Sustainable Operations

Environmental management

Infineum is committed to operating in a safe, secure, reliable, and environmentally sound manner. Our approach to environmental management is defined by our Operations Integrity Management System (OIMS), which has been a central part of our strategy since Infineum started in 1999. It continues to ensure that environmental protection is incorporated into our business planning processes and project appraisals.

OIMS covers the following elements:

- Identifying, assessing and managing significant environmental aspects including carbon, energy, water and waste.

- Proactive measures to prevent environmental incidents and releases.

- Continuous improvements in environemental performance.

Our commitment to zero harm extends to protecting nature 
and we aim for zero environmental incidents in our operations.

Furthermore, we have set environmental targets for each of our manufacturing plants and business and technology centres on carbon emissions, energy, water, and waste.

Environmental management

The performance of each site is monitored on a monthly basis through an interactive sustainability dashboard that is accessible to all colleagues.

All our global manufacturing sites maintain ISO 14001 certification.

Infineum has also signed the Responsible Care Global Charter, 
the chemical industry’s global unifying commitment to the safe management and handling of chemicals.

For the third consecutive year, our Singapore plant received recognition for six of seven applicable codes of practice during the annual Responsible Care Award ceremony. This achievement rewards the team's commitment to health, safety and environmental management practices.

Energy and climate

We are committed to reducing GHG emissions across our operations, by increasing energy efficiency and using more renewable energy. Our manufacturing plants are energy intensive, and the high temperatures required in our production processes necessitate the use of steam for heating.

In recent years, we have implemented measures to make our manufacturing plants run more efficiently, including heat integration, unit and equipment upgrades, temperature controls 
on tanks, LED lighting and many other energy conservation techniques.

 

 

 

We also introduced an internal proxy cost of carbon to inform all capital investments and steer our decarbonisation efforts.

However, our energy use is not linear with production volumes 
as our manufacturing plants have a significant fixed portion of consumption to remain operational. A drop in production volumes in 2023 has therefore resulted in a notable increase in the emission intensity of our operations, despite absolute emissions reaching their lowest levels since 2018.

In response to this trend, decarbonisation workshops were held at every manufacturing site in the second half of the year to identify further emission reduction and energy conservation opportunities. We are trialling a number of initiatives, including the reduction of tank temperatures in blending units, retrofitting equipment such as burners and repairing steam traps.

Our Bayway plant identified and repaired over 250 steam leaks and 150 steam traps in the fourth quarter of 2023, which we expect to result in significant savings in 2024.

In Zhangjiagang, several energy efficiency projects have been completed, including optimising the use of cooling water pumps and upgrades to air compressor systems.

At our non-operated plant in Berre, steam valves have been replaced to eliminate leaks. A trial is ongoing in our Vado site to reduce the temperature of storage tanks to optimise energy use. Our plant in Singapore has focused on controlling refrigerant use and minimising losses, through a combination of facility improvements, and new production and maintenance strategies.

We have also been increasing engagement with our site partners and energy providers to improve the carbon intensity of the energy that we use. Our plant in Cologne is collaborating on a plan to source electricity from an expanded solar farm and steam from 
a new hydrogen boiler.

Water

Water is crucial to our business, and with most of our plants located in close proximity to the sea or to rivers, we take a stewardship approach to water management at all our sites. Each manufacturing plant upholds strict processes to ensure compliance with regulatory requirements and laws. We seek to limit our use of freshwater as much as possible and the majority of the water we withdraw comes from the sea and is used predominantly for cooling and firefighting. Under normal operating conditions this water can be safely returned to the sea with minimal losses. In 2023, an environmental protection project has been completed at our plant in Vado to reuse wastewater one of our treatment units.

Waste

We aim for the highest standards in waste reduction, and all sites are working to reduce hazardous waste and waste to landfill. We require waste to be disposed of in a safe and environmentally sound way. Our waste management programme is underpinned by an annual external audit of environmental data which has led to improvements in data quality and reliability.

We continue to implement initiatives that focus on both waste reduction and cost savings. A trial to reduce the use of filter aid in the thermal dispersant unit at our Berre site is expected 150 tonnes of waste material per year.