If you are reading this article on your mobile phone, there is a good chance its casing is made from a material manufactured by SABIC, as is your computer screen. Perhaps your hand is resting on a mouse, which historically was made from virgin plastic, but thanks to us, is now manufactured from ocean-bound plastic. The ways that we at SABIC are impacting humanity, today and in the future, are many.
That is what our mantra ‘Chemistry that Matters’ is all about. And at SABIC, every day we work to find solutions that will tackle problems as diverse as climate change, water conservation and food security. This is the ethos we continue to work toward. Throughout the year, we engage with business leaders, government officials and international organizations to discuss how we can work together to implement sustainable solutions that will have a positive impact on humanity.
We at SABIC, the largest petrochemical company in the Middle East, are honored to join with others in our industry to address four priority focus areas where we can drive action on finding needed solutions for the future – AI, healthcare, sustainability, and education. We are also excited to continue to share our vision for the future, and to demonstrate how our range of products and services are not just changing things in our industry, but for the global community. There are a few notable examples of our work to highlight in these areas.
One of the direct consequences of climate change, with the rise in extreme weather patterns and temperature peaks, is food insecurity. At the same time as our ability to produce food is threatened, the number of people we need to feed is growing fast with an expected population of 9.7 billion by 2050.
In response we have produced a portfolio of bio-enhanced fertilizers as part of our Agri-Nutrients research and development efforts that are enabling farmers throughout the U.S., Africa, Middle and the Far East to overcome extreme climate conditions. Our solutions are customized to regional and crop-specific needs, and they are resulting in reinvigorated crop yields at this very moment.
We understand that it’s no good making a product that drives sustainability if the process of making the product itself is unsustainable. That’s why our Agri-Nutrient portfolio is centered around bio-enhanced fertilizers that have a smaller environmental footprint – meaning fewer air pollutants and less run-off.
Plastics play a critical role in our lives, but at the same time, recycling is an area in which we have a responsibility to drive progress. UNESCO estimates plastic waste makes up 80% of all marine pollution and around eight to ten million metric tons of plastic ends up in the ocean each year. It is because of this challenge that we created TRUCIRCLE™, a key element of SABIC’s vision for the future in which plastic never ends up in the environment, landfills, or our oceans, and instead is reused and remade into new products.
Since launching, TRUCIRCLE™ products of recycled polymers has transformed packaging and consumer goods across a range of sectors. From the first-ever mass retail, certified carbon-neutral toy line from Mattel to Mars’ KIND® healthy snack bar wrapper to even Microsoft’s computer mouse made with recycled ocean plastics, TRUCIRCLE™ is working closely with customers and partners on important initiatives and helping to realize the SABIC vision where plastics are reused and remade into new and useful products.
Our commitment to a circular economy for plastics requires a total transformation of the value chain. To that end, SABIC has launched one of the world’s first pilot programs using blockchain technologies to enable the tracking and tracing of materials throughout the recycling process, enabling manufacturers to track plastics sourced from around the world.
One of the greatest areas of progress in the coming decades will be in the world’s transition to electric vehicles. We specifically created our BLUEHERO™ initiative to accelerate this transition in support of global goals on climate change, such as the United Nations Sustainable Development Goals. The program is starting by galvanizing the automotive industry’s mission to create better, safer, and more efficient electric vehicles (EVs). SABIC’s emphasis on optimizing key EV components in a cost effective and technologically advanced way is catalyzing not only vehicle performance, but also the broader industry’s shift to electrification.
Together with our partners and customers, SABIC is more committed than ever at confronting important challenges for the future. At SABIC, we have a responsibly to be more than a chemical producer; we are a solutions provider, and we will continue to make chemistry that matters to people and impacts their lives.
