Industrial trends

Driving a positive climate impact

Bio-based products

Across portfolio for the material science markets we have intensified our search for greener, more environmentally friendly products. And we will not stop to scrutinize our product offering to assess the possibilities of replacing, for instance, fossil-fuel based materials with bio-based alternatives that have a lower climate impact.
 
Green coolants for the automotive industry marketed in Thailand is one such example. Conventional engine coolants typically contain additives such as corrosion inhibitor to prevent damage to surrounding engine components. Such additives are mineral-based and contain nitrate and silicate – substances that are potentially toxic to the environment. Caldic has developed an Organic Acid Technology-based OAT Long Life coolant. Our Malaysian pilot with light-weight city cars proved that OAT Long Life not only provides a more sustainable formulation but interestingly also outperforms the conventional coolant technically in terms of product life.
 
To further drive a more environmentally friendly product offering, in 2021 we agreed an exclusive partnership with cleantech innovator Celtic Renewables for the European distribution of a range of bio-solvents. Check out our Challenge Solver, Roger Collis, who talks about the opportunities of this partnership.

Sustainable packaging

We believe packaging has a place in our business. In our supply chain, packaging plays a crucial role that enables us to ensure products are delivered intact and at the quality level our customers require. At the same time, we acknowledge that while packaging is protective by nature, it has a negative impact on the environment, hence our interest in this topic. The past years we had in-depth discussions across our businesses to determine baseline measurements for data collection, and to develop our understanding of opportunities to do better in terms of reducing our impact on the planet. We will continue to explore the increased use of, for instance, biobased plastic to replace fossil-fuel-based alternatives and to identify how we can make more use of recyclable packaging.
 
In our quest for more sustainable solutions, we partnered in 2021 with key customers in Asia Pacific to study new types of packaging, such as the flexi bag and high-density polyethylene (HDPE) drums. Such formats could potentially be more environmentally friendly alternatives to ISO tanks and steel drums, besides helping to further reduce waste.
 
In our warehouse facilities in Thailand, we implemented a returnable package system that is more environmentally friendly. The system utilizes intermediate bulk containers (IBCs) as returnable packaging in place of steel drums. This change has been beneficial from both an environmental and an operational perspective, delivering cost savings, less waste to be destroyed, and reduced filling time as well. A multiple-win project

Carbon footprint

As part of our ambition to reduce our carbon footprint we have focused intensely on increasing the share of renewable electricity use in our facilities. We took further steps towards a more positive climate impact by shifting to renewable energy sources and LED lighting. In October 2021 we passed the first milestone as we recorded a more than 70% share of renewables in our total usage. This is the result of a growing number of Caldic locations in Europe and Asia Pacific using solar generated energy as well as energy provided by hydro and wind power. Some of the Caldic locations rely fully on 100% renewable electricity. In the next years we will pursue our ambition for other energy consumption to be CO2 neutral.