CDP submission.

Downloads

UK CRP for Government Procurement over £5 million

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Group HSE Sustainability Policy Statement

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