We define prosperity as the opportunity for a safe, sustainable future for all. Our mission to work for a safer world and our founding legacy to “do something for humanity” offers us a meaningful part in helping to secure this future we envision. We do our part by working together and applying scientific rigor to promote the safety, security and sustainability of the products and processes we evaluate, test and certify. Our software solutions, advisory and data intelligence helps our customers actively address their business challenges, innovate new solutions and protect their efforts.
Customer satisfaction and ESG enablement
Our people help our customers establish and maintain trust by imparting confidence in their goods and services. This economy of trust is circular, as we all benefit from the improved safety and sustainability of the products and places we use and enjoy.
As concepts of safety evolve, so do our services and solutions. Safety concerns are not limited to immediate physical safety. Safety also includes security and sustainability concerns and impacts.
Our stakeholders and customers expect our scientific expertise to help meet the growing need for ESG solutions and collaboration to address ESG topics. Customer satisfaction and ESG enablement claimed the top-priority spot among the strategic topics ranked by internal and external stakeholders in our materiality assessment.
We will continue to prioritize our leadership and solutions to enable ESG for our customers at this critical moment, when the future health and well-being of people depends upon cleaner and clearer business practices to help heal the planet. Working for a safer world absolutely includes addressing critical sustainability trends, risks and opportunities fundamental to our collective long-term prosperity.
Amplifying SDG impact
The SDGs were adopted by the United Nations in 2015 as a call-to-action for people worldwide to address five critical areas of importance: people, planet, prosperity, peace, and partnership. While we have prioritized our corporate sustainability strategy to three goals, SDGs #3, #11 and #12, our products and services support many more SDGs. Whether serving our customers through our TIC services or our Software and Advisory (S&A) solutions, we amplify SDG impact by enabling our customers to achieve their ESG objectives.
End hunger, achieve food security and improved nutrition and promote sustainable agriculture
Vertical farming allows for year-round crop production, efficient use of farming space and the absence of chemicals and pesticides. Automation accelerates the seed to harvest process, lowers cost and speeds up delivery time for produce to market, increasing access to healthy foods in urban areas. UL’s Standards & Engagement’s Standards address the many systems required to safely operate vertical farms, including UL 8800, the Standard for Horticultural Lighting Equipment and Systems. This Standard includes requirements for photobiology testing, which determines the radiation hazards of the luminaires as well as, the methodology to reduce exposure.
A Trusted Partner in the Assessment of the Vertical Farming Systems | UL Solutions
Ensure healthy lives and promote well-being for all at all ages
Chemical safety is paramount to human health as chemicals are used in manufacturing processes in every industry. Humans interact with chemicals in the air we breathe, the food we consume and the products we purchase and use. Our GREENGUARD Certification helps consumers identify low chemical emissions products and avoid certain airborne chemicals, volatile organic compounds (VOCs) that may lead to chronic disease or cancer. In addition to limiting emissions of more than 360 VOCs and total chemical emissions, GREENGUARD Gold Certified products must also comply with requirements of the state of California Department of Public Health (CDPH) Standard Method for the Testing and Evaluation of Volatile Organic Chemical Emissions from Indoor Sources Using Environmental Chambers, also known as California Section 01350.
Ensure inclusive and equitable quality education and promote lifelong learning opportunities for all
Our learning and development services provide people with the tools they need to perform their work safely and expertly and advance in their careers. Courses cover a wide range of topics including autonomous vehicle safety, building inspection safety, environmental health and safety (EHS) courses through PureSafety powered by LearnShare, and our ComplianceWire® e-learning library for life sciences.
UL Solutions ComplianceWire® Achieves Half a Billion Trainings | UL Solutions
Ensure availability and sustainable management of water and sanitation for all
We test and certify drinking water system components for their impact on human health, improving water quality through our services. As water travels through a distribution system, there is an increase in contaminants due to the myriad touchpoints on the journey, including pipes, fittings, coatings and valves. We analyze water through these systems for contamination and the safety of water treatment chemicals, helping to enable cleaner water at the tap.
Ensure access to affordable, reliable, sustainable and modern energy for all
With over 35 years of experience, we’ve worked on more than 300,000 MW of renewable energy projects in more than 140 countries, significantly contributing to the global adoption of renewable and distributed energy resources (DER). Among our many service offerings in renewable energy, including grid solutions and solar and wind testing, inspection and certification services, we also provide renewable energy software solutions. HOMER modeling software facilitates decision-making on the optimal mix of resources, system configuration, and capital and operating costs of microgrids and DER.
