July 12, 2024

By Francesca Reverberi, Senior Vice President of Engineered Materials and Chief Sustainability Officer

With the release of our 14th annual Sustainability & Corporate Social Responsibility Report, Trinseo is showcasing how we are transforming our business to support a circular economy. Sustainability is the backbone of our strategy, and we’ve been building momentum toward cultivating this circular transformation throughout our business units and functions.

Our 2030 Sustainability Goals are at the core of how we are supporting this evolution. I am thrilled that our 2030 Sustainability Goals showcase key milestones for our Climate Change, Responsible Operations and Sustainable Product Portfolio goals, including the launch of our two new recycling technologies and implementation of our decarbonization strategy. Additionally, we announced our enhanced 2030 Sustainable Workforce goals as part of this year’s report. These five aspirational goals are focused on delivering a safe and inclusive workplace.

Recycling Technologies

As Trinseo continues to help cultivate a circular economy, we recognize that recycling technologies are pivotal to this transformation. That is why we launched two pilot recycling technologies last year.

Polycarbonate (PC) dissolution is a physical recycling method where the needed polymer is extracted using solvents. We inaugurated our pilot facility at our Terneuzen, the Netherlands, facility in April 2023 to help us close the loop on PC by offering complementary recycling technologies.

Additionally, in December of that year, we broke ground on our next generation polymethyl methacrylate (PMMA) depolymerization pilot facility. This technology returns acrylic solutions to their monomer form, enabling more PMMA materials to be recycled. This technology leverages the work of our R&D and recycling teams on the MMAtwo Consortium, a chemical industry organization funded by the European Union’s Horizon 2020 program. Together, these technologies represent a pivotal milestone in our circular transformation.

Decarbonization

Our decarbonization strategy took significant steps forward in reducing our Scope 1 and 2 emissions and managing our Scope 3 emissions. We completed site-specific projects that will help us reduce our Scope 1 and 2 greenhouse gas emissions, with more anticipated in the year ahead. Just one example of this is our Zhangjiagang, China, manufacturing facility that replaced diesel with natural gas for its daily operations, which will help this site reduce its carbon emissions.

Additionally, each of our facilities conducted feasibility studies to identify operations compatible with physical renewable energy sources, such as solar panels and windmills. From this study, we have been able to establish a solar panel installation at our Latex Binders facility in Hamina, Finland. These projects are instrumental as we move toward a circular economy, as our Scope 1 and 2 emissions are the Scope 3 emissions of our value chain.

We have also made progress against our Scope 3 Sustainability Goal by calculating our baseline emissions data and developing a management system that will enable us to track our progress. Through the creation of our Scope 3 Council, we have a team to oversee this goal and they are hoping to achieve third-party verification of our data moving forward.

Our decarbonization strategy is focused on achieving carbon excellence, implementing renewable energy and exploring clean energy electrification in alignment with our 2030 Climate Change goals. These projects, along with others we implemented for this strategy in 2023, were recognized by the American Chemistry Council with a Responsible Care® Energy Efficiency Award with exceptional merit designation.

Attracting, Retaining & Developing Talent

At Trinseo, we are driven by our dedication to human rights, inclusivity and equity and developing our workforce. That is why we reframed our Sustainable Workforce goals, so that we can meet the needs of our employees and the communities where they live and work.

These enhanced goals focus on diversifying our management and leadership positions globally, reducing turnover rate and establishing talent programs to elevate voices across our company. These goals will help us cultivate an inclusive workplace that encourages creativity and innovation. While we focus on creating a broader sustainable product portfolio and reducing the environmental impact of our operations as part of our 2030 Sustainability Goals, it is equally essential that we have top talent to support these endeavors.

We continue to support the cultivation of a circular economy through our sustainability goals. While we have made progress over the last year, there is still more to go, but we are excited about the future of our industry. To learn more about our circular transformation, read our 2024 Sustainability Report at Trinseo.com/Sustainability.