Clariant and OMV Partner to Supply Ethylene Oxide with a Reduced Carbon Footprint

Clariant and OMV announce their intended collaboration for the supply of ethylene with a lower carbon footprint. This partnership will help both companies meet their sustainability targets and deliver on the carbon reduction strategies of their customers. This is the response to increasing consumer demand for more sustainable options, and with a particular focus on Europe. Clariant is a sustainability focused specialty chemical company.

For Clariant, this partnership represents another step in their commitment to providing low carbon footprint ethoxylates to their global customer base. Since 2022, Clariant has been successfully supplying segregated bio-based ethoxylates worldwide through Clariant India Glycols Specialty Company (CISC).

“We are continuously working on solutions for our customers’ journeys towards the use of lower carbon footprint ethoxylates and this cooperation is an important step forward to reach this goal,” said Christian Vang, business president Care Chemicals and Americas, member of the Executive Steering Committee at Clariant. “Renewable low-carbon footprint ethylene from OMV will enable us to grow our bio-based ethylene oxide derivatives portfolio, as well as strengthen the supply chain with production in Europe, for Europe.”

“There is a broad application base for ethylene oxide and derivatives, and we are dedicated to enabling sustainable transformations for our customers as well as for OMV. By fostering the supply of circular feedstock, we are reinforcing our commitment to a circular economy and sustainability. This agreement is an important contribution to the progress we are making towards our Strategy 2030 ambitions,” said Daniela Vlad, executive vice president, Chemicals and member of the Executive Board of OMV.

OMV is at the forefront of advancing renewable and circular chemicals, promoting sustainable living. Their integrated business model connects various parts of the value chain, ensuring a more flexible and reliable supply from bio-based and chemically recycled sources. This approach not only reduces CO2 emissions but also demonstrates tangible progress through ISCC+ certification of the mass balance approach.

Clariant and OMV intend to explore and develop new strategies to achieve sustainability targets in the ethylene supply chain. As part of this collaboration, the companies will share research findings and adopt a Life Cycle Assessment (LCA) methodology for unified approaches. They will define detailed CO2 reduction roadmaps and jointly analyze the potential for collaboration on Ethanol-to-Ethylene (E2E) technology.

OMV began its renewable and circular production of chemicals and chemical feedstock at its Burghausen refinery in Germany in 2021, and more recently at its Schwechat refinery in Austria. The company has been steadily increasing its production capacities of sustainable products, reaching 200,000 metric tons. Based on current forecasts, OMV anticipates a sales volume of around 1.4 million metric tons by 2030 and 2 million metric tons thereafter.

OMV views growth in sustainable products as a crucial component of its Chemicals business. The company aims to reduce absolute GHG emissions by 30% in Scope 1 and 2, and by 20% in Scope 3 by 2030, compared to 2019 levels. By gradually transitioning to low-carbon businesses, OMV is striving to achieve net zero emissions by 2050 at the latest.

Both Clariant and OMV are members of the UN Global Compact, the world's largest corporate sustainability and social responsibility initiative. Their agreement is expected to assist Clariant in meeting its ambitious 2030 climate targets for reducing emissions across its operations and supply chain activities. Clariant’s targets, aligned with the Science Based Targets Initiative (SBTi), include a 40% reduction in Scope 1 and 2 absolute GHG emissions and a 14% reduction in Scope 3 emissions between 2019 and 2030.

In addition to the sustainability goals of Clariant and OMV, this agreement will support cooperation towards achieving the CO2 reduction roadmaps of industry stakeholders across Europe.

Source - Clariant