Portmeirion Group is a purpose-driven business with heritage and family at our core. We have a responsibility to our employees, customers, communities and the people that bring our products into their homes, and we work hard to reflect this in everything we do.
Portmeirion Group is a purpose-driven business with heritage and community at our core.
Mike Raybould
Chief Executive
Sustainability strategy and roadmap
We have a responsibility to our employees, customers, communities and the people that bring our products into their homes, and we work hard to reflect this in everything that we do.
Our Crafting a Better Future strategy outlines the Group’s commitment to reduce its impact on climate change and develop as a positive force for the environment, the people that work across our operations and our local communities.
We are clear that we must continue to play our part in tackling global pressures such as climate change and support our extended community families whilst continuing to meet the expectations of our investors, stakeholders and customers as they work to deliver their own commitments.
This document outlines our Crafting a Better Future sustainable business strategy and roadmap, with a clear and transparent set of commitments and goals. This creates the framework for our plans moving forward. It is aligned to our commercial strategy and will be embedded into operations and decision making to ensure that sustainability sits at the core of our business model.
Underpinning this is a clear governance structure. We have a Sustainable Business Board Committee, chaired by our Chief Executive, who with the Board is accountable for the sustainability commitments of the Group.
Our global purpose and sustainability strategy gives us a basis on which to move forward to address the environmental and social challenges we and others face. We will provide regular updates on our progress and will evolve our commitments as needed to deliver on our ambition to Craft a Better Future.
Key areas of focus
Commit 2040
Become a positive force for change, reducing our emissions and environmental impact by addressing what we can fix now, and supporting transformation within our industry:
- Achieve carbon neutrality by 2040 across our Scope 1 and 2 emissions, defining a pathway that focuses on maximising the proportion of our energy use from renewable sources.
- All new company vehicles will be fully electric where possible.
- Work with our supply chain manufacturing partners to ensure they support our Commit 2040 plan.
- Develop the role of Global Energy Teams to drive energy reduction within our operations through innovation and ‘green thinking’ throughout the Group.
- Achieve 0% to landfill across entire UK business, building on target already achieved in our Stoke-on-Trent ceramic manufacturing site.
- Eliminate single use plastics throughout our operations.
- Understand our global nature footprint and develop a Groupwide biodiversity plan.
- Enhance our materiality assessment to understand more about our Scope 3 emissions.
Nurturing the best
Develop as an inclusive, ambitious and inspirational global employer of choice, accessing the best talent and enabling all our people to thrive:
- Ensure equality, diversity, inclusion and opportunities for all colleagues across our global business, and equip all our managers with the development tools to promote this.
- Further improve supply chain transparency and support our suppliers in applying Portmeirion Group people principles across our value chain including opportunities for training and Health, Safety and Environment practices.
- Expand our NHS UK Wellbeing Charter accreditation throughout our UK businesses and increase our number of Mental Health First Aiders across the Group.
- Understand the aspirations of our colleagues and work on talent fulfilment plans.
Our community family
Build on our heritage by supporting our local communities to nurture talent, collaborating with others to create positive futures:
- Develop new community partnerships to address skills development and social mobility.
- Introduce a Global ‘Giving Back’ programme, providing colleagues with paid leave to engage in local volunteering activities.
- Support local families with employability skills development, including CV writing, interview techniques and provision of paid work experience opportunities.
- Support community fundraising within our local areas.
Governance
Our sustainability commitments are underpinned by a clear governance structure. Initiatives deployed to ensure that we maintain sound governance include:
Incorporate sustainability into responsibilities and accountabilities at all levels of the business
- Introduce new sustainability KPIs in personal development plans
Devolve accountability across the Group
- Develop business unit level environmental and social targets which align with the Group commitments
- Deliver engagement and training programme to ensure all of the Portmeirion Group community understand how our commitments relate to their own roles
Aligning our commitments with our risks
- Ensure all Crafting a Better Future commitments reflect and are reflected on our corporate risk register
Ensure our decision-making processes reflect our commitments
- Ensure all our policies, procedures and decision-making check points reflect our Crafting a Better Future commitments, including energy reduction
- Continuously review the external environment to ensure we fully understand how we can create the optimum value for the Group and wider society
Strategy road map
Commit 2040
Develop pathway to become Net Zero across Scope 1 and 2 emissions by 2040
- Significantly reduce energy usage through efficiencies
- Introduce Global Energy Teams to identify and implement measures
- Set targets and regularly report progress
- Increase use of renewable energy across sites
- Make energy reduction central to business decision making processes
Support change and innovation to address our sector’s environmental challenges
- Identify solutions to the decarbonisation challenge and wider environmental impact of ceramics
Understand our impact on the natural environment
- Work towards developing a Group-wide nature plan
Reduce waste in all areas of our operations
- Identify and action opportunities to reduce waste
- Work to eliminate single-use plastics and reduce volume of plastics used
Work with our suppliers to find opportunities to reduce emissions across our value chain
- Work to understand our Scope 3 emissions
- Support our suppliers in achieving our environmental commitments and plans to decarbonise operations
Nurturing the best
Further our work to ensure equality, diversity, inclusion and opportunities for all colleagues
- Explore additional ways that we can reach and support people of all types of diversity
Identify ways to further improve supply chain transparency and support our suppliers in applying Portmeirion Group Crafting a Better Future principles across our value chain
- Move beyond existing legal requirements for our supply chain, reviewing all our suppliers based on specified Portmeirion Group standards by 2025
Continue to place employee wellbeing at our core
- Extend our work to support the mental health and wellbeing of colleagues
- Support employees to complete mental health, safety and EDI training
- Continually review and implement health and safety standards
Deliver an excellent employee support programme
- Further develop our employee support programme
- Work collaboratively with others to avoid in-work-poverty
Our community family
Collaborate with others to improve the social mobility of our communities, fostering local economies, talent and skills
- Working in partnership with community organisations to build employability skills in our local communities
- Identify and establish strategic partnerships to support skills and talent development
Build our commitment and develop a new community involvement strategy to help deliver across all areas of our Crafting a Better Future plan
- Create local community/charity programmes which reflect our local geographies
Work with our customers and brands to create further opportunities to deliver for our environment, people and communities
- Incorporate sustainable business principles into brand operations and marketing
Our progress
During 2024, we continued with our external review of our current ESG baseline to inform future strategy for improvements.
↑5%*
UK Ceramics – tonnes of CO2e per tonne of saleable product. This rise is largely due to the reduced product tonnage output in 2024 (vs 2023) despite the use of 100% green electricity.
↓76%*
UK Home Fragrance – tonnes of CO2e per tonne of saleable product. This decrease is primarily due to the use of 100% green electricity on site.
↓24%*
UK Operations (exc. Retail) – tonnes of CO2e per tonne of saleable product. Despite being less efficient, the UK sites consumed 9% less energy in 2024 (vs 2023).
74%
of energy used in UK operations in 2024 was provided by renewable energy.
* 2024 compared to 2023.
There is
O% waste
going to landfill from production processes
66%
of the 803 tonnes of waste generated is recycled and usually repurposed into a secondary use with the rest being incinerated (waste to energy). The total volume of waste generated by UK production processes decreased by 6% in 2024 (vs 2023).