Hexpol advances sustainability with emissions certification

MALMO, Sweden—Hexpol Compounding N.C. Inc. has advanced sustainability at its Lesina, Czech Republic, plant with its latest certificate proving its carbon neutrality in two emission categories.

The company, in a Dec. 12 news release, announced that Preferred by Nature—a non-profit that works to support better land management and business practices in more than 100 countries—issued a certificate that proved Hexpol Compounding Lesina s.r.o.'s carbon neutrality for scopes 1 and 2 emissions.

The plant was certified based on 2021 data, the company said.

A company's greenhouse gas emissions are classified into three scopes, according to the Greenhouse Gas Protocol corporate standard.

Scope 1 emissions are direct emissions form company-owned and controlled resources, and scope 2 emissions are indirect greenhouse gas emissions associated with the purchase of electricity, steam, heat or cooling.

For Hexpol Lesina, scope 1 emissions include "stationary combustion like fuel used in production or mobile combustion like vehicles belonging to the company," the Swedish firm said.

"The company is constantly looking into options to reduce scope 1 emissions further," it added. "However, unavoidable emissions are offset with the climate+ program of Gold Standard, where Lesina is supporting to provide clean water access to families in Laos with the carbon offset of 2021."

Hexpol said it had no emissions to report in the scope 2 category because it has been purchasing energy from renewable resources since 2018.

Scope 3 emissions are all indirect emissions that occur along the value chain of the company. This includes all purchased goods and services, logistics, transport, business travels and waste management, among others.

"Sustainability is anchored in Hexpol's core values, and we are happy to provide proof that our efforts are paying off," said Michael Jakubik, sales and marketing director of Lesina.

But the company's "journey does not stop here," he added, noting the company is working on "several different measure" to lower its scope 3 emissions.

"Developing products with a lower product carbon footprint or optimizing the resource-usage in our operations are just some examples from a whole list of activities," he said.

Hexpol Compounding produces natural and synthetic rubber compounds for the automotive, engineering, building and construction, transportation, energy, consumer, and wire and cable industries. The group employs about 5,000 across 14 countries.

European Rubber Journal contributed to this report.