• Clariant is fully committed to the U.N.'s World Environment Day encouraging awareness and action for the protection of the environment
  • Clariant announces latest progress in China to achieve its 2025 environmental targets
  • Sustainable operations in China have helped meet key benchmarks, earning industry recognition

Shanghai, June 5, 2018 - Clariant, a world-leader in specialty chemicals, shows its full commitment on sustainability development, which echoes the theme of the annual World Environment Day on June 5, 2018, the United Nation's most important day for encouraging awareness of and action for protecting the environment, as the Greater China regional headquarters announces the company's latest achievements in reaching its environmental targets by 2025. By driving sustainable operations in China that are in line with the country's latest governmental and societal trends, Clariant Greater China has demonstrated its significant progress in the reduction of energy consumption, direct CO2, greenhouse gas emissions, waste creation, water use and waste water generation.

While sustainability is a global topic that relates to the overall well-being of humankind, Clariant takes a proactive approach in realizing its social responsibility to promote sustainability in the three dimensions of performance, people and planet. Sustainability has also been integrated into the company's growth strategy, in which 'Adding value with sustainability' is among the key elements of Clariant's five-pillar strategy to enhance performance.

In order to drive tangible results that contribute to Clariant's 2025 environmental targets, internal sustainability programs have been implemented globally. They include the eWATCH program, which was introduced in China in 2017. Substantial operational savings have been realized at production sites, and the latest reports show that. Thanks to the integrated management system and solid EHSA culture, reduction targets for major environmental benchmarks in China have been met ahead of the 2025 target, for example, reductions in energy consumption (59%), direct CO2 (58%) and greenhouse gas (65%) emissions, water use (26%), waste (74%) and waste water (19%) generation, all compared to 2013 levels.

'It's encouraging to see that the implementation of internal initiatives such as our eWATCH program has helped us achieve our sustainability targets in most areas well ahead of schedule in Clariant's Greater China operations. As we move forward, in addition to focusing our efforts on waste reduction, we will also spare no effort in striving for continuous improvement in the areas where we have already reached our initial targets,' said Jan Kreibaum, Regional President of Clariant Greater China/South Korea.

To facilitate the eWATCH program's implementation in China, site energy managers were appointed, along with energy teams at individual sites. Additionally, customized energy KPIs were established for Clariant's primary product groups to facilitate ongoing monitoring across sites. The successful implementation of Clariant's eWATCH program in China has won industry recognition, including the 2017 Best CSR Practice Award from the China Association of Enterprises with Foreign Investment.

In addition to creating internal programs to drive further operational sustainability, Clariant has also partnered with trade organizations in China to promote sustainability among industry peers. For instance, a solid partnership has developed in recent years with the China Petroleum and Chemical Industry Federation (CPCIF), a not-for-profit organization promoting technological advancement, particularly through leading the sustainability task force among international and local chemical companies. The two organizations signed a MoU last year to promote innovation and sustainability within the chemical industry in China through the CPCIF-Clariant CleanTech Award, which recognizes outstanding achievements by young Chinese researchers in the field of sustainable chemistry.

Clariant's ongoing efforts to drive a stronger awareness of sustainability in China has earned much recognition. Three consecutive times, in 2013, 2015 and 2017, Clariant received the biannual Responsible Care®[1] Chairman Award in China from the Association of International Chemical Manufacturers (AICM) in recognition of its contribution to the Responsible Care initiative and taking the lead in the Responsible Care journey especially sharing of best practice within the AICM community.

Last year, Clariant's EcoTain® label received the Sustainability Best Practice Award and the Sustainability Influencer Award during the 'Heading Towards 2040: Corporate Innovation and Urban Sustainability' Excellence Awards campaign in Shanghai. As the winner in two categories, Clariant demonstrated that its EcoTain label is effective in bringing value in the area of sustainable development to regional industry stakeholders.

[1] Responsible Care® is the global chemical industry's EHS initiative to drive continuous improvement in performance. It is voluntary action developed autonomously by the chemical industry. It stands for the chemical industry's desire to continuously improve EHS performance, improve the understanding and intendance of chemical industry by the local community.

® TRADEMARK OF CLARIANT REGISTERED IN MANY COUNTRIES.

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Clariant AG published this content on 05 June 2018 and is solely responsible for the information contained herein. Distributed by Public, unedited and unaltered, on 05 June 2018 10:27:05 UTC