Accelerating the shift to more sustainability

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Why is shift important?

The need to transform our society and adopt responsible lifestyle touches virtually every industry and every citizen in the world.

Richard Jenkins - Senior Vice President - Arkema Coating Solutions

Richard Jenkins, Senior Vice President, Arkema Coating Solutions: The need for sustainability impacts every aspect of our society. In the last decade, “climate change” or “circular economy” were not common terms. Now, they are in the news every day. The need to transform our society and adopt responsible lifestyle touches virtually every industry and every citizen in the world. We have to collectively adapt to this new paradigm by adopting a holistic approach including the social, environmental and economic dimensions.

Hélène Pernot, Coating Solutions Sustainable Offer Manager: The coatings value chain – from the raw material through to the finished products – has to adapt to these new expectations. Everything we do has the potential to significantly change our world. How we design our products, what they are made from, how they are used and how they are able to be reused matters. Our expertise in materials science is continuously focused on developing solutions to meet the sustainability challenges faced by the markets and our customers.

How can we change?

To change our impact on the world, we have to adapt the materials and processes we use.

Helene Pernot - Head of Sustainable Offer - Arkema Coating Solutions

Richard: We begin by listening to societal and market needs – and then adapt to an industry-wide way of thinking. Along with us, this includes customers, suppliers, regulators, employees, consumers and the financial community. Everyone in the value chain has to be working toward the same goal. That is how we begin to make a meaningful impact.

Hélène: To change our impact on the world, we have to adapt the materials and processes we use. And, we need to do it together. A transformation is possible only if all industry players collaborate. We have to move as one toward safer solutions for people and the planet, lowering the carbon footprint across the value chain and enabling circular practices to preserve resources.

What are we doing to get there?

Richard: Arkema is committed on its whole supply chain to align with the 1.5°C trajectory set by the Paris Agreement on Greenhouse Gas (GHG) and to transition 65% of our sales to meet the UN Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs) by 2030. In the coatings industry, our teams are continuously focusing on three areas - designing and producing more sustainable performance materials; supporting the transition to more sustainable technologies (decarbonization, responsible manufacturing, etc.); and fostering the emergence of new markets driven by mega trends to enable the shift toward more sustainable uses, such as home efficiency, living comfort or electric mobility.

Hélène: We have made tremendous progress in the past few years by eliminating hazardous air pollutants, transitioning to alternative feedstocks, reducing energy use across the value chain and making products that inherently contribute to sustainability in everyday life. Examples include materials that enable super-durable cool roof coatings, paint binders with up to 97% biorenewable content, low temperature curing resins and more. To accelerate the shift from fossil to renewable feedstocks and foster the reduction of CO₂ emissions, we have started to certify our resins and additives plants to supply bio-attributed products using the mass balance approach according to the ISCC+ standard. These are just a few examples of our current efforts. More importantly, however, are those yet to come as our journey is just starting. We will continue to work with partners throughout the coatings value chain to identify and enable new solutions that move us, the industry and the world toward a more sustainable future.

Accelerating the shift to more sustainability

Why is shift important?

How can we change?

What are we doing to get there?

See also

More sustainable coatings: transitioning to lower energy consumption technologies

More sustainable coatings: continuous progress for safer products

Methionine: A key to improve use of agricultural resources