Bloomberg to spend USD85 MM against U.S. plastic, petrochem buildout

Former New York City Mayor Michael Bloomberg launched an USD85 MM campaign to block the planned construction of plastic and petrochemical plants across the U.S. on Wednesday, modeled on his decade-long effort to shutter coal plants, said Reuters.

Bloomberg, the billionaire businessman who currently serves as a United Nations special envoy on climate ambition, said his philanthropic organization's Beyond Petrochemicals campaign will "turbocharge" efforts by local communities in places like Louisiana's Cancer Alley, Texas, and Appalachia to block the permitting and construction of heavy emitting plants.

The campaign takes aim at the rapid expansion of U.S. petrochemical and plastic pollution. The International Energy Agency said the plastics and petrochemical industry will exceed coal-fired carbon emissions by 2030 and account for half of the growth in oil demand by 2050.

"This campaign will help ensure more local victories, support laws that protect communities from harm, and reduce the greenhouse gas emissions that are fueling the climate crisis," Bloomberg said in a statement.

The expansion planned by the industry could account for 15% of U.S. greenhouse gas emissions, which could make the U.S. miss its goal under the Paris climate agreement of halving its emissions by 2030, Bloomberg Philanthropies said.

At least 90 petrochemical and plastics projects have been proposed over the last decade, including 42 major construction projects that will release greenhouse gas emissions and other hazardous air pollutants, according to the Environmental Integrity Project, which tracks the planned buildouts.

Plastic and petrochemical trade groups called Bloomberg's campaign a "misguided" effort to address plastic waste.

"If Mr. Bloomberg wants to help people, it couldn’t be more clear that plastic saves lives and improves our quality of life," said Matt Seaholm, president and chef executive of the Plastics Industry Association, adding that the industry has focused its spending on recycling programs. "His misguided campaign will create more problems than it solves.”

Front-line minority and lower-income communities that live where some of these projects have been proposed have led high-profile fights to block key air permits and force enforcement of environmental safeguards at existing facilities.

Just this month, activists in St. James Parish in Louisiana claimed victory when a judge revoked key air permits issued by state regulators for a plastics project planned by Taiwan's Formosa Plastics and when the state canceled plans to build a methanol plant after nearly a decade.

"Investments like these give the communities that have been disproportionately impacted by this type of environmental racism a fighting chance," said Beverly Wright, executive director of the Deep South Center for Environmental Justice.

Bloomberg has spent over USD500 MM to support the Sierra Club's Beyond Coal campaign, which originally aimed to retire 30% of the U.S. coal fleet by 2020 but ended up accelerate the retirement of over 60% of coal plants by that year. It has expanded to target gas infrastructure.

After a failed presidential bid in 2020, Bloomberg has continued to bankroll climate campaigns and work on climate diplomacy in his UN role. The campaign focused on public advocacy and legal action to reach settlements with utilities to hasten the closure of their aging coal plants and replacing them with renewable energy.

As per MRC, in the effort to increase the availability of postindustrial recycled materials and reduce its dependence on virgin polymers, Berry Global Group Inc., Evansville, Indiana, has announced it will use a closed-loop recycling system to aid in the manufacturing of its Endura product line. The system was first introduced earlier this year at six of the company’s existing European locations. Through it, Berry supplies customers with nonwoven materials, receives postindustrial materials from the conversion processes of its customers and incorporates recycled content into Berry’s Endura nonwovens line.

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Arkema S.A. (Colombes, France) is boosting its previously announced global Pebax elastomer capacity expansion at its Serquigny, France site from +25% to +40% in two separate phases, firstly in Q1 2023 by raising global capacity by 15%, the additional 25% starting in Q3 2023, said the company.

The greater increase in Pebax elastomer capacity will support the strong demand from partner customers in the sports, consumer electronics, medical and industrial markets, who recognize the highly specialized Pebax grades’ lightweight, flexibility and exceptional energy return. Applications range from ultra-fast running shoes to catheters or flexible device screens.

Beyond this new capacity expansion in France and to support the growth of its global customers, the Group is currently assessing further investment opportunities, including in Asia.

As customer demand is increasingly driven by sustainability and social responsibility, over the last few years Arkema has benefited from strong growth in particular for its bio-based Pebax Rnew grades, derived from renewable castor beans. These materials have a significantly lower carbon footprint thanks to their bio-based content and can be fully recycled as part of Arkema’s Virtucycle recycling program for advanced polymers.

The Group continues to innovate and invest to further improve its materials’ carbon footprint. As part of this expansion for example, water consumption will be reduced by 25% at the Serquigny site thanks to process improvements.

As per MRC, Arkema finalized the acquisition of Polimeros Especiales, strengthening the Group’s offering in solvent-free solutions and its position in this fast growing region.

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PPG announced a 1.5 megawatt (MW) agreement with Constellation that will help PPG purchase clean, renewable energy equivalent to the annual electricity use of its Adrian, Mich., automotive adhesives and sealants manufacturing facility beginning in 2024, said the company.

Through a 12-year agreement, PPG will receive energy and project-specific renewable energy certificates (RECs) from Swift Current Energy’s Double Black Diamond Solar Energy Project. This deal is made possible by a long-term agreement between Constellation and the project developer and long-term owner, Swift Current Energy, under which Constellation will purchase a portion of the energy and RECs generated by Double Black Diamond. Construction of the solar project is expected to start by the end of 2022.

PPG’s Adrian facility manufactures adhesives and sealants for automotive original equipment manufacturers (OEM) and has more than 65 employees. The facility will procure approximately 3,500 megawatt hours of energy per year from the Double Black Diamond solar project, which is expected to help PPG reduce its carbon footprint by more than 2,400 metric tons annually. This is the equivalent emissions of more than 530 gasoline-powered passenger vehicles driven for one year, according to EPA greenhouse gas equivalencies.

