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KINGSPORT — Eastman (NYSE:EMN) ranks No. 27 on Barron’s 2021 list of the Most Sustainable Companies in the United States. To arrive at its list of the 100 Most Sustainable Companies, Barron’s analyzed performance by the 1,000 largest U.S. publicly traded companies on a wide range of indicators related to sustainability and environment, social and corporate governance (ESG).
“Eastman is a specialty materials company, but we don’t exist to just make materials,” said Mark Costa, Eastman Board Chair and CEO. “Eastman exists to live out our company purpose, which is to enhance the quality of life in a material way. We are focused on innovating material solutions that care for society, improving our environment, and making materials circularity a reality by specifically addressing the plastic waste problem. And Eastman is committed to engaging on social issues to build a better society for all.”
Barron’s collaborated on the list with Calvert Research and Management, which analyzed data in five categories: shareholders, employees, customers, community and planet. An investment firm that specializes in sustainability and ESG investing, Calvert’s data analysis included company scores on distinct topics within those five categories. Those topics included such areas as policies on greenhouse gas emissions, energy use and efficiency, workplace diversity, business ethics, product quality and product safety, lifecycle of products, workplace safety, and others.
In December, Eastman announced aggressive sustainability goals to address three critical impact areas: climate change, materials circularity and caring for society. Eastman plans to achieve carbon neutrality by 2050 to mitigate climate change and plans to reach approximately one-third of this goal by 2030. The company also plans to recycle more than 500 million pounds of plastic waste by 2030 through its molecular recycling technologies. To care for society, Eastman has committed to achieve gender parity in alignment with its commitment to Paradigm for Parity® and will be a leader for racial equity within its industry sector. Eastman’s sustainability commitments and innovation strategy are illustrated in its 2020 sustainability report, A Better Circle.
This is the second time in five months that a major financial publication has ranked Eastman high on a sustainability list. In October, The Wall Street Journal ranked Eastman on its 2020 list of Most Sustainably Managed Companies.
The Barron’s list of Most Sustainable Companies is available through subscription at barrons.com.