From the Sector

• 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.

C.L.A.S.S. MATERIAL HUB is a careful selection of smart ingredients made by cutting-edge companies and innovators across the globe. The wide range includes transparent and traceable products, which can be natural/organic, up or re-cycled/able, or innovative and always representing a new generation of innovation that is minimizing its impact on people, environment, animals and oceans.

Sensil® BioCare sustainable premium Nylon fiber is enhanced with a technology, that helps lessen the persistence of textile waste in sea water and in landfills. With its embedded technology, if any microfibers of Sensil® BioCare garments are released during washing, they will be broken down at a quicker rate compared to conventional Nylon 6.6 fibers when they end up in the oceans. Tests were conducted in both landfill soil and sea water simulations to understand the potential impact of Sensil® BioCare on both ecosystems. Specifically, initial testing following the ASTM D6691 Standard Test Method For Determining Aerobic Biodegradation Of Plastic Materials In The Marine Environment and the ASTM D5511 Standard Test Method For Determining Anaerobic Biodegradation Of Plastic Materials Under High-Solids Anaerobic-Digestion Conditions indicates that Sensil® BioCare yarns break down more rapidly (with a biodegradation of about 40% in 500 days) than conventional nylon. These promising findings point to reduced waste accumulation in both oceans and landfills.

NILIT, owner of the sustainable brand SENSIL®, has also teamed up with The Ocean Foundation’s Blue Resilience Initiative to reestablish and safeguard essential ocean meadows and other coastal habitats. These marine grasslands, which are being damaged at a rate of two football fields every hour, are vital ecosystems for sequestering CO2 from the atmosphere, thus reducing global warming and ocean acidification. In addition, ocean grasslands sustain sea life, defend coast lines against erosion and storm surge, and support economies around the world.

NILIT’s plant in Israel, who produce Sensil ® Biocare boosts, renowned certifications such as GRS (Global Recycled Standard)*, ISO 9001**, ISO 14001*** and ISO 45001****. Moreover, the company has already announced that all other plants in  the USA, China and Brazil will be ISO 14001 certified within 2021 and ISO 45001 certified within 2025. Worth to mention, 40% of Nilit’s team is made up of women.

IFFT/Interior Lifestyle Living has wrapped up three successful days of business at Tokyo Big Sight’s South Halls. From 18 – 20 October 2021, a total of 11,147 visitors found their way to the fairground. Assembling again for the first time since the pandemic began, 300 exhibitors from five different countries and regions welcomed visitors with an extensive and diverse selection of products in 10,390 sqm of gross exhibition space.

“As the place where designers set trends and decision makers meet, IFFT/Interior Lifestyle Living has once again proven to be the premier trade fair in Japan for the entire living space,” says Mr Yasushi Kajiwara, Managing Director of Messe Frankfurt Japan Ltd. “After last year’s fair was deferred due to the pandemic, we worked hard to present industry buyers with new impulses and ideas at this edition. This included an additional focus on up-and-coming designers at dedicated zones for new talent.”
 
Fresh talent and green living
With products for the entire living space assembled at the fairground, trade buyers were once again spoilt for choice, but a number of product zones in particular were worthy of special attention.
As a new initiative for 2021, the renowned Japanese architect Mr Keiji Ashizawa gathered prospective new interior designers and their products at the highly anticipated '+Talents' Zones.
 
To maximise connections, a series of fairground tours were also arranged to bring architects closer to the best new designers and their interior products for the Japanese market. A new 'Ethical' Zone was also introduced to spotlight green living, up-cycling, fair trade, and more.

INDEX™20 opened its doors, after an 18 month’ wait, delighted to welcome the nonwoven industry back to Geneva with open arms. The exhibition floor was busting with activity and anticipation at the prospect of new business.  

Over 500 exhibitors from 44 countries were present at the event, premiering their latest innovations. The resounding message was one of a positive outcome and an inspiring vision of the industry’s future across the spectrum of applications sectors.

The industry continued to evolve dramatically during the pandemic, and expectations were high as players from across the industry worldwide came together for the first time since 2017. Exhibitors said their expectations were exceeded, citing the high quality of the visitors present, converging on INDEX™ to conclude new business projects.

Over 9,300 visitor entries were recorded on-site, and over a thousand on the virtual platform. 

As the industry’s first hybrid industry event, many attendees made the most of the interactive INDEX™ virtual platform by arranging video meetings and messaging as well live exchanges. It also meant those unable to attend personally benefitted from the rich Sector Seminar programme and a wide variety Exhibitor Product Presentations.

