From the Sector

Setting concrete environmental sustainability objectives for abating direct greenhouse gas emissions and leveraging investments and state-of-the-art technology. This is the approach that has always guided RadiciGroup in operating its businesses with a wide range of products: chemical intermediates, polyamide polymers, high performance engineering polymers and advanced textile solutions.

Between 2011 and 2020, overall Group greenhouse gas emissions were cut by 70%, falling from about 700,000 metric tons per year of CO₂ equivalent to 200,000 metric tons.  

These results were largely achieved through the action implemented by the Group’s Specialty Chemicals Business Area at its plants in Novara, Italy, and in Germany, which are the heart of RadiciGroup’s chemicals business. Here the Group produces an essential intermediate for synthesizing polyamide 66, adipic acid, whose production process releases nitrous oxide as a by-product. Nitrous oxide in itself is not particularly problematic (in fact, it is used in the medical sector as an anaesthetic and in the food industry as a spray propellant, in cans of whipped cream, for instance), but, if it is released into the atmosphere, it has a much higher greenhouse gas effect than carbon dioxide.

At the Radici Chimica site in Novara, a multiyear investment budget of over EUR 10 million was dedicated to lowering these emissions through three important undertakings: in 2004, putting into operation a three catalyst bed reactor, designed and patented by the company, to decompose nitrous oxide into nitrogen and oxygen, the two elements it is composed of, thus making it innocuous for the atmosphere; in 2013, installing an EnviNOx plant to decrease the release of nitrous oxide formed in the production of nitric acid, and, in 2021, a further improvement in the emissions abatement system associated with nitric acid production.

Since activating the last plant just 9 months ago, more than 35,000 metric tons of CO₂ equivalent have been cut. All the above-mentioned actions have enabled Radici Chimica Novara to record a nitrous oxide emissions level less than 10 ppm, a value close to zero.

Stahl, an active proponent of responsible chemistry, has published its 2021 Environment, Social, and Governance (ESG) Report. The report outlines the company’s sustainable development ambitions and its achievements over the year. It also features Stahl’s ambitious climate mitigation targets for 2030, such as the transition to more renewable feedstocks.

The 2021 Stahl ESG Report is a cornerstone of Stahl’s commitment to reporting transparently on its progress toward a more sustainable chemicals value chain. This acknowledges the important role that industry must play in tackling climate change while enabling a higher quality of life for more people. A key focal point of the new report is a progress update on Stahl’s ESG Roadmap. Introduced last year, this ten-year plan outlines the company’s ESG commitments and targets for 2023 and 2030.
 
Climate action
Stahl is focused on mitigating climate change by reducing greenhouse gas (GHG) emissions from all activities over which it has influence. This includes investing in renewable energy and process efficiencies to lower the GHG emissions caused directly by Stahl’s own operations and the energy used to power them. On this point, progress was made toward the 2023 and 2030 targets in 2021, including a reduction in Scope 1 and 2 CO2 emissions of 15%. Also covered are Stahl’s indirect value-chain impacts, for example, from the raw materials it buys. Looking beyond Stahl’s direct environmental impacts and fostering greater supply-chain transparency will be vital for tackling emissions on a wider scale.

Creating responsible chemistry, together
In 2021, advances were made regarding the company’s diversity and safety targets, which are areas of continuous improvement. Stahl is committed to ensuring a safe working environment, as well as nurturing a diverse and inclusive workplace to continuously improve employee skills.

EcoVadis Gold rating
Fostering ethical behavior through exemplary leadership and governance is key to Stahl’s ambitions. Achieving the EcoVadis Gold rating was an important milestone in this respect. This well-established award reflects the company’s ongoing commitment to supply chain transparency and working with partners to improve the sustainability of its products and operations.

Global Fashion Agenda (GFA), the non-profit organisation that fosters collaboration on sustainability in fashion to drive impact, has forged a new alliance with UN Climate Change secretariat (UNFCCC) to accelerate the fashion industry’s climate action.
 
