Can you provide an update on Braskem’s recent activities and the company’s performance over the past year?

The past year has been challenging for the petrochemical industry in general. There have been excess capacities in most of the chemicals, and the level of growth, particularly in China, was lower than expected, which created a perfect storm that challenged the performance of most commodities, especially in the petrochemical business. However, the demand for sustainable products, such as biopolymers, has shown a strong resilience, and while we saw significant ups and downs in the commodity sector, the specialty chemicals sector, especially companies focused on sustainable solutions, still exhibited steady growth. People are more aware that climate change must be tackled globally, and that is why everywhere in the world, sustainable solutions have been more resilient against softening demands.

Can you elaborate on Braskem’s strategy around bio-solutions and the company’s goal to produce one million tons of biopolymers by 2030?

Since 2020, Braskem has been clear on its ambition to become carbon neutral by 2050. To reach this target, it is important to have midway milestones, and one of these is to grow our biopolymer business from 200,000 t/y to 1 million t/y by 2030. Green polyethylene and other biopolymers use renewable feedstocks, allowing CO2 reduction throughout the entire supply chain, supporting our ambition to become carbon neutral. In May 2023, we debottlenecked our existing plant to increase our biopolymer production to 260,000 t/y, and the company is also moving forward with building a 200,000 t/y plant in Thailand, in partnership with SCG Chemicals. We continue to look at other opportunities, for example, a green polypropylene production project in the US. There have also been movements in how the company is structured, and in the second half of 2023, we will have people in Japan, an important biopolymer market, as we aim to be closer to the markets and our clients to support them in getting the best value from sustainable products. The Japanese government has a bold ambition to use approximately 2 million t/y of biopolymers by 2050, and Braskem would like to be a partner for companies in Japan to reach this goal. We can assist clients with their carbon footprint accountability, helping them to convert their operations from fossil to green.

In a joint venture with Sojitz Corporation, a Japan-oriented global trading company, Braskem has announced the launch of Sustainea, a new brand that will produce and market bio-MEG (monoethylene glycol) and bio-MPG (monopropylene glycol). This is a mid-to-long-term project where we are further developing a technology to convert sugar into bio-MEG and bio-MPG through a fermentation process. We have been using this technology in our plant in Brazil since 2010, but once it is commercially approved, we envisage building three industrial plants that will have a combined production capacity of up to 700,000 t/y, with the first plant expected to come into production in 2026.

What challenges do Braskem and the chemical industry face with reducing scope three emissions?

Everyone along the supply chain is accountable for their own carbon emissions, and the challenge is to ensure everyone in the supply chain is collaborating to avoid double counting and have everyone measure under the same standard. The major challenge is to ensure that we all account in the correct way, and one way to address this challenge is through digitalization. We need to leverage digital technologies to ensure that everybody accounts for their carbon emissions along the supply chain under the same standards so that we can know from end to end what the carbon intensity of a product is. Through digitalization, we can reach this level of end-to-end information and tackle the challenge of scope three emissions.

What are Braskem’s objectives and main priorities for the next couple of years?

Braskem continues to focus and deliver on our sustainability commitments to support our ambition of being carbon neutral by 2050. We will continue to work hard on implementing recycling initiatives and also gradually increasing the share of renewable energy in our sourcing portfolio, signing contracts for wind power. We keep tapping into opportunities worldwide in order to reach our goals and assume a protagonist role in this green industry transition.