Environmental Overview

We are committed to using resources efficiently and minimizing environmental impacts throughout our value chain.

While we continued to work toward our 2025 environmental goals over the last year, one of our major accomplishments in 2022 was defining our ambitions for 2030. Learn more about our 2030 targets in the 2022 Progress and Highlights section. We will begin reporting against the 2030 targets in our next report.

We continue to strengthen our efforts across all areas of our footprint, including water, waste, energy and emissions. Beyond our own operations, we take responsibility for minimizing the environmental impact of our entire value chain. We work with our suppliers, contractors and customers to drive sustainability initiatives, and offer sustainable solutions to help our customers meet their goals.

Our waste reduction initiatives support the transition toward a circular economy. We evaluate our own operations and work closely with customers to identify waste streams that can be reused or recycled. Increasing raw material efficiency, operational improvements, and recycling manufacturing byproducts and unused products all have positive impacts on our bottom line in addition to reducing the amount of waste that we produce. Learn more in the Waste section.

Our water reduction and efficiency programs have also expanded over the last year. We understand that water is a shared resource and that we have a responsibility to protect water supply for our communities. PPG's water risk evaluation process helps us target water reduction efforts in the areas that are most impacted by drought or water scarcity and maximize the positive impacts of our work. Learn more in the Water section.

Our energy use and emissions reductions are closely linked. Improvements in our energy efficiency and renewable energy sourcing drive reductions in PPG's greenhouse gas (GHG) emissions, and help mitigate climate change. We are taking steps to reduce our energy use and emissions by implementing new and innovative energy solutions, sourcing renewable energy, and making our production processes more efficient. Learn more in the Energy and Emissions sections.

Over the last year, we have expanded our climate scenario analysis, which we use to understand physical and transition risks and opportunities. We have evaluated more of our product portfolio to understand the number of our products that qualify as sustainably advantaged, and worked to further integrate consideration of sustainability into our strategic planning processes. Learn more in the Climate-related Risks and Opportunities section.

The PPG Environment, Health and Safety (EHS) Policy provides the guidelines under which we manufacture, market and distribute products globally in a manner that protects our people, neighbors, customers and the environment. The policy incorporates elements from several voluntary global industry initiatives in which we are a participant, including the International Council of Chemical Associations (ICCA)/ American Chemicals Council (ACC) RESPONSIBLE CARE® program, the British Coatings Federation (BCF) COATINGS CARE® initiative and the American Coatings Association (ACA) PaintCare program.

We ensure consistent operations in line with our EHS standards, sustainability goals and strategies through our global EHS management system. PPG has 58 sites that are certified to ISO 14001, which are audited by a third party against their conformance to the PPG EHS management system, which is aligned to ISO 14001. The system requires locations to conform to environmental regulatory requirements and global requirements for air emissions, energy management, water discharge, waste management, spill elimination and plant footprint. The EHS management system enables us to track our progress on a location, business and global level, with metrics reported monthly to facilitate frequent performance monitoring. We also conduct periodic internal audits that check each of our sites for compliance against regulatory and PPG requirements. Learn more in the Safety and Health section.

Financial data for capital projects related to environmental expenditures are tracked through our financial systems rather than the EHS management system.