A message from ICL’s Chairman and CEO
We are delighted to present you with ICL’s Corporate Responsibility Report for 2017. The report provides insight into ICL’s strategy, alongside disclosure of our ongoing performance, challenges and successes in all sustainability fronts.
On the business side, our strategy focuses on strengthening our global leadership position in the bromine, potash and phosphate markets, leveraging innovative chemistry knowhow and solutions, as well as our unique supply chain and competitive distribution capabilities. Special emphasis is being directed towards creating global leadership in innovative agricultural solutions. We’re building on ICL’s competitive advantages, leveraging R&D excellence to create value based products such as soluble and controlled release fertilizers. We are also seeking partnerships & acquisitions to expand our range of products and technologies. To complete this approach, we are also developing integrated solutions based on digital innovation.
An example that demonstrates where ICL is utilizing its expertise in unique chemistry, is in its support of research and development in the field of energy storage, where bromine compounds are among the cutting-edge chemistries being explored. Energy storage is critical for the integration of renewable energy sources on the electric grid.
Strong support for the efficacy of our strategy was reflected in our work with the UN Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs). A recent survey involving our Senior Leadership Forum members aligned ICL’s strategy with the goal of eliminating hunger and advancing food security (SDG 2). The results also brought forth our products contribution to health and wellbeing (SDG 3) and the importance of our contribution to industrial innovation (SDG 9). Organizationally, both the strategy and the SDG survey reflect ICLs commitment to excellence in employment and governance, safety and environmental performance. ICL is committed to becoming an employer of choice (SDG 8). Safe and motivated employees are the key to success for achieving our company and substantiality goals.
Our ongoing efforts, focused on sustainability and transparency, have met with significant success in 2017. ICL’s success in greenhouse gas emission reduction and climate change management has been rewarded with an A- score in the CDP ranking, which is tied for second best score among global fertilizer companies and for best among all Israeli companies. Our efforts to promote transparency were also expanded to working with EcoVadis, a world-leading ranking company that specializes in monitoring the sustainability efforts of companies with global supply chains. ICL recently received its first global sustainability score (60/100, silver) which was amongst the top 7% of 33,000 global ranked suppliers.
But our commitment to sustainability was also put to the test during the reporting period. On June 30th 2017, one of our subsidiaries, ICL Rotem, suffered a significant environmental incident in which acidic phosphogypsum liquid was released from a breach in a detainment pond to the nearby Ashalim Creek (in southern Israel). To-date, we can confirm that ICL made good on its unwavering commitment to spare no effort in restoring the Ashalim Creek area, while continuing to cooperate with the authorities and communicate transparently with the stakeholders involved. Measurements taken within a year following the incident show significant improvement to environmental parameters of the creek, and some of the reservoir trails have already been reopened to the public.
We look forward to receiving your comments and insights on this latest sustainability report. This year, in addition to our usual efforts to aggregate comprehensive information on our global sustainability activities, we transitioned from a printed report to a user-friendly, dedicated website that will enable greater accessibility to a broader range of stakeholders. We hope it will assist you in gaining a better and more complete understanding of ICL’s commitment to our planet, to the communities in which we operate and to our stakeholders.
Pleasant reading!
