Tessy Plastics Demonstrates Transformative Sustainability Through Disclosure

The Challenge

Founded in New York in 1973, Tessy Plastics has prioritized its people and our planet for over 45 years. But as global interest in sustainability has surged, the company began to feel growing pressure to provide increased visibility into risk management and sustainable operations.

In 2010, Tessy began disclosing data to the global non-profit CDP. Doing so provided customers, like Johnson & Johnson, and other stakeholders with insight into the company’s environmental impacts, risks, and opportunities—but the comprehensive and ever-evolving questionnaire was pulling time and energy away from essential projects and activities. Five years later in 2015, the team at Tessy wanted a better understanding of how to respond to CDP’s questionnaires and the nuances within the disclosure methodology.

With aspirations of a place on the coveted Leadership A List, Tessy’s team partnered with ADEC ESG Solutions based on our specific expertise and history working with CDP on scoring disclosures.

Our Solution

Within a few years, what started off as a handful of on-demand consulting hours grew to include a wider range of services. In 2020, when a new sustainability team stepped in at Tessy, the scope of our work with them expanded to assist with the transition and ensure that the new team had everything they needed to succeed.

Long-term Success. ADEC ESG Solutions is proud to provide support to Tessy in its goal to continually improve safe and sustainable practices. Over the years, CDP’s reporting platform has given Tessy the opportunity to tighten up its approach to sustainability. Teaming up with a third party also offers a new perspective, as our work with the Tessy team helps to highlight areas of potential improvement, new opportunities, and untapped areas for growth. Tessy has become an industry leader in sustainability – integrating board-level oversight for climate change issues, setting ambitious goals and targets, and engaging their supply chain on climate change issues. Tessy has achieved a spot on CDP’s coveted A List for its 2020 Climate Change disclosure—the top 3% of all global submissions in 2020.

Insight and Education. We worked collaboratively with the Tessy team throughout the CDP scoring process, providing tips on how to respond and phrase information, as well as assisting with drafting responses. This gave them an overall better understanding of how to respond, covered strategies to maximize their performance, and provided a solid foundation for the team to continue leading the charge on sustainability in the future.

Scoring Assessments. Through cooperative work sessions with the Tessy team, ADEC ESG Solutions identified opportunities for improvement and helped Tessy to streamline questionnaire responses, based on the company’s previous CDP submissions.

Disclosure Completion. Our experts worked closely with the Tessy team to complete both Climate Change and Water Security disclosures.

In coordinating with the Tessy team, we provided support for data needs and drafting updated responses. This freed up the Tessy team to focus on day-to-day operations and overall EHS optimization.

Appeals Process. In 2017, Tessy Plastics received a surprising score—one that did not reflect their commitment to sustainability as a supply chain member. Confident that their hard work and robust programs merited a second look, they reached out to our team for support on an appeal. We worked with them to make a case using our familiarity with the methodology and experience with CDP, pinpointing and defending specific questions for appeal. Tessy’s appeal was a success, earning them an A- for that reporting year and making them one of Johnson & Johnson’s highest performing supply chain partners in CDP and public sustainability reporting.

Results

• Achieved CDP Leadership A levels for Climate Change from 2017-2020
• Improved understanding of the CDP methodology and response techniques for the Tessy team
• Identified gaps in disclosure and opportunities for improvement
• Coordinated appeal on Tessy’s 2017 disclosure, boosting their score to an A-

Deliverables

• Scoring Assessments for Climate Change and Water Security disclosures
• Full disclosure completion for Climate Change and Water Security questionnaires
• Cooperative work sessions to streamline responses and eliminate inaccuracies
• Complete project management from start to finish