The Fashion On Climate report projects that if the fashion industry does not accelerate its response to climate change, by 2030 it will produce around twice the volume of greenhouse gas emissions required to align with the Paris Agreement global warming pathways by 2050. With the urgent need for industry transformation, the new alliance between GFA and UNFCCC will accelerate the impact of the UN Fashion Industry Charter for Climate Action which aims to drive the fashion industry to net-zero emissions no later than 2050 in line with keeping global warming below 1.5 degrees.
 
The collaboration will be activated around the organisations’ prestigious forums including GFA’s Global Fashion Summit and UNFCCC’s annual Conference of Parties (COP). Through these forums, the organisations will collaborate to unite fashion leaders and core stakeholders to facilitate knowledge sharing, impactful partnerships, and the implementation of bold actions needed to meet the Fashion Charter targets.
 
Global Fashion Summit: Copenhagen Edition 2022, the leading international forum for sustainability in fashion, will take place on 7-8 June in the grand setting of the Royal Opera House, Copenhagen, Denmark. Under the theme ‘Alliances For a New Era’ - the Summit will endeavour to form previously inconceivable alliances within the fashion industry and also examine atypical cross-industry alliances, in a bid to accelerate the transition to a net positive reality.
 
UNFCCC will, through the Fashion Charter, contribute to the Summit content, where they will share insights on its progress and what further solutions are needed. UNFCCC will also hold its annual Fashion Charter meeting at the Summit, where the organisations will convene relevant experts to join resources and discuss tools that can enable the sector to achieve its climate targets laid out in the charter. The alliance will also continue for future editions Global Fashion Summit in other locations, in addition to Copenhagen.
 
Beyond the Summit, GFA and UNFCCC will continue to work together to elevate publications and reports, such as the Fashion CEO Agenda, and inform Fashion Charter meetings during COP27 to raise awareness among leaders on the most pressing issues and priorities and urging commitments from industry leaders to drive change within social, environmental and circular dimensions.
 
Federica Marchionni, CEO, Global Fashion Agenda, says: “GFA is striving to create impactful alliances that can accelerate the fashion industry’s transition to a net zero reality. We are therefore thrilled to be collaborating with UNFCCC as its Fashion Charter is an essential tool to mobilise the necessary industry transformation. Through our collaboration, we hope to bring together core fashion stakeholders, foster pre-competitive collaboration and provide even deeper insights and guidance to advance progress.”
 
Niclas Svenningsen, Climate Action manager, UNFCCC, says, “We are excited for this opportunity to reinforce our collaboration with the Global Fashion Agenda. The climate crisis is today the paramount issue for the fashion sector to address. While the Fashion Charter brings together a wide range of stakeholders to work collaboratively on solutions, the Global Fashion Agenda is an important venue for broader sustainability discussions in the fashion sector. We see many opportunities for further strengthening and highlighting both the sustainability and the climate work through this collaboration.”

• Project delivered on schedule and at budget after two and a half years of construction despite challenges arising from a global pandemic
• New state-of-the-art lyocell plant with a capacity of 100,000 tons will help serve the growing demand for sustainably produced fibers
• Important milestone towards a carbon-free future has been set

The Lenzing Group is pleased to announce the completion of its key lyocell expansion project in Thailand. The new plant, one of the largest of its kind in the world with a nameplate capacity of 100,000 tons per year, started production on schedule and will help to even better meet the increasing customer demand for TENCEL™ branded lyocell fibers. For Lenzing, the project also represents an important step towards strengthening its leadership position in the specialty fiber market and into a carbon-free future.

The construction of the plant located at Industrial Park 304 in Prachinburi, around 150 kilometers northeast of Bangkok, started in the second half of 2019 and proceeded largely according to plan, despite the challenges arising from the COVID-19 pandemic. The recruiting and onboarding of new employees has been successful. Investments (CAPEX) amounted to approx. EUR 400 mn.

“The demand for our wood-based, biodegradable specialty fibers under the TENCEL™, LENZING™ ECOVERO™ and VEOCEL™ brands is growing very well. In Asia in particular, we see huge growth potential for our brands based on sustainable innovation. With the production start of the lyocell plant in Thailand, Lenzing reached an important milestone in its growth journey, supporting our ambitious goal to make the textile and nonwoven industries more sustainable”, said Robert van de Kerkhof, Member of the Managing Board.

