Syngenta Group is committed to building on our rich network of strategic sustainability partnerships with academic institutions, the food value chain, agricultural businesses and farmers to increase the impact we can make together. We believe that no one business or organization can do enough alone and strongly support Sustainable Development Goal 17, which promotes partnerships between governments, the private sector and civil society.Our partners know us for our open and collaborative culture, and we invite like-minded organizations to join us in stepping up efforts. To this end, in our Good Growth Plan we commit to: • Build cohesive partnerships and publish their sustainability objectives • Launch innovation dialogues for inclusive consultation on sustainability • Board level governance of sustainability Our progress against these targets will be measured and published each year in our ESG Report.
Build cohesive partnerships and publish their sustainability objectives
Our partnerships have always proved productive for farmers, nature and society. As part of our new commitment, we are publishing transparent information about who we partner with and what are our joint goals for sustainability. A good example of this approach is Innovation for Nature, our multi-year collaboration with The Nature Conservancy (TNC), a global conservation non-profit organization. We are working together on business practices aimed at improving sustainability including soil health, resource efficiency and habitat protection. This collaboration also focuses on incorporating sustainability science into our decision-making process: TNC worked with us to develop our Sustainability Investment Criteria. These criteria ensure the $2 billion we have committed to accelerate innovation are directed at products, services or programs offering a clearly differentiated sustainability benefit or are breakthrough technologies enabling a step change in sustainable agriculture. We also collaborate with the Solidaridad Network, an NGO that brings together supply chain players to make production models more sustainable. Together, we are working to develop and implement sustainable technologies and business models for smallholders. Our partnership will help project participants access markets, financial solutions, and high-quality inputs, including seeds, crop protection solutions and advanced digital tools. Smallholders will additionally benefit from training programs on the safe and responsible use of the inputs.
Consulting with stakeholders on breakthrough innovations
Innovation is the basis for a more sustainable future. But with innovation comes uncertainties. We have always been proactive in addressing our products’ environmental and socio-economic benefits and risks as part of product registration. We conduct innovation dialogues with diverse external stakeholders to address sustainability trade-offs and dilemmas linked to new technologies. We are transparent and publish agreed outcomes. The aim is to strengthen Syngenta Group’s value proposition, increase our alignment to new societal and market needs, and build stronger collaboration with partners. Our first innovation dialogue was conducted in 2020 linked to our ENOGEN® Feed solution. Participants from eight organizations in the beef and dairy sectors in the US discussed their different perspectives and developed a systems approach to sustainability through the lens of feed efficiency. This innovation dialogue demonstrated the potential for the different system stakeholders to come together in framing actionable and achievable plans for evolving the approach to sustainability by aligning it with commercial goals.
