Zotefoams’ ambition is guided by its purpose: providing optimal material solutions for the benefit of society. In 2025, we strengthened the foundations of our sustainability approach - improving environmental data quality, expanding our emissions reporting boundary and continuing to reduce operational impacts while supporting customers with material solutions that improve resource efficiency.
Ronan Cox
Group CEO
Our strategy
Our purpose, underpinned by our values of Courage, Impact and Respect, guides decision-making across the Group and shapes our strategic priorities. Effective management of ESG matters is integral to long-term value creation, strengthening resilience and supporting sustainable growth. We also recognise the role that materials play in enabling sustainable outcomes. When designed and applied responsibly, plastics can provide efficient, durable solutions that may reduce life cycle impacts in long-life applications where performance, lightweighting and insulation are critical.
Environment
At Group level:
- Reduced global Scope 1 and 2 emissions by 2% while supporting higher production volumes
- Reduced total waste generated by 10% compared with 2024
- Sourced 100% renewable electricity at Croydon (UK), Brzeg (Poland) and Walton (USA), representing over 99% of Group global electricity consumption
- Completed our first Scope 3 assessment, establishing a baseline and informing future reduction priorities.
In Croydon, UK
- Improved Specific Energy Consumption by 7.7%.
Social
- Group gender pay gap of 11%, compared with the UK gender pay gap of 12.8%
- Living Wage is paid in the UK; above minimum wage is paid in all other geographies we operate in
- 20,090 safety engagements completed across the Group
- Global Health, Safety and Wellbeing Day delivered across all global facilities
- "One to Watch" accreditation granted by Best Companies following an extensive engagement survey.
Governance
- Ran a baseline assessment against the Task Force on Nature‑related Financial Disclosures (TNFD), establishing a 2024 baseline.
In 2025, Zotefoams took an important step forward in its sustainability journey, strengthening the integrity of environmental data and expanding our reporting boundary through the establishment of Scope 3 emissions. We also deepened our understanding of sustainability impacts, including nature-related considerations, and reinforced our commitment to employee wellbeing. These foundations support our long-term ambition to build a sustainable and profitable business that contributes to the circular economy and delivers positive outcomes for stakeholders.
Tamara Thomas
Group Sustainability
& ESG Manager
Environment
Areas of focus
- Environmental Steering Committee
- ISO certification1 including ISO 14001:2015 Environmental Management Systems certification in the UK and Poland
- Energy Management Systems certification in the UK and Poland
- 100% renewable electricity in the Croydon, UK, Brzeg, Poland and Walton, USA sites (representing over 99% of Group global electricity consumption)
- Good progress on energy and water consumption and waste reduction
- Targets in place for waste reduction, sustainable product development and energy consumption reduction
- Annual disclosures to the Carbon Disclosure Project (CDP).
Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs)
Social
Areas of focus
Health and Safety Steering Committee
ISO45001 (Occupational Health and Safety Management Systems) certification in the UK and Poland
Graduate Scheme
Comprehensive HR policies
Living Wage employer (UK)
Gender pay gap of 11% (UK gender pay gap: 12.8%)
Thorough modern slavery monitoring.
Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs)
Governance
Areas of focus
- ESG considerations embedded within our risk and opportunity management process through alignment with the Sustainability Accounting Standards Board (SASB)
- ISO certification including ISO 9001:2015 (Quality Management Systems) in the UK, Poland, Walton, USA and China and ISO 27001:2022 (Information Security Management Systems) in the UK, all sites in the USA and Poland
Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs)
1 ISO certification is focused on the three main sites (Croydon, UK, Brzeg, Poland, and Walton, USA) unless required locally for operational or financial reasons. For smaller sites, the costs arising from some ISO certifications outweigh the operational benefits and are therefore not sought. Structures sufficient to manage processes to a good standard are replicated from the larger sites. We follow the guidance provided by ISO 14021:2016 when making environmental claims. Where appropriate, we have products certified by independent organisations when making environmental claims, such as for recycled content.
