To our valued stakeholders,
2023 marked a year of continued progress, as we remain laser focused on positioning PPG for growth. Our more than 50,000 PPG people throughout the world made it happen for our customers every day, delivered record sales and earnings, and drove $150 million of incremental sales in the first year of our enterprise growth strategy.
Sustainability and productivity remain critical components to our growth. More than ever, various stakeholders are looking to companies like PPG to take a leadership position in sustainability - providing products and solutions that enhance productivity and drive sustainability throughout the value chain. Delivering these innovations is a core pillar that will enable a stronger, growth-focused PPG moving forward.
Helping our customers meet their sustainability goals provides an enormous opportunity, and we are uniquely positioned to be their partner of choice. More than 44% of our sales came from sustainably advantaged products in 2023, and we anticipate customer demand for sustainable choices to continue to increase. For example, our Architectural Coatings business in Europe identified a significant opportunity to meet market demand for products with sustainability benefits.
We introduced low fossil carbon paints in the PPG brands SEIGNEURIE™ Pantex™ and GUITTET™ Odyssée™, providing mass market access to these bio-based paints without compromising on affordability or performance. These competitively positioned products have been widely embraced by trade professionals and consumers. This is just one example within this report of how PPG is leveraging sustainability as a competitive advantage.
While we innovate sustainably advantaged products and processes for our customers, we also recognize the need to drive environmental excellence in our operations and through our supply chain. In 2023, we became the first U.S.-based coatings manufacturer to receive validation from the Science Based Targets initiative (SBTi) for our 2030 scope 1, 2 and 3 greenhouse gas emissions reduction targets. We recognize this commitment to reducing greenhouse gas emissions across the value chain will take great collaboration with our suppliers and with our customers and we have started that work. As part of these targets, PPG also announced broader 2030 sustainability goals, which focus on driving sales of sustainably advantaged products while reducing environmental impacts and improving social impacts for our stakeholders.
Our approach to sustainability also includes investing in communities where we live and work. In 2023, PPG and the PPG Foundation donated more than $17.5 million to support educational programming and community sustainability around the world. We work with more than 450 nonprofit and community organizations, across nearly 40 countries. In a particularly exciting milestone, we completed our 500th COLORFUL COMMUNITIES® project since the program’s inception in 2015, bringing color and brightness to public spaces around the world.
None of this would have been possible without PPG people who deliver on our purpose every day: We protect and beautify the world®. We're committed to maintaining our inclusive and equitable culture and ensuring that each of our employees have the right resources and development opportunities to contribute to our success in a meaningful way.
The progress described in this report is a direct reflection of our teams' commitment to environmental stewardship, product innovation and continuous improvement of our business practices. Thank you for your continued collaboration, partnership and interest in PPG.
Tim Knavish
PPG chairman and chief executive officer