Clariant and OMV work to reduce carbon footprint of ethylene and ethylene oxide derivatives

Clariant, a specialty chemicals company focused on sustainability, and OMV have announced a collaboration to supply ethylene with a lower carbon footprint. In response to growing consumer demand for more sustainable options, with a special focus on the European market, this collaboration will help both companies achieve their sustainability goals and enable carbon reduction strategies for their customers.

“We are constantly working to find solutions for our customers to use ethoxylates with a lower carbon footprint, and this collaboration is an important step towards this goal,” said Christian Vang, President of Clariant Care Chemicals and Americas and Member of the Executive Steering Committee. “The renewable low carbon footprint ethylene produced by OMV will allow us to expand our portfolio of bio-based ethylene oxide derivatives and strengthen our supply chain to serve Europe by producing in Europe.”

For Clariant, this is another step in supporting its global customer base with low carbon footprint ethoxylates. Clariant has been successfully supplying isolated bio-based ethoxylates to customers around the world since 2022 through Clariant India Glycol Specialties Company Ltd. (CISC).

Daniela Vlad, Executive Vice President and Member of the Executive Committee of OMV Chemicals, said: "Ethylene oxide and its derivatives have a broad application base and we are committed to enabling sustainable transformation for our customers and OMV. By promoting the supply of circular feedstocks, we are strengthening our commitment to the circular economy and sustainable development. This agreement makes an important contribution to the progress towards our 2030 strategic goals."

OMV is leading the development of renewable and circular chemicals for sustainable living. OMV’s integrated business model connects all parts of the value chain, providing a more flexible and reliable supply from bio-based to chemically recycled derived sources. This approach not only reduces CO2 emissions, but also provides proof of real progress through ISCC PLUS certification of the mass balance approach.

Clariant and OMV plan to explore and develop new strategies to achieve sustainability goals for the ethylene supply chain. As part of this collaboration, the two companies will share their respective research results, develop a harmonized approach using a life cycle assessment (LCA) approach and develop a detailed CO2 reduction roadmap. This will include a joint analysis of the potential for collaboration on ethanol-to-ethylene (E2E) technologies.

OMV started production of renewable and circular chemicals and chemical feedstocks in 2021 at its refinery in Burghausen, Germany, and more recently at its refinery in Schwechat, Austria. OMV has been steadily increasing its production capacity for sustainable products, which now stands at 200,000 metric tons. Based on current forecasts, OMV expects sales to reach around 1.4 million metric tons by 2030 and 2 million metric tons thereafter. OMV sees the growth of sustainable products as a key element of its chemicals business. OMV aims to reduce absolute GHG emissions in scopes 1 and 2 by 30% and scope 3 by 20% by 2030 compared to 2019. By gradually moving towards low-carbon businesses, OMV aims to achieve net zero emissions by 2050.

Both Clariant and OMV are members of the United Nations Global Compact, the world's largest corporate sustainability and corporate social responsibility initiative. The agreement reached today by the two companies is expected to help Clariant achieve the ambitious absolute emissions reduction targets for its operations and supply chain activities as part of its 2030 climate goals. Clariant’s targets, drafted in accordance with the Science Based Targets initiative (SBTi), aim to reduce absolute Scope 1 and 2 greenhouse gas emissions by 40% and Scope 3 emissions by 14% between 2019 and 2030.

In addition to Clariant and OMV’s sustainability goals, the agreement will foster collaboration to achieve a CO2 reduction roadmap for industry stakeholders across Europe.