Covestro starts offering the world's first climate-neutral polycarbonate

Covestro has begun shipping the first climate-neutral polycarbonate from its Uerdingen, Germany, site. © Covestro

Materials manufacturer Covestro has started supplying the world´s first climate-neutral polycarbonate from its Uerdingen site in Germany, delivering on its promise to introduce these products by the end of 2021. These Makrolon® polycarbonate grades are climate-neutral from cradle to gate, thanks to the usage of renewable electricity for Covestro production processes and the introduction of raw materials coming from mass-balanced bio-waste and residues.

Since receiving the ISCC Plus mass balance certification for two of its European sites at the end of last year, Covestro has been supplying polycarbonates partly sourced from renewable feedstock. They are attributed via the mass balance approach and lead to a significant carbon footprint reduction. Now, the company has acquired Guarantee of Origin certificates from unsubsidized photovoltaic renewable electricity plants located in Germany for its Uerdingen plant. They are allocated to the specific electricity needs of selected mass-balanced products for both chlorine electrolysis – essential to the production of polycarbonate – and other process steps. As a result, selected Makrolon® RE grades become climate-neutral. These products are to be shown at the Consumer Electronics Show in Las Vegas in January 2022.

Sucheta Govil, Chief Commercial Officer of Covestro: "I am very proud of the launch of this climate-neutral product and its presentation at this important trade fair. This is another milestone in pursuing our sustainability vision: We are accompanying our customers in accelerating the transition to the circular economy, as well as helping to build an industrial ecology that favors circularity."

The company is gradually converting to alternative raw material sources including renewables as part of a comprehensive program to drive forward the transition to a circular economy. Integral to this program is the adoption of the mass balance approach, which is a chain of custody method that allows fossil and alternative feedstock to be mixed in production but separated in bookkeeping. It is able to track materials through the value chains and allows attribution of alternative feedstock, like bio-based raw materials, to selected end products.