Zotefoams Green Revenue Index
Product | Green revenue definition | Region £m | |||||
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
EU | FE | NA | ROW | UK | All | ||
Polyolefin Foams | Applies to:
| 23.0 | 1.7 | 15.9 | 0.3 | 10.1 | 51.0 |
High-Performance Products (HPP) | Applies to:
| 3.9 | 74.5 | 7.9 | 2.9 | 2.1 | 91.3 |
MuCell Extrusion LLC (MEL) | Applies to:
| – | – | 0.2 | – | – | 0.2 |
Total green revenue | 26.9 | 76.2 | 24.0 | 3.2 | 12.2 | 142.5 | |
Total Group revenue | 31.7 | 77.6 | 29.8 | 3.5 | 15.9 | 158.5 | |
Percentage green revenues | 84.9% | 98.2% | 80.5% | 91.1% | 76.6% | 89.9% | |
* All figures after rounding.
Green revenues
Our green revenue methodology identifies products that, through manufacture and/or end use, improve resource efficiency. Given the breadth of applications served, we apply a consistent approach by market segment, using a standardised set of criteria to assess resource-efficiency characteristics across typical applications within that segment.
In Transportation markets, green revenue is primarily derived from lightweight solutions that reduce overall material usage and contribute to improved fuel efficiency. Within our Product Protection and Sports & Leisure markets, products are engineered to achieve equal or enhanced performance while using less material through lightweight design. In our Building & Construction markets, our solutions are designed to improve energy efficiency by sealing and insulating buildings and pipework, thereby reducing energy consumption over the asset lifecycle.
Revenue generated from Industrial and Medica markets has been excluded from our green revenue classification. While certain applications within these markets may contribute to resource efficiency, many utilise our products for alternative performance characteristics, such as purity or technical specification, which fall outside our defined criteria.
Environmental governance
Zotefoams has embedded ESG considerations within its risk management framework, as described here aligning its approach with the requirements of the Sustainability Accounting Standards Board (SASB) and the Financial Conduct Authority (FCA) Listing Rule LR 6.6, which confirms that our financial disclosures are aligned with the recommendations of the Task Force on Climate-related Financial Disclosures (TCFD). The risk management process is designed to support the delivery of the Group’s strategic objectives through the systematic identification, assessment and management of risks that could affect its long‑term prospects.
Corporate ESG objectives are integrated across the business and cascaded throughout operations, reflecting both near-term priorities and long-term ambitions. These objectives are subject to regular review to ensure continued relevance and effectiveness.
The Board retains ultimate responsibility for environmental governance and performance, overseeing a comprehensive system of Group‑wide policies, practices and procedures to support the achievement of the Company’s environmental goals. The Group Chief Executive Officer is directly accountable to the Board for environmental performance.
Our approach to environmental sustainability
The environmental sustainability approach adopted by Zotefoams is centred on the following principles:
i) improving operational efficiency to minimise resource use and reduce our carbon footprint
ii) prioritising markets and applications where our products enable use-phase resource efficiency (e.g. energy efficiency, lower emissions, reduced raw material use, longer product life)
iii) innovating our portfolio to improve circularity, reduce life cycle impacts and minimise substances of concern.
In 2025, we completed Scope 3 calculations using the GHG Protocol framework and a methodology informed by science-based target-setting guidance. This established a 2024 baseline and informed our long-term decarbonisation ambition to meet net zero by 2050.
During the year, 100% of electricity consumed at our Croydon, Poland and Walton sites was sourced through renewable energy contracts, such as REGO (Renewable Energy Guarantees of Origin) backed electricity supply at our Croydon facility. Globally, this represents over 99% of the Group’s global electricity consumption.
The Group also maintains robust processes to monitor the substances used in its manufacturing operations. An ongoing compliance monitoring service is employed to identify whether any materials are currently, or may potentially be, classified under the Globally Harmonised System of Classification and Labelling of Chemicals (GHS) Categories 1 or 2 for health or environmental hazards, or under equivalent jurisdictional regulations governing chemicals of concern.
The Group’s product development approach prioritises the avoidance of such substances and the design of safer alternatives. Active programmes are in place, working collaboratively with customers and suppliers, to identify and transition away from materials of concern. Where certain additives remain necessary, these are typically incorporated in masterbatch form and bound within the polymer matrix, reducing potential exposure during normal use.