About us
Letter From the President, CEO and Director
From Constantine Karayannopoulos
I am pleased and proud to present this inaugural Sustainability Report to our shareholders, customers, industry partners, employees, and all our stakeholders that benefit from Neo’s advanced rareearth and rare metal materials.
With nearly three decades in the rare earths and rare metals industry, I can say that I have seen corporate citizenship evolve to a level of reporting transparency that is better for everyone as well as the planet.
The pandemic years of 2020-2021 provided many moments of reflection for the world and the Neo team. Increasingly, we heard from customers, capital markets, and various stakeholders to articulate more directly our commitment to sustainability and carbon reduction, and to report on our progress toward these goals. The following report launches a formal reporting process that we hope explains and documents how we intend to help fast-forward the world’s transition to a more sustainable and less carbon centric future.
For many years, Neo has sought to lead our industry in environmentally responsible production practices and in producing products that enable sustainable technologies. For example:
- Our configuration of a new US-to-EU rare earth supply chain, utilizing by-product inputs and reduced upstream waste;
- Our targeted environmental stewardship of all five of Neo’s flagship rare earth facilities, representing approximately 90% of Neo’s total revenue, to operate within the EcoVadis tracking and reporting system– in 2021 alone, they were awarded with two Gold medals and one Silver with;
- Our commitment to the United Nations Global Compact;
- Our support of and membership in the Responsible Minerals Initiative;
- Our continued investment in air, water, and waste emissions minimization/ elimination technologies at our manufacturing sites with;
- Our redirection of low level naturally occurring radioactive material from legacy storage to an industrial partner that uses it as feedstock for carbonfree nuclear power generation with;
- Our consultation participation in and sharing data and industry insights for public policymaking with the European Raw Materials Alliance, Wind Europe, Tantalum and Niobium International Study Center, and the Rare Earth Industry Association with;
- Our decision to relocate a major operating facility in China to reduce the concentration of heavy industry in a high-stress water region, and reduce potential risk to groundwater sources, and;
- Our recycling program for magnet scrap from the Daido/Honda EV traction motor program and the introduction of magnets made from recycled REs for one of the world’s largest global smartphone and electronics producers.
I would like to thank Neo’s Board of Directors for their endorsement of this public reporting effort. For our management team, the production of this sustainability report allows us to institutionalize quantitative and qualitative data from our operating facilities. This has been an ambitious, and ultimately rewarding, undertaking. Pursuing ESG at Neo fits well with our highly entrepreneurial culture, and is already yielding positive results. With a common language to discuss ESG goals, our colleagues are better able to discuss, debate, and ultimately improve upon our pathways to sustainability. That language easily enters into virtually all of our business conversations, notably with customers, industry partners, and shareholders. That is good for the environment and for business.
I hope this report underscores and documents how Neo “walks the talk” of ESG and environmental performance. It will also serve as Neo’s Communication of Progress to the UN Global Compact.
We re-affirm Neo’s continued support and subscription to the UN Global Compact in 2022, ensuring our ongoing commitment to this worthy initiative. Neo’s operations have upheld all Ten Principles of the UN Global Compact through the past year. A specific touchpoint is Neo’s recent Human Rights Policy that was adopted by our Board of Directors. In today’s interconnected business environment, it is crucial to ensure our common values and goodwill are not only shared and understood but also communicated clearly and displayed prominently, and that our employees have the right tools to engage in productive dialogue with our business partners and stakeholders.
To our more than 1,800 dedicated employees around the globe, a big “Thank You” for your continuing commitment to commercial and ESG excellence. It is the greatest honor to wear the Neo jersey with you every single day.