AkzoNobel launches sustainable innovation team focussing on aluminium industrial coating

AkzoNobel has established a sustainable innovation team dedicated to advancing sustainability initiatives within its industrial coatings division. The team will oversee a wide portfolio that encompasses aluminium packaging coatings, coil and extrusion coatings, wood finishes, and wood adhesives.

Scope of the team

Tessa Slagter, who assumes the role of sustainable innovation manager, is heading this initiative. Ana Sanséau-Blanchard, appointed as sustainable product manager, and Kyra Boschma, who joins as a sustainability analyst, will assist her. Together, they will collaborate across segments and regions of the industrial coatings business, bolstering capabilities and fostering alignment to propel AkzoNobel towards its sustainability objectives.

The team's scope extends beyond AkzoNobel's internal operations to support its customers, particularly can makers, in significantly reducing their carbon emissions and attaining their sustainability objectives.

In 2021, AkzoNobel boldly announced its commitment to slashing carbon emissions throughout its entire value chain by 50 per cent (absolute) by 2030, using 2018 as the benchmark year. This ambition aligns with the Paris Agreement's objectives to curb climate change and maintain global temperatures within 1.5°C above pre-industrial levels. Furthermore, this target has gained validation from the Science Based Targets initiative (SBTi).

Chris Bradford, industrial coatings marketing director at AkzoNobel, commented, "Whilst we continue to look closely at sustainability in developing our own new coating technologies and in sourcing raw materials, we also know that a significant amount of emissions are in our customers' application and curing processes, solvent emissions, and end of life. We know our new low-carbon coatings and application technologies can decrease a customer's carbon footprint, but we recognise that changes to their processes can be costly. Our new Sustainable Innovation team will help bring our low-carbon products, customer processes and business models together to make meaningful and collaborative progress."

About the sustainable team

The sustainable innovation team engages customers, trade associations, and industry bodies to implement AkzoNobel's industrial coatings business unit's sustainability strategy. They will also oversee the production of progress reports on carbon reduction and drive sustainable innovation across the service and solution portfolio.

Tessa Slagter, who transitioned to AkzoNobel from the Decorative Paints marketing team in 2019, leads this team. Holding a master's degree in innovation management with a focus on sustainability, Tessa brings a wealth of experience in B2B marketing and sustainability within the plastics and coatings industry, including the realm of recycled materials. Notably, she spearheaded the inaugural NextGen Sustainability Council at AkzoNobel, guiding a team of 12 emerging leaders.

Ana has been with AkzoNobel since 2010, initially contributing to the development of low-VOC coatings for the global marine and protective coatings market. Subsequently, she transitioned into a technical specialist role, concentrating on the sustainability aspects of marine, protective, and yacht products. In this capacity, Ana has been instrumental in managing environmental impacts, conducting lifecycle analyses, and reporting on carbon footprints.

She is also an active member of the British Coatings Federation and the AkzoNobel NextGen Sustainability Council. Kyra has served as an R&D Specialist within AkzoNobel's woodcare team in Sassenheim since 2022. Prior to this role, she gained experience at the Eurofins laboratory and worked as a test engineer at Kesem Health.