LANXESS to become climate neutral by 2040
Published on : Thursday 14-11-2019
First major projects to lower CO2e underway in Belgium and India; research focusing on climate neutral process and technology innovations.
India, November 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 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 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 at 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 carbon neutral by 2040:
- Launch major impact projects for climate protection
- Decouple emissions and growth, and
- 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 focussing its research more closely towards climate neutral process and technological innovation.
LANXESS is committed to the Paris agreement, in particular its requirement to reduce greenhouse gas emissions. Zachert believes that industry and government both share collective responsibility for this: “With our environmental initiative, we are making an offer to policy makers. Nonetheless, we can accomplish this only if policies are put in place that create the right conditions.” Looking at the current legislative process to enact the German government’s climate package, Zachert said: “A commitment to environmental protection must not jeopardize our competitiveness. The government must bear this in mind when designing the specifics of its climate package.”