SABIC becomes core member of ‘Value Balancing Alliance’

• SABIC joins the Value Balancing Alliance, which is advancing a methodology for measuring the value that companies provide to society, the economy, and the environment.
• Becoming a core Value Balancing Alliance member will help accelerate SABIC’s ongoing efforts to integrate ESG considerations across its business and drive sustainability through collaboration.

SABIC, a global leader in the chemicals industry, has joined the Value Balancing Alliance (VBA), a nonprofit organization working to develop a methodology for measuring the value companies provide to society, the economy, and the environment.

While integrating environmental, social and governance (ESG) considerations are already a crucial component of SABIC’s sustainability strategy, joining the VBA will enable the company to accelerate its efforts in collaboration with others across the industry and beyond.  As a core member, the VBA’s highest level of membership, SABIC gains full access to the alliance’s methodology work and voting rights in the VBA steering committee.

The methodology developed by VBA builds on existing and tested ESG frameworks, peer-reviewed scientific studies, and widely accepted methods for impact measurement and valuation (IMV). Its approach focuses on calculating the monetary value of social and environmental impacts, helping to translate these into the language of businesses, investors, and policymakers.

SABIC is one of the select global chemical companies to join the alliance, which already counts more than 25 international companies across multiple industries and sectors as members. Together, they will pilot the methodology in day-to-day applications to test its feasibility, scalability, comparability and connectivity to existing systems. SABIC will then exchange learnings and implications for decision-making and steering to inform further refinements to the methodology. In doing so, the company will advocate for excellence in corporate reporting and contribute the perspective of a leader headquartered in the Middle East region, an emerging market, broadening the diversity of viewpoints shaping the global methodology.

“At SABIC, we strive to integrate ESG into decision-making at every level and in every area of the global organization. Standardized sustainability management accounting and steering systems are integral to this process,” said Bob Maughon, Executive Vice President Technology & Innovation and Chief Technology & Sustainability Officer at SABIC. “We look forward to collaborating with the VBA to establish the global IMV approach needed to better measure and maximize the contributions companies offer to people and the planet.”

“We are proud to welcome SABIC, one of the world’s largest petrochemicals manufacturers with headquarters in Riyadh, Saudi Arabia, to the Value Balancing Alliance (VBA). As we continue to expand our alliance, we are excited to work together with companies like SABIC and continue our efforts in advancing performance measurement and sustainable accounting,” said Christian Heller, CEO of the Value Balancing Alliance.

Today’s announcement adds to SABIC’s growing efforts to drive sustainability through collaboration. Just last month, the company announced its membership in Together for Sustainability (TfS), a group of 40+ chemical companies partnering to assess, audit and improve sustainability practices within their supply chains. SABIC has already spent more than a decade participating in the World Business Council for Sustainable Development (WBCSD), a CEO-led organization of more than 200 global businesses working together to develop the methodologies, practices, and other tools necessary to accelerate the transition to a sustainable world. SABIC also co-chairs the World Economic Forum Low-Carbon Emitting Technologies (LCET) Initiative, which aims to upscale low-carbon emitting technologies in chemical production to put the industry on track to reach net zero emissions by 2050. The company is also a founding member of the Alliance to End Plastic Waste, a global community of companies dedicated to building a circular economy for plastic.