Renewable Energy Software Solutions | UL Solutions
Promote sustained, inclusive and sustainable economic growth, full and productive employment and decent work for all
Our suite of sustainability services and solutions helps foster sustainable economic growth while helping customers validate the safety, security and sustainability of the processes and people across their value chain. Our ESG management and supply chain transparency solutions enable better business practices to improve workplaces and working conditions. Our responsible sourcing (RS) services address developing RS programs, supply chain risk and due diligence, audits and supplier performance.
Industry, innovation and infrastructure - Build resilient infrastructure, promote inclusive and sustainable industrialization and foster innovation
We help contribute to sustainable industrialization and a more inclusive, interconnected world at the forefront of innovation, providing testing services for the Internet of Things (IoT), autonomous vehicle safety, and training and certification for artificial intelligence and machine learning theory and predictive modeling and simulation services help advance innovation and efficiencies across many industries. We also evaluate medical, industrial and commercial robots to help enable their safe operation in environments where people are present.
Make cities and human settlements inclusive, safe, resilient and sustainable
We help enable a safer, smarter and more sustainable built environment through service offerings like building envelope advisory and field testing, ventilation and filtration assessments, lightning protection, firestop and fire door inspections, and more. We test for interoperability, accessibility and security in smart buildings designed to maximize efficiency and minimize waste. We also offer advisory support for green building certifications. We also validate and help enable healthier indoor environments through our Verified Healthy Building Program.
Safe, Smart and Sustainable Buildings | UL Solutions
Ensure sustainable consumption and production patterns
Responsible consumption and production requires us to rethink how we use, preserve and protect natural resources. As businesses transition from take-make-dispose linear production styles to circular processes we validate their efforts to keep waste out of landfills, recycle and reuse materials, and incorporate bio-based content into products.
Take urgent action to combat climate change and its impacts
We help our customers collect and measure carbon data to set and achieve their climate targets through our carbon reporting solution. UL 360 sustainability software solutions enable carbon reporting to Scope 1, 2 and all categories of scope 3 emissions in accordance with the global Greenhouse Gas Protocol. Our software solutions empower carbon emissions management and accountability by easing ESG reporting tasks to recognized frameworks like Report to frameworks such as CDP, GRI, Dow Jones Sustainability Index, Sustainability Accounting Standards Board and the United Nations Global Compact.
Conserve and sustainably use the oceans, seas and marine resources for sustainable development
We continue to collaborate with OceanCycle, a leading social enterprise focusing on reducing ocean plastic pollution, to align industry standards related to ocean-bound plastics, promote transparency of the standards, and develop the marketplace for ocean-bound plastics. According to Oceana.org, “an estimated 33 billion pounds of plastic enter the ocean every year or roughly equivalent to dumping two garbage trucks full of plastic into the oceans every minute.”
Protect, restore and promote sustainable use of terrestrial ecosystems, sustainably manage forests, combat desertification, and halt and reverse land degradation
By reducing the virgin material used in packaging and products, manufacturers can help preserve precious natural resources. Our science-based recycled content claim validation, according to UL 2809-2, Environmental Claim Validation Procedure (ECVP) for Recycled Content, authenticates post-consumer and pre-consumer closed-loop or total recycled product. Our sustainability and supply chain capabilities offer transparency into regions at risk for deforestation, materials transparency and environmental obligations, and our Ecologo Certifications demonstrate reduced environmental impacts in products, services and packages.
Partnering with our customers on their sustainability journey
Our customers care about sustainability and understand that ESG issues are important to corporate resiliency and continued prosperity. Our customers know that sustainability will transform their businesses by incorporating operational efficiency, supply-chain resilience and risk mitigation across their Scope 1, 2 and 3 analysis and reporting. To meet their needs, we will remain focused on sharpening our strategic advantages and offering science-based solutions to help our customers navigate their sustainability journeys. We are dedicated to helping our customers solve their biggest challenges and leading in sustainability.
