Introduction
CatSci Ltd is committed to developing economically and environmentally sustainable manufacturing processes for small molecule therapeutics. As an innovation partner, we recognise the need to produce perfect-for-purpose solutions for our customers, whilst acknowledging our responsibilities to our staff, our community and the wider environment.
This is our first annual report, and as such describes our current activities; it also sets out our ambitions for the next 5 years. As a growing and developing business, we are aware that our commitments to our ESG policies must develop in line with our growth.
Environmental
Current Contribution
CatSci’s purpose is to develop environmentally sustainable processes, and we measure this using recognised industry tools.
Our current operations produce no discharge to drain. We recognise that there may be some discharge through the laboratory extract system, so there are policies and procedures in place to minimise this. In addition, we are retrospectively fitting HEPA filtration on fume hood extraction.
In 2021, we achieved ‘My Green Lab’ Certification, achieving Platinum level This is a globally recognised accreditation for scientific laboratories and is the global standard for best practice in laboratory sustainability
We source our electricity from a supplier that does not use fossil fuels as part of the energy generating mix.
We actively manage our waste through a registered waste contractor, which ensures that all solvent waste is recycled or repurposed as fuel. All our electrical waste is recycled or repurposed through an electrical waste scheme.
General waste is segregated at source and recycled appropriately.
Our Commitment
We will continue to reduce our impact on the environment through discharges from our operations. All our extracted air will be HEPA filtered before discharged to the environment. We will reduce our energy consumption per fume hood by managing extract volumes. We will not discharge to drain.
Further to our ‘My Green Lab’ certification, we will achieve further environmental accreditation for our operations, such as ISO14001.
We will move to sourcing all our electricity from renewable sources. We will support the move to electric vehicles by providing vehicle charging ports for staff.
We will continue to measure our recycling rates for process chemicals and solvents, and we pledge to show year-on-year improvement.
CatSci is committed to achieving net zero.
Social
Current Contribution
CatSci is committed to working with the local community at all levels. We have an established volunteering program, which allows each staff member to complete two paid volunteering days each year.
In addition, we have established a STEM ambassador program, which provides support to local schools in the community; we are also an Official “Valued Partner” of a local high school. The staff and company engage in charitable giving to support the community, particularly the food banks in Cardiff and Dagenham as well as toiletries collection for a local refugee centre.
We have an appointed Champion for Inclusion and Diversity, and our program of activities includes workshops, training and awareness sessions. We will be attending Pride Cymru this year in support of our LGBTQ+ colleagues, and have also launched a Female In Leadership Pathway to address the gender imbalance in the sector. Furthermore, recruitment in 2021 resulted in 45% of our new intake being female.
Our focus on staff wellbeing has been heightened through the Covid-19 Pandemic. We created our Wellbeing Committee, and introduced a yearly wellbeing bonus to support staff and allow them to invest in their own mental wellbeing.
Our Commitment
We will build on our volunteering program to ensure that the program fully aligns with the values of the business and supports the workforces’ aspirations to give back to its local community. We will continue to grow our STEM activities with local schools, again supporting our local community and the wider Scientific community.
The business is developing a framework to further enhance our Diversity and Inclusion activities to build on the success of this year. This framework will also be used to support wellbeing activities.
CatSci commits to contributing 1% of gross profits to charitable causes.
Governance
Current Contribution
As a growing business, CatSci recognises it must demonstrate good governance. Through our development, we have appointed a non-executive Chairman and non-executive Directors. In line with larger enterprises, we have also appointed a remuneration committee to oversee executive remuneration. We are continuing to develop and update our policies and statements to support our Governance activities, such as our commitments on modern slavery.
We have a comprehensive supplier-approval process, which considers both the viability of a supplier and also considers their ethical position to see if they are a suitable match and align with our values. To support this, we have published a code of ethics for suppliers.
CatSci is fully compliant with UK Tax law, and hold fully audited accounts.
Our commitment
We will continue to be compliant with UK law and all other relevant laws of jurisdictions in which we operate. As the company grows, we are committed to continuously demonstrating excellent corporate governance. We will carry on developing practices, policies and procedures to support and demonstrate this.