中文Let’s be honest: when most people hear “Kodak” they think of faded photo labs and a company that missed the digital turn. But the Kodak of 2026 is telling a very different story, and its newly released 2025 Sustainability Report is worth a proper read — not because it’s a PR exercise, but because it shows a legacy giant actually reinventing itself around greener print.
The headline is straightforward. Kodak says it’s continuing to advance sustainable print solutions — things like Kodak Sonora Process Free Plates, Kodak Prosper digital printing technology, water-based inks, and the Kodak Prinergy workflow — all of which, the company argues, help print customers cut waste, improve efficiency and produce more sustainably. In an industry under constant pressure to prove its environmental credentials, that’s a meaningful portfolio.
Dig into the report and the specifics get interesting. Kodak highlights progress on greenhouse gas emissions reduction, water consumption efficiency, waste diversion, product innovation, workforce development and responsible governance. Key achievements include significant reductions in GHG emissions and water withdrawal measured against the company’s 2016 baseline, strong waste diversion performance, and continued investment in circular economy initiatives such as solvent recovery and process-free printing technologies.
That last phrase — process-free printing — deserves a moment. Traditional plate processing uses chemistry and water and generates waste streams that printers have to dispose of carefully. Process-free plates ditch that step entirely. When a company that size pushes that technology, it ripples through thousands of print shops. It’s the kind of unglamorous innovation that actually moves the environmental needle.
There’s also a smarter diversification story hidden in the numbers. The report highlights growth in Kodak’s sustainable Advanced Materials businesses — particularly its motion picture films and its battery coatings. These lean on the company’s “longstanding expertise in materials science, chemistry, and precision coating” while feeding emerging markets that support sustainable manufacturing and the shift to a lower-carbon economy. In plain terms: Kodak is using the science it already had to build businesses for a world that’s decarbonising.
Jim Continenza, executive chairman and CEO, framed it as core to how the company operates. “Sustainability is an important part of how Kodak innovates, operates and serves customers,” he said, while acknowledging “the work still ahead as we continue to work to reduce environmental impact and strengthen our business for the future.” That balance — pride in progress, honesty about the road left — is exactly the tone a credible sustainability report should strike.
So why should a working printer care? Because the customers buying your print are increasingly being asked to report their own Scope 3 emissions, and the easiest wins often come from upstream choices like plates and inks. A supplier that can hand you process-free plates and water-based inks isn’t just greener — it’s making your own sustainability claims believable.
Kodak’s report is a reminder that reinvention in this industry rarely means throwing everything away. It means taking the deep technical know-how you already have and pointing it at the problems the market actually has now. That’s how a 140-year-old name stays in the game.
Source: Print21