The Innovation Lab opened its doors for the first time, demonstrating the sheer diversity of applications in which nonwovens are employed. The spotlight was on nominees of the INDEX™ Innovation Awards, and the winners presented with their coveted bronze statues designed by Belgian artist Olivier Strebelle. This initiative demonstrates the innovative properties and uses of nonwovens across a wide range of sectors, demonstrating the exciting future of the industry and its suppliers.

INDEX™23 will take place from 18 to 21 April 2023.

Dow and Ralph Lauren Corporation released a detailed manual on how to dye cotton more sustainably and more effectively than ever before using ECOFAST™ Pure Sustainable Textile Treatment. With this manual, Ralph Lauren and Dow are open-sourcing this improved dyeing process to encourage adoption in the textile industry and help standardize a more sustainable and efficient cotton dyeing system for positive environmental impact.  

The co-developed, step-by-step manual details how to use ECOFAST™ Pure, a cationic cotton treatment developed by Dow, with existing dyeing equipment. Ralph Lauren, the first brand to use ECOFAST™ Pure, partnered with Dow to optimize and implement the technology in its cotton dyeing operations as part of its new Color on Demand platform.

Conventional fabric dyeing processes require trillions of liters of water each year, generating roughly 20% of the world’s wastewater.^{1, 2} Pretreating fabric with ECOFAST™ Pure helps significantly reduce the amount of water, chemicals and energy needed to color cotton, by enabling up to 90% less process chemicals, 50% less water, 50% less dyes and 40% less energy without sacrificing color or quality.³

Ralph Lauren began integrating Color on Demand into its supply chain earlier this year and first launched product utilizing ECOFAST™ Pure as part of the Company’s Team USA collection for the Olympic & Paralympic Games Tokyo 2020. Designed to help address water scarcity and pollution caused by cotton dyeing, Color on Demand is a multi-phased system with a clear ambition to deliver over time the world’s first scalable zero wastewater cotton dyeing system. By 2025, the brand aims to use the Color on Demand platform to dye more than 80% of its solid cotton products.

¹ Drew, Deborah and Genevieve Yehounme. “The Apparel Industry’s Environmental Impact in 6 Graphics.” World Resources Institute, July 5, 2017. https://www.wri.org/blog/2017/07/apparel-industrys-environmental-impact-6-graphics
² Rep. A New Textiles Economy: Redesigning Fashion’s Future. Ellen MacArthur Foundation, Circular Fibres Initiative, 2017. https://ellenmacarthurfoundation.org/a-new-textiles-economy
³ A full third-party reviewed and validated life cycle assessment is available by request at www.dow.com/ecofast.

More and more brands are actively speaking up against the use of PFAS chemicals in products and supply chains. ChemSec’s corporate initiative the PFAS Movement was started in 2020, with the aim of creating a network of companies that would like to see PFAS chemicals regulated more efficiently. As of September 2021, 50 companies have joined the movement.

PFAS, short for per- and polyfluoroalkyl substances, is a chemical family consisting of almost 5,000 industrially produced chemicals. In manufacturing, PFAS are favored for their durability and well-functioning properties. They provide features such as non-stick, water repellency and anti-grease to many types of everyday products, including cosmetics, food packaging, frying pans and clothes, just to name a few.

Lately, more and more reports have been suggesting that PFAS are a serious problem. Human epidemiological studies have found associations between PFAS exposure and a number of health disorders.

One of the biggest challenges connected to PFAS is that, with very few exceptions, they are perfectly legal to use. This means that the brands and retailers who want to stop them from being used as ingredients in their products have very limited ways of communicating this in the global supply chain. As long as there is not a restriction in place, suppliers will continue to use these very effective chemicals in manufacturing. That’s why companies act together with a unified voice, like in the case of ChemSec’s PFAS Movement.

• Transformation program and improving order situation show first successes
• Sales up 8.8% to €496.7 million compared with first half of previous year
• Adjusted EBITDA improves by 70.7% to €71.7 million
• Positive business development led to forecast increase on July 13, 2021

While the past fiscal year 2020 was still characterized by a Corona-related slump in orders in many business areas of SGL Carbon, demand picked up again in the first six months of 2021. Accordingly, Group sales increased by 8.8% to €496.7 million in H1 2021 (H1 2020: €456.5 million).

The Carbon Fibers and Composite Solutions Business Units particularly contributed to the €40.2 million increase in sales. Carbon Fibers contributed €166.4 million to Group sales, especially benefiting from increased demand from the automotive market segment. In the Composite Solutions Business Unit, the increase in sales of 52.4% to €60.2 million was also primarily based on the recovering demand from the automotive industry.

With sales of €221.2 million, the Graphite Solutions business area contributed around 44.5% of SGL Group sales. The 3.8% increase in the division's sales was particularly due to the positive development in the important markets of the LED, semiconductor and automotive industries.

