Mitsubishi Chemical Advanced Materials (MCAM), a global manufacturer of high-performance materials, has announced its goal to achieve climate positivity in its own operations by 2030.
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To achieve this, the company has set ambitious targets and actions to reduce its emissions and environmental impact, compensate for unavoidable emissions with high-quality carbon credits, and invest in carbon removal projects.
MCAM’s goals build on an in-depth gap analysis of its progress across all existing climate action carried out in 2020, which enabled the company to set the first essential milestone of becoming climate neutral by 2023. Half of MCAM’s 32 manufacturing and fabrication sites around the world already use 100% electricity based on renewable sources; five of these locations additionally compensate for their remaining emissions.
As a member of Mitsubishi Chemical Corporation, MCAM is committed to “Realizing KAITEKI”, the sustainability vision and strategy of the Mitsubishi Chemical Holdings Group (MCHC). “At MCAM, our vision to put KAITEKI into practice is to give back more than we take. This same vision underscores our commitment to continuously look for innovative solutions to global challenges,” says Michael Koch, CEO of MCAM. “As a front runner in the industry, we have now set the target of becoming climate neutral by 2023 and climate positive by 2030. But we know we cannot do this alone. A key enabler in achieving our goal will be strong collaboration with our partners along the value chain.”
A concrete set of actions
MCAM currently measures the greenhouse gas emissions (GHG) resulting from its production and indirect energy procurement-related emissions (scope 1 and 2). In addition, the company tracks the use of water, virgin raw materials, as well as overall waste generation.
To support its long-term sustainability strategy, MCAM will take the following steps to achieve climate positivity:
- Establish a baseline of emissions within the supply chain and other non-direct emissions (scope 3). Based on this inventory, from 2023 onwards, MCAM will set realistic yet ambitious reduction pathways in line with the scientific requirements to reach the goals of the Paris agreement.
- Continue to reduce emissions by implementing energy efficiency measures, with a realistic goal of reducing the energy used in its operations by 15% globally by 2025, compared to a 2015 baseline.
- Increase renewable energy procurement to reach 100% by 2023.
- Compensate by investing in certified, high-quality carbon credits when emissions are unavoidable.
- Incorporate resource efficiency in production as part of MCAM’s holistic framework.
- Continue Life-Cycle Assessments and strategic acquisitions in support of MCAM’s move towards a circular economy. (See below for details on acquisitions.)
- Commit to ZERO landfill, as well as waste and water usage reduction by at least 20% each by 2025 compared to a 2015 baseline.
By achieving these new targets, MCAM will contribute to MCHC’s sustainability goals as defined in “KAITEKI Vision 30”. MCHC strives to become climate neutral by 2050.
MCAM’s circular economy actions
To accelerate its organic effort to implement its circular economy strategy, MCAM proceeded in making several acquisitions:
- MCAM acquired the recycling activities of ‘Minger Kunststofftechnik AG’ (now MCAM Symalit AG, Appenzell Branch, Recycling Solutions). Minger Kunststofftechnik AG has been a market leader in recycling of engineering plastics and especially advanced materials.
- CFK Valley Stade Recycling GmbH and CO KG and carboNXT GmbH. CFK is a leading solutions provider for customers in mobility-related industries and offers advanced proprietary technology that breaks down carbon fiber waste and converts this material into various usable forms of carbon fiber. carboNXT closes the loop by offering these products back to the market.
Note: KAITEKI is an original concept developed by the MCHC Group. It stands for “The sustainable well-being of people, society and our planet Earth”. KAITEKI encompasses sustainable economic and social development, as well as care for the environment. Striking a balance between social and environmental demands and economic sustainability is what makes a business successful in the long term.