In 2019, Lenzing made a strategic commitment to reducing its greenhouse gas emissions per ton of product by 50 percent by 2030. The target is to be climate-neutral by 2050. Due to the established infrastructure, the site in Thailand can be supplied with sustainable biogenic energy and contribute significantly to climate protection.

Together with the key project in Brazil and the substantial investments at the existing sites in Asia, Lenzing is currently implementing the largest investment program in its corporate history (with more than approx. EUR 1.5 bn). Lenzing will continue to drive the execution of its strategic projects, which are to make a significant contri-bution to earnings from 2022.

• Renewable Carbon Initiative (RCI) published a strategy paper on the defossilisation of the chemical and material industry with eleven policy recommendations

The Renewable Carbon Initiative, an interest group of more than 30 companies from the wide field of the chemical and material value chains, was founded in 2020 to collaboratively enable the chemical and material industries to tackle the challenges in meeting the climate goals set by the European Union and the sustainability expectations held by societies around the globe.

RCI addresses the core of the climate problem: 72% of anthropogenic climate change is caused directly by extracted fossil carbon from the ground. In order to rapidly mitigate climate change and achieve our global ambition for greenhouse gas emission reductions, the inflow of further fossil carbon from the ground into our system must be reduced as quickly as possible and in large scale.

In the energy and transport sector, this means a vigorous and fast expansion of renewable energies, hydrogen and electromobility, the so-called decarbonisation of these sectors. The EU has already started pushing an ambitious agenda in this space and will continue to do so, for instance with the recently released ‘Fit for 55’ package.

However, these policies have so far largely ignored other industries that extract and use fossil carbon. The chemical and material industries have a high demand for carbon and are essentially only possible with carbon-based feedstocks, as most of their products cannot do without carbon. Unlike energy, these sectors cannot be “decarbonised”, as molecules will always need carbon. The equivalent to decarbonisation via renewable energy in the energy sector is the transition to renewable carbon in the chemical and derived materials industries. Both strategies avoid bringing additional fossil carbon from the ground into the cycle and can be summarised under the term “defossilisation”.

To decouple chemistry from fossil carbon, the key question is which non-fossil carbon sources can be used in the future. Rapid developments in biosciences and chemistry have unlocked novel, renewable and increasingly affordable sources of carbon, which provide us with alternative solutions for a more sustainable chemicals and materials sector. These alternative sources are: biomass, utilisation of CO2 and recycling. They are combined under the term “renewable carbon”. When used as a guiding principle, renewable carbon provides a clear goal to work towards with sufficient room to manoeuvre for the whole sector. It enables the industry to think out of the box of established boundaries and stop the influx of additional fossil carbon from the ground.

The systematic change to renewable carbon will not only require significant efforts from industry, but must be supported by policy measures, technology developments and major investments. In order to implement a rapid and high-volume transition away from fossil carbon, and to demonstrate its impact, a supportive policy framework is essential. The emphasis should be put on sourcing carbon responsibly and in a manner that does not adversely impact the wider planetary boundaries nor undermines societal foundations. An overarching carbon management strategy is required that also takes specific regional and application-related features into account, to identify the most sustainable carbon source from the renewable carbon family. This will allow for a proper organisation of the complex transition from today’s fossil carbon from the ground to renewable energy and to renewable carbon across all industrial sectors.

RCI has developed eleven concrete policy recommendations on renewable carbon, carbon management, support for the transformation of the existing chemical infrastructure and the transformation of biofuel plants into chemical suppliers. The policy paper “Renewable Carbon as a Guiding Principle for Sustainable Carbon Cycles” is freely available for download in both a short version and a long version.

Link for Download: https://renewable-carbon-initiative.com/media/library/

All of Sateri’s five viscose mills in China have undergone independent evaluation of their social and labour practices, having completed the Higg Facility Social and Labour Module (FSLM) audit and achieved a consistent high score of above 80%.

A member of the RGE group of companies, Sateri is also one of the world’s first viscose producers to have completed the Higg Facility Environmental Module (FEM) assessment, with the similar verified high score of over 80% for all its viscose mills.

