Racine-based SC Johnson has been awarded the 31st Annual Gold Medal for International Corporate Achievement in Sustainable Development from the World Environment Center. This is the second time that the company has been awarded WEC’s Gold Medal, having previously received it in 1994.
The award is in recognition of its comprehensive, company-wide focus on sustainability and transparency initiatives, as well as its Greenlist ingredient management process that focuses on improving product ingredients.
SC Johnson will accept the Gold Medal Award on May 14 during the Gold Medal Presentation Ceremony in Washington, D.C.
“The company has demonstrated continuous improvement over its long history, and has gone above and beyond expected corporate commitments with programs that integrate sustainability into the core of its business values and implementation,” said Gold Medal Jury chair Kathy Sierra.
SC Johnson chairman and chief executive officer Fisk Johnson said, “We are extremely proud to accept this Gold Medal Award. At SC Johnson, we have long believed that sustainability and helping consumers make the best product choices go hand-in-hand. It is especially rewarding to be recognized for our Greenlist process. In addition to driving ongoing product improvements, it has fueled a far-reaching ingredient disclosure effort. These transparency initiatives are fundamental for the company and help us earn the trust of families buying our products.”
The World Environment Center’s Gold Medal for International Corporate Achievement in Sustainable Development was established in 1985 to recognize significant industry initiatives in global environmental excellence and sustainable development. Recent recipients of the WEC Gold Medal Award are Volkswagen (2014), Unilever (2013), IBM (2012), Nestle (2011), Wal-Mart (2010), The Coca-Cola Company (2009) and Marks & Spencer (2008).
The Gold Medal Jury is independent of WEC and its programs, and is composed of international leaders from academia, government, non-governmental organizations and retired industry professionals.
In other SC Johnson news, Johnson spoke on the future of consumer trust at the 2014 Consumer Specialty Products Association annual meeting on Dec. 10 in Fort Lauderdale, Fla.
“Simply, the science on chemical safety is very complex and therefore easily misinterpreted and distorted. If we want to earn trust and credibility, we have to lay it all out there for scrutiny, address genuine safety concerns and uphold high standards,” Johnson said.
Among the company’s transparency initiatives are providing product-specific fragrance ingredient information, publishing details from its day-to-day restricted use list in its 2014 sustainability report, and launching WhatsInsideSCJohnson.com.
