LANXESS to Become Climate Neutral by 2040
Click:339    DateTime:Dec.26,2019


Specialty chemicals company LANXESS has set itself an ambitious climate protection target. By 2040, the Group intends to become climate neutral and eliminate its greenhouse gas emissions from around 3.2 million metric tons of CO2e today. Already by 2030, LANXESS aims to cut its emissions by 50 percent compared to the current level to around 1.6 million metric tons of CO2e.

   “Under the Paris agreement, the global community decided to limit global warming to less than two degrees. This requires massive efforts on the part of everyone involved. With our goal of achieving climate neutrality by 2040, we are fulfilling our responsibility as a global specialty chemicals company. At the same time, we will be an even more sustainable partner for our customers in the future,” said Matthias Zachert, Chairman of the Board of Management of LANXESS AG. Zachert also highlighted the long-term cost savings associated with a more efficient use of resources, saying that “climate protection is a business case”.

   LANXESS is taking a three-pronged approach to become climate neutral by 2040.

   Launch major impact projects for climate protection:

   Over the next few years, LANXESS will put into action special projects to significantly lower greenhouse gases. For example, the Group is currently building a facility for the decomposition of nitrous oxide at its Antwerp, Belgium, site. The new facility will begin operations in 2020 and reduce annual greenhouse gas emissions by around 150 000 metric tons of CO2e. After a second expansion in 2023, CO2e emissions will fall by another 300 000 metric tons.

   Decouple emissions and growth:

   LANXESS is on growth course. But despite increasing production volumes, emissions of greenhouse gases in the individual business units are set to decline. In addition to technological efficiency, changes to governance instruments play a role, with the impact on the company’s carbon footprint becoming an investment criterion for organic growth and acquisitions. This gives business units that achieve better than average reductions in greenhouse gas emissions a direct financial advantage. Moreover, lowering CO2e will be introduced as an assessment criterion in the bonus system for managers.

   Strengthen process and technological innovations:

   LANXESS is revising many of its existing production processes in order to become climate neutral by 2040. For example, the Group will continue to improve its “Verbund” structures, e.g., when it comes to heat exchange between plants and air purification. Other procedures must first be developed on an industrial scale. The Group is therefore focusing its research more closely towards climate neutral process and technological innovation.

   Since it was founded, LANXESS has made substantial progress on its way to becoming more environmentally friendly. Between 2004 and 2018, the Group halved its greenhouse gas emissions from around 6.5 million metric tons of CO2e to about 3.2 million metric tons. Substantial contribution came from a nitrous oxide reduction plant in Krefeld-Uerdingen, Germany, commissioned in 2009. The specialty chemicals company has also carried out numerous other projects to lower emissions at its sites around the world and supports local initiatives to tackle climate change. LANXESS has already achieved its previous targets of improving energy efficiency in conjunction with reducing specific CO2 emissions and emissions of volatile organic compounds by 25 percent each against 2015.

   To measure its emissions, LANXESS looks at the emissions of greenhouse gases defined in the Kyoto Protocol and calculates their greenhouse effect in comparison to carbon dioxide (CO2e). The specialty chemicals company includes emissions from its own production (Scope 1) and from external energy sources (Scope 2) in the calculation.