Continual evolution
2022 brought its own challenges to bear as COVID-19 continued to impact people and supply chains and the invasion of Ukraine brought new disruptions and soaring energy prices. Still, we worked to fulfill our mission around the world and to provide new offerings to meet our customers’ needs with regulatory, supply chain integrity and sustainability solutions.
Customer impact
New sustainability services to enable ESG for our customers
As we navigate our sustainability impact, we must focus our sights on what we actually can affect and the work that we have the greatest capacity to carry out. In 2022, UL Solutions partnered with ERM, to complete a third-party validated materiality assessment. Our employees and internal and external stakeholders were surveyed and interviewed to determine the prioritization of ESG topics based on the potential risk, opportunity and significance of our impact. The results demonstrated that our employees and stakeholders consider satisfying our customers and helping them advance toward their ESG goals our highest ESG priority.
We have steadily expanded our portfolio of ESG and sustainability solutions to this end, and in 2022, the following new services and developments demonstrate our ongoing commitment and responsive approach to satisfying our customers and meeting their ESG needs.
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Validating our commitment to customer satisfaction and ESG enablement
We are motivated by our materiality assessment results validating our focus on delivering sustainability services and satisfaction to our customers while we help them achieve their important ESG goals. These services align with UN SDG #6, “Ensure availability of sustainable management of water and sanitation for all,” #12, “Ensure sustainable consumption and production patterns,” and #13, “Take urgent action to combat climate change and its impacts.” UL Solutions addresses our own consumption of resources through the work of dedicated environmental task forces while our services and offerings empower our customers to employ sustainable business practices, advance toward circularity, enhance supply chain transparency and alleviate water scarcity.
In shared pursuit of progress
At UL Solutions, we recognize the vital role that industry and trade associations play helping fulfill our mission and meeting our stakeholders’ needs. Our employees are actively involved in a range of industry and trade associations, working collaboratively with our partners to share expertise and insights to drive innovation and create positive impact. Our partnerships with organizations such as the National Association of Manufacturers, and the Retail Industry Leaders Association enable us to work together toward our shared vision of a safer, more secure, and more sustainable world. We also work closely with associations including the Telecommunications Industry Association to enable smart building adoption positively impacting power and energy, health and well-being, life and property safety, connectivity, cybersecurity and sustainability.
We engage in a number of associations through board participation, committee assignments, and speaking engagements, including the Chicago Council on Global Affairs, AmCham Denmark, the Commercial Club of Chicago and the TIC Council.
As a company founded on sharing our scientific research and discoveries to work for a safer world, our subject matter experts across the enterprise contribute to essential global dialogues and sustainability research. SDG #17 reveals the need for cross-industry, public, private and civil society partnerships to accomplish sustainability goals. We embrace this SDG through participating in collaborative research and thought leadership, working directly with partners across the circularity value chain. We continue to increase our level of engagement and lend our science-based expertise to our key sustainability alliances, helping to drive global progress.
Sustainability research and scientific expertise
UL Becomes Founding Partner of the International Science Reserve | UL Solutions
Further advancing our safety mission, UL Solutions invested as founding partners in the International Science Reserve, a community of scientists and technologists with a mission of engaging the scientific community to help the world confront and mitigate potential global catastrophes such as wildfires, climate change impacts and pandemics. UL Solutions’ technical and regulatory expertise in applied safety science has proved valuable in designing this groundbreaking collaborative model.
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Our sustainability SMEs are pivotal to advancing ESG science and deepening the world’s capabilities to address future risks, while helping UL Solutions develop future opportunities into customer service offerings.
Reflections and commitments
Our mission to help make the world a safer place anchors our efforts to enact our purpose to partner with our stakeholders and apply science to the safety, security and sustainability challenges they face. Our corporate sustainability purpose, strategy and alignment push us to remain responsible and lead ESG enablement through our words, actions and the services we provide.
We will continue to prioritize investment in a broad range of ESG-related testing, inspection and certification (TIC), software and advisory services to support our customers’ ESG journey including: energy efficiency, renewables, electric/autonomous vehicle, batteries and energy storage, material sourcing, chemical data management, supply chain and product stewardship and environmental health and safety, among many other services and capabilities.
On a shared mission
Our continued commitment to our mission represents an ongoing commitment to our stakeholders. As our journey together progresses, we resolve to keep working for a safer, more secure and more sustainable world for all people, no matter the challenges we face.
