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São Paulo, August 21, 2023 - Rhodia, a company of the Solvay Group, is developing the first portfolio of chemical and textile products with neutralized carbon footprint, following its strategy to neutralize emissions from its operations and products.
The company's objective is to accelerate the decarbonization of its production chain, in line with the goals established by the Solvay One Planet program to advance sustainable development, contributing to mitigate the climate crisis faced by the planet.
"With this portfolio, initially composed of two products, we take another step towards the carbon neutrality of our operations," says Daniela Manique, CEO of the Solvay Group in Latin America and the main executive of the global Coatis business unit, responsible for the development of this Brazilian portfolio of carbon-neutral products. The company's intention is to expand the portfolio over the next few months.
Chemical and textile neutrals - In the chemical area, the first product to be included in this portfolio is Rhodiacid® adipic acid, a basic chemical intermediate in the production chains of polyamides, ester-based polyurethanes, and plasticizers.
It has applications in polyurethane systems, mainly for the production of shoe soles, lubricants, plasticizers, adhesives, paints and resins, flexible and rigid foams, food and detergent applications.
Adipic acid reacts with hexamethylenediamine (HMD) to form hexamethylenediamine adipate, also called nylon salt. Nylon salt is the raw material for the textile and industrial fiber chain.
Still in the chemical area, the company is preparing to launch soon carbon-neutral oxygenated solvents, meeting the demand from market segments both in Brazil and abroad.
In the textile area, the first product to integrate this carbon-neutral range is the Amni® Carbon Neutral polyamide textile yarn, for use in various segments of the apparel and fashion industry.
In recent years, Rhodia has made a series of innovations in the development platform of the Amni® textile polyamide, adding sustainability and functionality to the already known benefits of its textile polyamide: technology, comfort, and easy care.
Certified products - The carbon footprint of these Rhodia products is certified by a third party external to the company. The remaining CO2 emissions from each product are offset by the purchase of carbon credits.
When we talk about carbon-neutral products, we are referring to the cradle-to-gate scope. This means that all emissions, from the extraction of raw materials to the gate of our factories, have been reduced by various projects, then accounted for and offset by the acquisition of carbon credits from relevant environmental conservation projects," says Antonio Leite, Vice President of the Coatis Global Business Unit at the Solvay Group.
São Nicolau Farm and carbon credits - After a careful selection process by sustainability teams, Rhodia decided to purchase carbon credits from a reforestation project in Brazil, carried out at São Nicolau Farm, in Mato Grosso (MT), owned by the Office National des Forêts (ONF Brazil). This project is located in the arc of deforestation region, where native Amazon rainforest has been cleared for cattle ranching and soybean cultivation.
According to Paulo Pavan, Vice President of Innovation and Sustainability of the Coatis Global Business Unit at the Solvay Group, the choice of this project was due to several factors that align with the company's policies in the Climate and Environment area, such as decarbonization, promotion and conservation of biodiversity, education of communities, social, economic and cultural impact on people and communities.
"In addition to reforestation, this project promotes biodiversity conservation, with the preservation of over 2,000 species of fauna, including 800 species of identified vertebrates (birds, amphibians, reptiles, small and large mammals), and over 500 tree species. It also generates jobs for the local community, hosts scientific research with agroforestry and silvopastoral experiments, and maintains an environmental education program for students in the region. It also allows for timber exploitation combined with native forest, perpetuating CO2 capture," says Paulo Pavan.
The carbon credits purchased by Rhodia are generated by the reforestation activities of São Nicolau Farm and "stored" in a Forest Carbon Pool. Through the project, two and a half million native species have already been planted. As the seedlings grow, they remove carbon from the atmosphere. From its implementation until 2020, almost four hundred thousand tons of CO2 had already been absorbed. The forecast is that by 2038 this number will reach one million tons.
The São Nicolau Farm project is registered with Verra - the organization that manages the world's main voluntary carbon credit program, the Verified Carbon Standard (VCS), as well as other socio-environmental programs. Thus, the ONF project undergoes periodic third-party audits, ensuring that emission reductions are indeed additional, unique, and verified.
Investments in emission reduction - Although at this moment Rhodia is acquiring carbon credits to offset residual emissions from products in this portfolio, the company continues with projects to reduce carbon emissions from its production chain, guarantees Daniela Manique, CEO of the Solvay Group in Latin America.
Over the past two decades, the company has carried out various actions in this regard. One of the most important was the implementation of a greenhouse gas abatement unit in 2007, in Paulínia (SP), which contributed to the company achieving a reduction rate of around 95% of its emissions in that industrial complex.
"Only in the period from 2018 to 2022, for example, we reduced greenhouse gas emissions by more than 10% in the chemical and textile units in Paulínia and Santo André, both in São Paulo," says Daniela Manique.
This progress - according to her - also occurred due to other projects such as the use of biomass-derived electricity, as well as other energy efficiency projects and the transition from oil to natural gas in production boilers that occurred a few years ago.
This history of reduction is an essential condition for being able to use credits to offset residual emissions, Daniela Manique adds. "In other words, it is not an economic question of buying carbon credits and directing them to the emissions of product A or B, but there must be demonstrated significant and consistent reduction over time in combined scope 1 and 2 emissions, and only then does the company qualify to "compensate for the residual. This stance gives us a competitive advantage for those who want to start now because it will have to start with substantial investments in technology or energy matrix transition," says Daniela.
At the same time, Rhodia has been working with key suppliers to reduce emissions. These projects are challenging in terms of technology/market offer and will contribute to neutrality in the coming years.
"The development of this portfolio of carbon-neutral products is an action aimed at helping to combat the climate crisis, which is an urgent issue for society. And the purchase of carbon credits generated by high-quality and reliable projects to offset residual emissions from this portfolio gives us the opportunity to do something relevant here and now for the planet," concludes Daniela Manique.
DISCLAIMER
The carbon-neutral claim is valid only for Brazil and the United States. Rhodia Brazil, a Solvay Group company that markets the carbon-neutral portfolio, is a B2B (Business to Business) company, i.e., its products are intended for industrial use and are not made available to the general public and end users/consumers. Rhodia Brazil's carbon neutral products were neutralized by reductions in the carbon footprint and by offsetting the remaining emissions via carbon removal by reforestation with native species, considering the emissions from the extraction of the raw material until the shipment of the product from Rhodia Brazil’s sites (“cradle to gate” scope). This is a way to contribute to the net-zero achievement in the value chain. Should our customers and/or customers of our customers intend to announce the neutrality of their products derived from Rhodia Brazil's carbon neutral products, they should assess the situation at their own risk and responsibility, and must reduce and offset the downstream emissions after Rhodia Brazil’s gate and secure the compliance with the applicable product neutrality claim legislation into force in those countries where they market or intend to market their products.
