Air Liquide, best in class for its Sustainable Development approach

Once again this year, Air Liquide has been identified as a Best in Class company by the Norwegian sustainable development investor Storebrand, and has been ranked fourth worldwide in the chemicals sector.

The Storebrand ranking is based on the financial, social and environmental performances of Air Liquide, which has a long-standing commitment to sustainable development. The Group has been successful in maintaining its ranking by seeking continuous improvement in its performances in the areas of social and environmental responsibility.

As evidence of its commitment, Air Liquide has set eight “sustainable development” objectives, and has defined a series of precise indicators that are used to evaluate its performances in the area. This data is published annually in the Sustainable Development Report, and measures the efforts and progress made by the Group.

In 2009, the Group improved its score for several of these indicators:

• Ever more diversity: the percentage of women among its engineers and managers is up to 24%, equal to the global proportion of women in the Group: this represents an increase of +70% since 2003.
• A record level of employees completed a formal performance review: 73%.
• The workplace accident frequency rate is the lowest it has ever been in the Group’s history.
• Innovation, always at the heart of the Air Liquide strategy: the objective of 500 new patents worldwide between 2005 and 2009 was surpasses, with a total of 648 patents filed over the period.

The Group’s commitment to the community and society has been exemplified since 2008 by the Air Liquide Foundation, which supports research projects in the area of Health and the Environment and contributes to the local development of countries in which the Group operates: to date, a total of 38 projects have received support, including 32 micro-initiatives in 16 countries!

The Group earns 36% of its revenue through applications that preserve life and the environment, and allocates 60% of its R&D investment to these areas.