Environmental Protection

Highlights from Our 2024 Sustainability Report

Decarbonization Strategy

As part of our decarbonization strategy, we conducted clean energy feasibility studies to advance our Scope 1 and 2 GHG emission goals. Additionally, we implemented our Scope 3 management and tracking initiatives to integrate emissions management into our procurement and operations practices.

We must take a scientific approach to managing our environmental impact.

Guided by our Responsible Operations and Climate Change Sustainability Goals, we promote environmental stewardship and protection, since they are essential responsibilities that influence community health, employee safety and more.

We are committed to continuously improving our company’s performance related to health, safety and the environment. We utilize our ESG Council; Climate, Operations & Supplier (COS) Council; Environment, Health, & Safety (EH&S) function; and our EH&S policies and management systems to regularly evaluate our company’s initiatives that are designed to reduce our environmental impact and protect the communities where we operate. To learn more about our EH&S procedures, visit our 2024 Sustainability Report.

Progress on Our Sustainability Goals

Trinseo plants implemented programs in 2023 to reduce freshwater use by 12% compared to the previous year. With the implementation of a closed loop water circulation system at our acrylonitrile butadiene styrene (ABS) plant in Midland, Michigan, U.S., the facility saved an estimated 20 million gallons of freshwater. Overall, we have reduced our freshwater intake by 30% since our 2017 base year.

In 2023, Trinseo reduced our waste generation by 10% from the previous year, bringing our total waste down to 15,649 MT. This is mainly due to production decreases and waste reduction activities, such as increasing our materials that are recycled and reused.

Trinseo’s landfill disposal decreased by 2% in 2023 compared to the previous year. This reflects a total decrease of 15% from the 2017 base year.  Our facilities increased the volume of materials that were recycled and reused such as plastics, wood, acrylic, cardboard and carton, paper, glass and more in 2023.

With the launch of Plastics Europe’s first European pellet loss prevention certification, we introduced two new Trinseo facilities to the Operation Clean Sweep® (OCS) program and completed internal gap assessments at all pellet-handling sites in the region. Training, incident reporting, and housekeeping practices are actively being amended to address the gaps identified by the assessments. Additionally, our existing OCS sites implemented projects to expand and refine our housekeeping and containment practices, including installing basket strainers, sieves, filters and other measures to mitigate pellet loss.

Trinseo reduced our GHG emissions intensity by 11% in 2023 due, in part, to employee-led projects such as electrical heat tracing improvement and frequency converter usage. Overall, Trinseo has reduced GHG emissions intensity by 21% since our baseline year of 2017.

At Trinseo, we estimate that Scope 3 GHG emissions represent over 90% of our overall carbon footprint, and it is essential for us to track, report, and reduce these emissions. In 2023, we completed Scope 3 GHG Emission inventory calculations through an internal cross functional collaboration so that we have a comprehensive understanding of our footprint that yields more accurate data. Trinseo is focused on having our Scope 3 inventory certified through a third-party validation organization. We also established a Scope 3 governance structure to help us effectively manage and complete our Scope 3 program plan.

In 2023, Trinseo’s non-fossil fuel energy sources for our electrical consumption increased by 7%, for a total of 29% of our consumption. Additionally, our percentage of electricity purchased from renewable energy sources increased from 13% to 18%. Our renewable sources include biomass, wind, solar and hydroelectric.