Developed by the Sustainable Apparel Coalition, a global, multi-stakeholder non-profit alliance for the fashion industry, the Higg Index is a suite of tools that enables brands, retailers and facilities of all sizes to accurately measure and score a company or product’s sustainability performance.

The FSLM tool of the Higg Index holistically assesses working conditions of the mills, including fair wages and compensation, health & safety, respectful treatment of employees etc; while the FEM tool focuses more on environmental performance, including energy consumption, greenhouse gas missions, water use, chemical and waste management.

• More than 30 leading pioneers of the chemical and material sector welcome the latest political papers from Brussels, Berlin and Düsseldorf

The political situation for renewable carbon from biomass, CO2 and recycling for the defossilisation of the chemical and materials industry has begun to shift fundamentally in Europe. For the first time, important policy papers from Brussels and Germany take into consideration that the term decarbonisation alone is not sufficient, and that there are important industrial sectors with a permanent and even growing carbon demand. Finally, the need for a sustainable coverage of this carbon demand and the realisation of sustainable carbon cycles have been identified on the political stage. They are elemental to the realisation of a sustainable chemical and derived materials industry.

The goal is to create sustainable carbon cycles. This requires comprehensive carbon management of renewable sources, which includes carbon from biomass, carbon from Carbon Capture and Utilisation (CCU) – the industrial use of CO2 as an integral part – as well as mechanical and chemical recycling. And only the use of all alternative carbon streams enables a true decoupling of the chemical and materials sector from additional fossil carbon from the ground. Only in this way can the chemical industry stay the backbone of modern society and transform into a sustainable sector that enables the achievement of global climate goals. The Renewable Carbon Initiative’s (RCI) major aim is to support the smart transition from fossil to renewable carbon: utilising carbon from biomass, CO2 and recycling instead of additional fossil carbon from the ground. This is crucial because 72% of the human-made greenhouse gas emissions are directly linked to additional fossil carbon. The RCI supports all renewable carbon sources available, but the political support is fragmented and differs between carbon from biomass, recycling or carbon capture and utilisation (CCU). Especially CCU has so far not been a strategic objective in the Green Deal and Fit-for-55.

This will change fundamentally with the European Commission's communication paper on “Sustainable Carbon Cycles” published on 15 December. The position in the paper represents an essential step forward that shows embedded carbon has reached the political mainstream – supported by recent opinions from members of the European parliament and also, apparently, by the upcoming IPCC assessment report 6. Now, CCU becomes a recognised and credible solution for sustainable carbon cycles and a potentially sustainable option for the chemical and  material industries. Also, in the political discussions in Brussels, the term “defossilation” is appearing more and more often, complementing or replacing the term decarbonisation in those areas where carbon is indispensable. MEP Maria da Graça Carvahlo is among a number of politicians in Brussels who perceive CCU as an important future industry, putting it on the political map and creating momentum for CCU. This includes the integration of CCU into the new Carbon Removal Regime and the Emission Trading System (ETS).

As the new policy documents are fully in line with the strategy of the RCI, the more than 30 member companies of the initiative are highly supportive of this new development and are ready to support policy-maker with data and detailed suggestions for active support and the realisation of sustainable carbon cycles and a sound carbon management. The recent political papers of relevance are highlighted in the following.

Brussels: Communication paper on “Sustainable Carbon Cycles”
On 15 December, the European Commission has published the communication paper “Sustainable Carbon Cycles” . For the first time, the importance of carbon in different industrial sectors is clearly stated. One of the key statements in the paper is the full recognition of CCU for the first time as a solution for the circular economy, which includes CCU-based fuels as well. The communication paper distinguishes between bio-based CO2, fossil CO2 and CO2 from direct air capture when addressing carbon removal and it also announces detailed monitoring of the different CO2 streams. Not only CCU, but also carbon from the bioeconomy is registered as an important pillar for the future. Here, the term carbon farming has been newly introduced, which refers to improved land management practices that result in an increase of carbon sequestration in living biomass, dead organic matter or soils by enhancing carbon capture or reducing the release of carbon. Even though the list of nature-based carbon storage technologies is non-exhaustive in our view, we strongly support the paper’s idea to deem sustainable land and forest management as a basis for the bioeconomy more important than solely considering land use as a carbon sink. Surprisingly, chemical recycling, which is also an alternative carbon source that substitutes additional fossil carbon from the ground (i.e. carbon from crude oil, natural gas or from coal), is completely absent from the communication paper.

