reduce

reduce - Our Path to Climate Neutrality

Climate action demands genuine commitment, clear goals and pragmatic solutions. With reduce, a strategic company-wide program to reduce greenhouse gas emissions, OQ Chemicals has set itself the goal of becoming a climate-neutral company by mid-century.

Our actions today determine our performance tomorrow. Together with our partners, OQ Chemicals strives to develop innovative solutions and set best practices for sustainability in the chemicals industry.

Join us on our path to climate neutrality!

reduce is a very comprehensive program that bundles all the relevant activities within one well-structured, robust framework. It provides a clear roadmap for our climate neutrality ambitions. This allows OQ Chemicals to move from ‘talking the talk’ to ‘walking the walk’ as well.

Dr. Christoph Balzarek

Questions and Answers:

Why has OQ Chemicals launched reduce?

Climate change poses one of the biggest challenges of the 21st century. It is a matter that involves political discussions, environmental protection and social development. But it has also become an immense market factor. With reduce, OQ Chemicals is not only stepping up to the task of climate action as a responsible corporate citizen, but also taking decisive action to ensure the future competitiveness and continued success of its business.

What does climate neutrality entail for OQ Chemicals?

With the goal of ‘climate neutrality’ by mid-century, OQ Chemicals has committed to eliminating greenhouse gas emissions throughout the organization. As the main framework to guide this transition, reduce relies on the standards of the Greenhouse Gas Protocol and encompasses the direct emissions from production activities (Scope 1), the indirect emissions from purchased energy (Scope 2) as well as those indirect emissions associated with i.e. raw materials, transportation of products or the commuting of employees amongst others (Scope 3). Any emissions that cannot be avoided will be offset via contributions to climate protection projects and nature-based solutions.

In view of the urgent need to tackle climate change, does it make sense to aim for climate neutrality by mid-century?

While this goal may seem far off, the first significant milestones are already in sight: OQ Chemicals plans to reduce the direct and indirect greenhouse gas emissions vis-à-vis the 2017 baseline by 18 percent by 2025, and by 30 percent by 2030. And while 2050 is the ultimate deadline, we are confident that we will be able to achieve our goal well before that.

OQ Chemicals is active on three continents. Is there going to be a “once size fits all” solution for all production sites?

We believe that collaboration and local knowledge hold the key to the successful implementation of reduce. To this end, OQ Chemicals is setting up a participatory process to integrate the best available insights from our entire workforce as well as our partners, clients and suppliers everywhere. In this way, we will be well equipped to develop plans and measures tailored specifically to the different locations.