FMC underscores the importance of sustainability

FMC Corporation recently released its third annual Sustainability Report, summarizing the diversified chemical company's continuing efforts to address several global challenges in 2013.

The report, "Shaping Solutions for the Future," focuses on FMC's five sustainability priorities: fostering safety, growing innovation, cultivating community, minding our resources, and empowering talent.

"This report underscores the importance of sustainability at FMC. It is embedded into our cultural DNA and plays an influential role in our employees' daily mindset," said Pierre Brondeau, FMC president, CEO and chairman.

"We have improved our safety performance, added a rigorous assessment process to enhance our sustainable product development pipeline, strengthened community relationships globally and initiated a solid framework to track the management of our resources and environmental footprint."

The Sustainability Report details FMC's progress in key priority areas. For example, the company has reduced its Total Recordable Incident Rate by 31 percent to 0.41. This performance is on a trajectory to meet or exceed the company's 2015 goal of 0.37.

FMC's Community Engagement Index rose to 83 in 2013, up from 49 in 2011, on pace to reach its 2015 target of 90. Furthermore, the report summarizes Manufacturing Excellence projects completed at three sites to help address sustainability and safety improvements.

"Beyond our progress on safety and community engagement, we have advanced sustainable product development, with 57 percent of our research and development spend on projects that impact global sustainability challenges," added Brondeau.

In 2012, FMC had set the goal of investing more than 50 percent of its R&D budget on sustainability-related projects by 2015.