A robust tool to demonstrate portfolio sustainability progress

Syngenta Group has developed a Portfolio Sustainability Framework (PSF) to provide increased transparency to external stakeholders on the ongoing sustainability profile of the portfolio and capture internal progress on portfolio sustainability.

Implementation of the PSF started in 2024 with the Syngenta Crop Protection business unit. This was complemented with the addition of Syngenta Seeds Field Crops in 2025. The PSF covers 58% of Syngenta Group sales, which includes 94% of total Syngenta AG sales, 100% of crop protection sales from Syngenta (Shanghai) Crop Protection Technology Company Limited and 100% of seed field crop sales from Sanbei Seeds Co., Ltd. The remaining Syngenta AG sales are from the Syngenta Vegetable Seeds & Flowers businesses, currently not in scope for the PSF. Adaptation and implementation across additional Syngenta Group business units is considered going forward.

A scalable and data-driven framework, the PSF is designed to rate a given formulated product or seed variety for a specific crop and geography.

The PSF was proactively developed considering characteristics and requirements specific to the sector, inspired by the Portfolio Sustainability Assessment guidelines set forth by the World Business Council for Sustainable Development (WBCSD), a framework widely embraced by many chemical companies, reporting tangible business benefits and progress.   

To ensure methodological rigor, the overall methodology and a sample of products undergo annual review by external consultants, Arthur D. Little (ADL). ADL was one of the co-authors of the WBSCD Portfolio Sustainability Assessment methodology published in 2018. 

Consistent with 2024, the 2025 Syngenta PSF result reflects a combined profile capturing both the Syngenta Crop Protection and Syngenta Seeds Field Crops portfolios. The 2024 combined PSF profile was restated to capture additional sustainability benefits and refined estimates, including updates related to carbon emissions.  

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The improvement in the PSF profile year over year is driven by an increased proportion of sales from our innovation and biologicals portfolio and an improvement in carbon intensity.

As the framework becomes further embedded into the business strategy, data quality will continue to be refined, and additional sustainability benefits are expected to be captured.  

Based on current business plans, we expect the proportion of tier 1 products in the Crop Protection portfolio to reach 43% by 2030.

This target is based on the expected launch of new active ingredients, improvements in product mixes, new products with lower dose rates, and reduction of key product carbon footprints, particularly for our proprietary compounds. All of which aligns our growth and investment strategy with external stakeholder expectations, including consideration of future regulatory requirements and secondary value chain standards. The development of differentiated sustainability benefits offers further growth opportunities.

Our internal decision criteria give overall preference to parameters that typically lead to products with higher tier positioning in the PSF. New active ingredients introduced or planned for introduction between 2022-2030 are positioned in the top tiers. Our approach to sustainability is in line with our business targets, with higher tier products being more profitable overall.  

Targets for the combined Crop Protection and Seeds Field Crops portfolio will be set in the second half of 2026 after the first year of inclusion of Seeds Field Crops.