Berlin: Coalition paper of the new German Government: “Dare more progress – alliance for freedom, justice and sustainability”
The whole of Europe is waiting to see how the new German government of Social Democrats, Greens and Liberals will shape the German climate policy. The new reform agenda focuses in particular on solar and wind energy as well as especially hydrogen. Solar energy is to be expanded to 200 GW by 2030 and two percent of the country's land is to be designated for onshore wind energy. A hydrogen grid infrastructure is to be created for green hydrogen, which will form the backbone of the energy system of the future – and is also needed for e-fuels and sustainable chemical industry, a clear commitment to CCU. There is a further focus on the topic of circular economy and recycling. A higher recycling quota and a product-specific minimum quota for the use of recyclates and secondary raw materials should be established at European level. In the coalition paper, there is also a clear commitment to chemical recycling to be found. A significant change for the industry is planned to occur in regards to the so-called “plastic tax” of 80 cents per kilogram of non-recycled plastic packaging. This tax has been implemented by the EU, but most countries are not passing on this tax to the manufacturers and distributors, or only to a limited extent. The new German government now plans to fully transfer this tax over to the industry.

Düsseldorf: Carbon can protect the climate – Carbon Management Strategy North Rhine-Westphalia (NRW)
Lastly, the RCI highly welcomes North Rhine-Westphalia (NRW, Germany) as the first region worldwide to adopt a comprehensive carbon management strategy, a foundation for the transformation from using additional fossil carbon from the ground to the utilisation of renewable carbon from biomass, CO2 and recycling. For all three alternative carbon streams, separate detailed strategies are being developed to achieve the defossilisation of the industry. This is all the more remarkable as North Rhine-Westphalia is the federal state with the strongest industry in Germany, in particular the chemical industry. And it is here, of all places, that a first master plan for the conversion of industry from fossil carbon to biomass, CO2 and recycling is implemented. If successful, NRW could become a global leader in sustainable carbon
management and the region could become a blueprint for many industrial regions.

Sappi has approved an investment in Kirkniemi Mill in Lohja, Finland which enables a switch in its energy sourcing to renewable bioenergy. With this investment the mill’s direct fossil greenhouse gas emissions will reduce by ca. 90 percent, which is equivalent to 230 000 tons of carbon dioxide annually.

The project, set for completion in early 2023, will contribute significantly to Sappi Europe’s decarbonisation roadmap by exiting coal at one of its last facilities partially using this fuel type. Biomass will then be used in Kirkniemi’s multi-fuel boiler, built in 2015. The move advances Sappi towards its 2025 targets which include reducing specific greenhouse gas emissions (scope 1 and 2) by 25 percent and increasing renewable energy share to 50 percent in Europe compared to 2019.

The investment will establish the equipment needed to receive, store and handle woody biomass like the bark, sawdust and wood chips used for biofuel production. Such biomass types are by-products from the forest-based industry and utilising them for energy production derives further value from the forest resource.

In addition to increasing share of renewable energy, Sappi’s mills are also focused on reducing energy consumption. Sappi Kirkniemi Mill is party to Finland’s National Energy Efficiency Agreement and consistently reaches their energy saving targets. Kirkniemi’s ISO 50001 certification provides further evidence of the mill’s systematic improvement in energy efficiency.

• Alchemie Technology asks world leaders to cut energy and CO2 emissions from global fashion industry

Alchemie Technology, innovator of low energy, waterless, textile dyeing and finishing technology, is calling on COP26 leaders to support the global fashion industry in the adoption of new manufacturing technology, which will dramatically reduce carbon emissions and fashion’s impact on climate change.

