Sustainability

Founding Alltech in 1980 was just the beginning of a vision for Alltech founders Dr. Pearse and Mrs. Deirdre Lyons. They desired to build a business, but they also wanted to ensure that the business would have an impact on our planet far into the future. In 1989, Dr. Lyons took the stage at our Symposium and shared our company’s commitment to a guiding ACE principle, emphasizing the importance of delivering benefit to Animals, Consumers and the Environment.

Today, our Planet of Plenty™ vision propels our founding ACE principle into the future and into a new world of possibility. We envision a world of abundance, made possible through new technologies and management practices, and the world’s most valuable infinite resource — human ingenuity.

U.N. Global Compact and Sustainable Development Goals

Alltech took a significant step toward its sustainability goals when Dr. Mark Lyons, president and CEO of Alltech, and Mrs. Deirdre Lyons, co-founder of Alltech, signed a letter to the secretary-general of the United Nations committing Alltech to the U.N. Global Compact, which focuses on positive advancements in human rights, labor, the environment and anti-corruption.

In addition, we are focused on advancing nine of the United Nations’ 17 Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs) which are particularly relevant to our business. In 2015, all United Nations member states adopted the SDGs, which are an urgent call to action by all countries. Each SDG has specific, actionable targets that contribute to the overall goal.

The U.N. Global Compact, the world's largest corporate sustainability initiative, allows the U.N. to work with companies to help move the SDGs forward. Companies that join the Global Compact are asked to select the targets they feel are most closely aligned with their core business and are therefore actionable by the company.

“We believe that by adopting new technologies, improving business practices and embracing innovation, the agri-food sector can support a Planet of Plenty,” said Dr. Mark Lyons, who was joined by Mrs. Deirdre Lyons, co-founder of Alltech, and colleagues at the company’s global headquarters. “Today, we join the growing number of organizations around the world united by a passionate commitment to building a more sustainable future.”

We chose nine SDGs that align directly with our core business and our vision for a Planet of Plenty:

Alltech’s commitment was accepted into the U.N. Global Compact, and the company officially joined a network of over 9,500 companies and 3,000 non-business participants committed to building a sustainable future.

Science Based Targets initiative

Additionally, we have committed to the Science Based Targets initiative (SBTi). These targets are designed to help companies reduce their greenhouse gas (GHG) emissions and share their progress through transparent documentation and reporting.

“This is a fairly substantial undertaking for a company,” said David Butler, head of sustainability at Alltech. “There’s a lot of time involved in gathering this data, analyzing it and determining where a company can cut back. You need a whole team to do this.”

First, a company must establish baseline metrics. Then it will develop targets to reduce its GHG emissions to meet the goals of the Paris Agreement. Once these goals are submitted and accepted by the SBTi, each company is expected to invest the resources necessary to decrease its GHG emissions.

To date, 645 companies have joined the Science Based Targets initiative, which is also supported by the CDP (Carbon Disclosure Project), World Resources Institute, the World Wide Fund for Nature and the U.N. Global Compact.

Past Reports

2019 Sustainability Report (PDF)