Transformation program:
The restructuring and transformation process initiated at SGL Carbon made a significant contribution to the Company's positive sales and earnings performance. In addition to leaner and more efficient structures as well as a reorganization of the business units with responsibility for results, a large number of improvements and cost initiatives in all business units and sites have contributed to the success of the ongoing transformation program.

Forecast increase:
Due to pleasing business development in the first half of the year as well as transformation successes, SGL Carbon raised its forecast for fiscal year 2021 on July 13, 2021. For the financial year 2021, the company now expects consolidated sales of around €1.0 billion (previously: €920 - 970 million). In line with developments in the first half of 2021 and the results from the transformation, adjusted EBITDA for 2021 is expected to be between €130 - 140 million (previously: €100 - 120 million). Accordingly, a slightly positive net profit is now forecasted for fiscal year 2021 (previously: €-20 million to €0).

The Lenzing Group has been awarded Platinum status in EcoVadis’ CSR rating. The assessment comprehensively covers the four main CSR (Corporate Social Responsibility) practices: the environment, fair working conditions and human rights, as well as ethics and sustainable procurement.

In the previous three years, Lenzing had already received outstanding ratings in all categories, and was awarded Gold status in 2018, 2019 and 2020. “We are very proud to have now achieved the step up to the Platinum level after several Gold ratings in the past few years. At Lenzing, we always think beyond fibres and take responsibility for our children and grandchildren – for whom we do our best in order to constantly improve ourselves. This attitude forms part of our strategic principles and we will continue to work hard to make a sustainable contribution to the environment and to society”, notes Stefan Doboczky, CEO of the Lenzing Group.

The Lenzing Group’s ambitious climate targets form an essential part of its strategy and responsibility to future generations. In 2019, Lenzing became one of the world’s first fiber manufacturers to commit to reducing CO2 emissions per ton of product by 50 percent by 2030, and even becoming climate-neutral by 2050. The Science Based Targets Initiative, a recognised organisation in the area of climate-relevant target-setting, has scientifically validated Lenzing’s climate targets.

This scientific validation also forms one of the essential criteria that EcoVadis highlights in its rating. In addition, the responsible procurement of raw materials – according to social and ecological aspects – was also highlighted as a further core element in the company’s sustainability strategy, as well as support for external environmental initiatives (Sustainable Apparel Coalition, Fashion Industry Charter for Climate Action) and initiatives on labour and human rights issues (Sustainable Apparel Coalition).

FIMAST 2021, Italian Exhibition Group’s much-awaited B2B trade show event dedicated to the entire hosiery industry, scheduled to take place, with physical attendance, at the Brixia Forum in Brescia from 19th to 22nd October 2021.  
 
FIMAST is “setting off” on a new development route for the trade show which will focus on responsible and sustainable innovation along the supply chain it represents. The first steps in this direction include activating a top-level partnership with the ecohub C.L.A.S.S. (Creativity Lifestyle and Sustainable Synergy) and constant dialogue with the sector’s global players.

For the full programme of initiatives: www.fimast.eu

Following the European Commission’s update of the 2020 New Industrial Strategy: ‘’Building a stronger Single Market for Europe’s Recovery’’, the European Social Partners for the Textile, Clothing, Leather, and Footwear (TCLF) sectors came together to call for support via a dedicated strategy.  The Strategy aims to help guide the TCLF industries through the current green and digital transition, while facing tough global competition, stressing the need to safeguard the industries and protect jobs in Europe.

On 25 May, employers’ and workers’ representatives for the European TCLF sectors met with the European Commission to discuss the current challenges facing the TCLF industries and potential EU action to help support the sectors and their workers.  Following discussions on the terrible impact of COVID-19 on the sectors and the need for a strong EU action, the Joint Statement: ‘’The future industrial strategy of the EU Textiles Ecosystem (TCLF sectors)’’ was adopted.

The Joint Statement highlights the need for a dedicated strategy with support at national and EU level to help the TCLF sectors survive following the COVID-19 pandemic, while they continue to face tough, and, sometimes unfair, global competition. The Social Partners of the TCLF industries fully support the EU’s ambitions for a green and digital transition of the sectors, but insist on concrete European measures to help the industries transform while the continues to suffer from an unlevel global playing field.

Specific joint demands include: full engagement with Social Partners in both the recovery and the transition of the industries, support for the EU Pact for Skills for the relevant ecosystem, a revision of the GSP which doesn’t negatively impact the sectors and its workers, support to decarbonise the sectors, careful consideration of the Due Diligence Legislation and quality dialogue with Social Partners ahead of the EU Sustainable Products Initiative and the Consumer Agenda to ensure that all policy gaps are addressed. Special attention must also be given to the forthcoming EU Textiles Strategy which should fully represent the needs of the EU’s entire textiles ecosystem.