While the fashion industry is one of the most polluting on the planet, second only to oil and gas, and greenhouse gas emissions from textile dyeing at around 3% of global emissions outweigh that of all international flights and maritime shipping combined, it is an industry that can also reduce CO2 emissions the fastest, just by changing the way it dyes fabrics.  

Fabric dyeing is the most polluting part of fashion and activewear manufacturing, involving industrial scale dye baths and huge amounts of dye chemicals, steam, electrical power, and consequent high CO2 emissions.  Repeated washing of the dyed fabric, required to remove dye residue, is responsible for 20% of the world’s wastewater pollution and excess dye is discharged into waterways, affecting the health of some of the world’s poorest communities. In more regulated areas, water pollution is reduced through reliance on energy intensive water treatment plants.

However, an environmental step change can be achieved by adopting new digital technology that can dye fabrics with an 85% reduction in energy consumption and a dramatic 95% reduction of the 1.3 trillion litres of water currently used by the industry each year.

For example, dyeing one polyester shirt using current methods generates 4.5 litres of wastewater and produces 0.17 Kg of CO2, compared to low energy digital technology, which uses less than 0.2 litres of water and reduces carbon emissions to 0.03 Kg.  Multiply these numbers by the billions of garments dyed each year and the scale of the environmental problem, if nothing changes, is clear to see.  Equally, the amount by which the textile industry can improve its carbon footprint is dramatic and can be done quickly if action is taken now.
Dr Simon Kew, Managing Director, Alchemie Technology comments “The technology now exists to enable the textile industry to make a significant contribution to helping meet the world’s net zero, climate change goals. But it requires the support of governments through investment, grants and legislation and the critical effort of brands, and their manufacturing supply chains to work together to make the change.”

Kornit Digital Ltd., a worldwide market leader in digital textile production technologies, released its 2020 Impact and Environmental, Social, and Governance (“ESG”) Report. This inaugural report affirms Kornit’s commitment to achieving specific ESG goals. This includes the way Kornit conducts business, creates meaningful impact in local communities, and achieves environmental sustainability, in addition to how Kornit will continue to build a diverse and inclusive company culture, foster employee growth and development, and empower fair and safe labor practices globally.
 
In addition to enabling eco-friendly production processes with technology and consumables that use less water, reduce waste, and minimize the carbon footprint, Kornit technology solutions enable sustainable production on demand, which eliminates overproduction of apparel and other textile goods. A 2021 Life Cycle Assessment conducted on two flagship products, the Kornit Atlas MAX and Kornit Presto S, demonstrated that relative to traditional analog processes, Kornit’s digital production systems used up to 95% less water and 94% less energy, and produced up to 83% less greenhouse gas (GHG) emissions for the Presto S system and up to 93% less water and 66% less energy, and produced up to 82% less greenhouse gas (GHG) emissions for the Atlas MAX system.

Based on this study, in addition to past sustainability performance results and strategic projections for business growth and market expansion, by 2026 Kornit Digital’s sustainable on-demand solutions are expected to enable the production of approximately 2.5 billion apparel items in a responsible manner to deliver:

• Zero overproduction: By moving the industry to on-demand manufacturing, Kornit will help eliminate the estimated 1.1 billion apparel items overproduced using traditional production methods, based on an industry average of 30% overproduction. This is about 1 apparel item for each and every person living in Europe and North America – saved.
• Zero water waste: In addition to eliminating overstocks, Kornit-enabled production on demand will support saving an estimated 4.3 trillion liters (1.1 trillion gallons) of water. This is the estimated amount of drinking water needed for the entire U.S. population for 11 years.
• Reduced CO2 emissions: By enabling sustainable on-demand production, consuming less energy, and generating less waste, Kornit will prevent an estimated 17.2 billion kilograms (37.9 billion pounds) of greenhouse gas emissions, compared to traditional manufacturing methods. This is equivalent to the estimated amount of carbon dioxide emitted from circumnavigating the entire planet with a car nearly 2,400 times.

Furthermore, the report outlines Kornit’s commitment to achieving KPIs that address waste, chemicals, GHG emissions, energy, product development, employee training, diversity and inclusion, and the company’s supply chain.