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Feature article - A role model for change

Harry Swan, CEO of Thomas Swan, describes the company’s approach to navigating the new post-Brexit rules and offers advice to other firms

Thomas Swan is an independent, family-run chemicals manufacturer that is based in County Durham, UK. I am the great-grandson of the founder and became CEO in 2006. The company dates back to 1926, so you might expect it to be experienced in handling change. Adapting to the UK’s new free trade deal with the EU is another challenge we have met head-on and we are confident of competing successfully in a global market.

Feature article – Biden: What to expect

SOCMA has outlined how it will work with, and the changes it anticipates from, a new administration in the US

With the long drawn-out saga of the 2020 US election finally over and a new administration in place, SOCMA has begun a series of webinars to educate members about what to expect from the Biden administration and its own priorities in engaging with them. The first took place on 25 February.

Evonik in green hydrogen alliance

Evonik is among the seven companies with operations in Germany that have launched the GET H2 alliance, which says that it “aims to create the basis of a European infrastructure for green hydrogen” by 2024. The others are BP, Nowega, OGE, RWE, Salzgitter Flachstahl and Thyssengas.

Feature article - Improve your CO2 footprint: Generating active chlorine in situ 

Tatjana Röder of Aquagroup shows how an effective disinfectant generated in situ can save CO2 and plastic waste

Deutsche Bahn and the German Federal Environment Agency have studied the CO2 footprints of various means of transportation for people and goods respectively. In both cases, they concluded that train is the best and plane the worst in terms of their effects on the environment.1,2

Clariant sets climate targets

Clariant has committed to new 2030 targets to reduce CO2 emissions in line with the Science Based Targets initiative (SBTi), which has validated them. This follows the establishment last year a dedicated unit to accelerate its sustainability transformation. The targets are:

* 40% absolute reductions in Scope 1 (made directly during production) and 2 (emitted indirectly, mainly through consuming steam and electricity) greenhouse gas emissions (GHG) emissions on 2019 levels

* A 14% absolute reductions in Scope 3 (other indirect) GHG emissions on 2019 levels

Industry leaders warn on costs of UK REACH

In a letter to government ministers that has been seen by the Financial Times, 25 industry leaders have called for “a more proportionate, effective and efficient” post-Brexit chemical regulatory regime in the UK. The writers are understood to be from multiple trade associations, including the Chemical Industries Association (CIA), though this has not been confirmed.

DuPont settles with Chemours

DuPont, its spin-off company Chemours, and Corteva, which unites DuPont’s and Dow’s former agrochemicals businesses, have agreed a settlement on all legal disputes concerning per- and polyfluoroalkyl substances (PFAS) arising out of the spin-off of Chemours in 2015.

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