+1 - Solvay

Management of Risks
Acting responsibly as a corporate citizen and caring for the health, safety and environment of its employees and
the community at large are key components of Solvay’s vision that are embedded through the Group’s Responsible
Care ® policy. Since its foundation in 1863, Solvay has successfully demonstrated its ability to anticipate and respond
appropriately to an ever-changing world and to achieve sustainable and profitable growth with a profound respect
and concern for the environmental and social contexts in which it operates.
In its 145-year history, Solvay has built up a solid track record of good practices in the management of the risks
inherent to its chemical and pharmaceutical activities. The diverse businesses within the Group generate a variety
of risks, some of which could possibly affect the Company as a whole. But diversity contributes to the reduction
of the overall risk, as the Company’s different businesses, processes, policies and structures offset some risks
against each other, merely through a balanced portfolio of products.
During its strategic review in June 2006, the Executive Committee highlighted risk management as a priority, and
decided to further enhance the related processes and measures implemented throughout the Group.
Solvay’s policy is to achieve good Enterprise Risk Management:
– our policy is to identify, assess and manage all potentially significant business opportunities and risks, by applying
systematic risk management integrated with strategy, business decisions and operations;
– while continuously improving our risk management capabilities, we achieve risk awareness and confidence
in entrepreneurship and make risk management part of everyone’s job.
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Solvay has defined ten categories of risk:
– Market & Growth – Strategic risk,
– Supply Chain risk and risk attached to Production Units,
– Regulatory, Political and Legal risk,
– Corporate Governance and risks attached to Internal Procedures,
– Financial risk,
– Product risk,
– Risk to people,
– Environmental risk,
– Information and IT risk,
– Reputational risk.
A special Competence Center within Financial Management develops tools, provides advice and proposes strategies
to help entities manage their risks more systematically. In the course of 2006 and 2007, each Business Unit was
analyzed to identify the significant risks, in the above ten categories, and initiatives have been undertaken to mitigate
the main ones among them. Risk management is now widely integrated into enterprise strategies, enabling
the Group to move ahead in major investment strategies cognizant of the attached risks and taking the necessary
steps to mitigate them.
The following objectives have been validated for 2012:
– systematically improving risk management in each of the ten categories;
– raising awareness so that each manager knows the main risks in his or her own area of responsibility, and steps
that can be taken to reduce them;
– having Solvay recognized as a leading company in risk management.
The purpose of this report is to describe the risk associated with each category and to outline the actions
undertaken by the Group to reduce that risk.
The order in which these risk categories are listed is not an indication of their severity or probability.
The mitigation efforts described are no guarantee that risks will not materialize but demonstrate the Group’s efforts
in an entrepreneurial way to reduce risk exposures.
Solvay Global Annual Report 2007