Materials firms Ascend Performance Materials and Saudi Basic Industries Corp. are improving their sustainability footprints.
In a LinkedIn post, Houston-based Ascend said the firm's facilities in 2023 achieved a 73 percent reduction in Scope 1 greenhouse gas emissions. That's an improvement from a 64 percent reduction the previous year.
Ascend officials said this reduction is equivalent to removing 276,320 passenger vehicles from the road.
Ascend ranks as the world's largest fully integrated nylon 6/6 maker. The firm has annual sales of more than $3 billion and is a unit of New York-based investment firm SK Capital Partners.
Ascend aims to have its carbon footprint reduced by 90 percent vs. 2018 levels by 2030. The firm has spent more than $200 million on sustainability efforts over the last several years.
Also on LinkedIn, officials with Sabic's Sabic Americas unit said the firm's site in Mount Vernon, Ind., is set to be the first Sabic facility in the Americas region to make certified bio-renewable polycarbonate resins.
"This achievement marks a significant milestone in our circular economy journey," officials added. "As part of Sabic's innovative Trucircle portfolio … these polycarbonate resins will help support our customers' sustainability goals and growing global demand for more sustainable material solutions."
Sabic is based in Riyadh, Saudi Arabia, with U.S. headquarters in Houston. The firm employs more than 31,000 and is a global supplier of commodity and engineering resins.
Late in 2024, Sabic launched production of low-carbon methanol which can be used in plastics and other end markets. The new material can be used in making acrylic sheets and resins for laminate flooring, furniture panels and other applications.