“We recognize the pivotal moment we are facing for climate change and how much work there is to be done to reduce our collective carbon impact,” said Diane Kappas, PPG vice president, Global Sustainability. “Our collaboration with Constellation and Swift Current Energy will allow us to continue making progress against our near-term decarbonization goals and enable us to operate our Adrian facility in a more energy efficient manner. We look forward to identifying additional renewable energy opportunities globally to meet our greenhouse gas emission reduction targets."

“Constellation is proud to complete its second offsite renewable agreement with PPG in as many years, and we commend PPG on taking proactive steps to reduce its carbon footprint,” said Jim McHugh, chief commercial officer, Constellation. “As our customers’ carbon free energy needs evolve, we are committed to providing them with what they need now and into the future. That is why our suite of sustainable power options will soon include an hourly carbon-free solution, to help our customers reach their zero emissions goals 24 hours a day, 7 days a week and 365 days a year."

PPG recently announced the startup of a high-efficiency power-generation facility at its Automotive OEM manufacturing site in Quattordio, Italy. The company also made a commitment to the Science Based Target initiative (SBTi) to create new reduction targets for greenhouse gas emissions that define a pathway to reduce the impacts of climate change.

We remind, PPG will invest USD11 million to double the production capacity of its powder coatings plant in San Juan del Rio, Mexico. The expansion project is expected to be completed by mid-2023 and will allow the plant to meet the expected future demand for powder coatings in Mexico.

PPG is a leading supplier of powder coatings to the automotive, transportation, appliance, furniture and other markets. The company expanded the business with its 2020 acquisition of Alpha Coating Technologies, which manufactures powder coatings for light industrial applications and heat-sensitive substrates, and its 2021 acquisition of Worwag, which makes liquid, powder and film coatings for industrial and automotive applications. PPG recently agreed to acquire the powder coatings business of Arsonsisi, including a manufacturing plant in Verbania, Italy.
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In the effort to increase the availability of postindustrial recycled materials and reduce its dependence on virgin polymers, Berry Global Group Inc., Evansville, Indiana, has announced it will use a closed-loop recycling system to aid in the manufacturing of its Endura product line, said Recyclingtoday.

The system was first introduced earlier this year at six of the company’s existing European locations. Through it, Berry supplies customers with nonwoven materials, receives postindustrial materials from the conversion processes of its customers and incorporates recycled content into Berry’s Endura nonwovens line.

According to Berry, Endura Spunbond and Meltblown products contain up to 90-percent-recycled content for use in applications like disinfectant wipes, home and bedding, roofing and carpet tiles.

“Customers look to Berry for help in reaching their sustainability goals,” says Achim Schalk, executive vice president/general manager Health, Hygiene and Specialties Europe, Middle East and Africa. “Through our size and scale, we have the unique ability to invest and commercialize innovative, sustainable solutions to increase recycled content, reduce emissions and promote circularity."

Through the use of the Endura line and closed-loop recycling, Berry will gain increased access to recycled plastic. The company says the use of postindustrial materials results in a 70 percent reduction of Scope 1 CO2 equivalent emissions during the manufacturing process, per kilogram, versus virgin materials, and will directly impact its target to reduce absolute Scope 1 and 2 emissions by 25 percent from 2019.

Berry says products under the Endura line are recognized under the SCS Recycled Content Certification, which measures the percentage of recycled content for the purpose of making an accurate claim in the marketplace, allowing customers the ability to include the SCS logo on-pack.

We remind, PETRONAS Chemicals Group Berhad (PCG), the petrochemical arm of PETRONAS, and ExxonMobil have signed a memorandum of understanding to assess the potential for large-scale implementation of advanced plastic recycling technology to help create a circular economy for plastics in Malaysia. The companies will also evaluate opportunities to support improvements to plastic waste collection and sorting in the country. Representing PCG at the signing was Ir. Mohd Yusri, Managing Director/Chief Executive Officer, and for ExxonMobil, Dave Andrew, Vice President of new market development.
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Gujarat Alkalies and Chemicals Ltd. commissions expansion of Caustic Soda Plant at Dahej, said the company.

Gujarat Alkalies and Chemicals Ltd. has successfully commissioned expansion of Caustic Soda Plant at Dahej Complex and started production of Caustic Soda on 20th September, 2022 from newly installed facility.

The Board of Directors of the Company had earlier approved the expansion of Caustic Soda Plant of Dahej Complex from 785 TPD to 1310 TPD and installation of 65 MW Coal based Power Plant at Dahej Complex.

We remind, on 4 Aug 2022, Gujarat Alkalies and Chemicals Limited released its unaudited financial results for the 1Q FY 2023 ended 30 Jun 2022. Four tables present the company's financial performance for 2022 and 2021. For the standalone results for the quarter, total income amounted to Rup 113,422 lakhs, an increase from Rup 73,169 lakhs in the same quarter of 2021. Total expenses amounted to Rup 79,796 lakhs, up from Rup 63,857 lakhs. Profit amounted to Rup 22,207 lakhs, an increase from Rup 6350 lakhs. For the consolidated results for the quarter, total income amounted to Rup 113,422 lakhs, an increase from Rup 73,169 lakhs in the same quarter of 2021. Total expenses amounted to Rup 79,796 lakhs, up from Rup 63,857 lakhs. Profit amounted to Rup 19,087 lakhs, an increase from Rup 6312 lakhs. (1 crore=10 M, 1 lakh=100,000).

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