Chemours is making progress in meeting its corporate goals in sustainability and other areas.
On Sept. 30, the Wilmington, Del.-based specialty chemicals maker released its second Corporate Responsibility Commitment report. Officials said Chemours is moving in the right direction on the 10 goals it set last year, all of which the firm wants to achieve by 2030.
"We want to be a new kind of chemistry company," President and CEO Mark Vergnano said in a Sept. 30 phone interview with Plastics News. "We're using sustainability as a base point of our strategy."
Vergnano added that sustainability "has become more important, not only to our customers, but to our employees and to the communities where we're located as well."
Chemours' corporate goals for 2030 include reducing greenhouse gas emission intensity by 60 percent, reducing landfill volume intensity by 70 percent and improving employee, contractor, process and distribution safety performance by at least 75 percent.
"People are more aware of the issues that are out there involving sustainability," added Vergnano, who joined Chemours in 2015 after a career of more than 30 years with DuPont Co., Chemours' predecessor firm. "For millennials, these issues are top of mind. They're expecting more from companies like us."
Chemours also has set a goal of filling 50 percent of its company positions with women by 2030. "The last time I checked, the world was 50 percent women," Vergnano said. "We want our company to look like what the world looks like."
Chemours is making major investments at production plants in the U.S. and Europe to meet its goal of reducing air and water process emissions of fluorinated organic chemicals by 99 percent or more. In Fayetteville, N.C., the firm is installing a thermal oxidizer with this goal in mind. The new equipment should be in place by the end of the year.
In 2020, Chemours will install new emissions control technology at its plant in Dordrecht, Netherlands. The firm's total investment in Fayetteville and Dordecht is around $200 million.
Plastics-related products made by Chemours include fluoropolymers and titanium dioxide, a much-used plastics additive. The firm employs almost 7,000 worldwide and posted sales of $6.6 billion in 2018.