Indorama Ventures, Thai Petrochemicals Giant to Add Green Power to Cut Carbon Print
- Indorama to boost renewable energy to 30% of total global bill
- Plans to buy more plastic recycling plants worldwide: Lohia
Indorama Ventures Pcl, the world’s top producer of material used in plastic bottles and polyester, plans to quadruple its use of renewable energy over the next decade as part of efforts to lower greenhouse gas emissions.
The Bangkok-based company will increase solar, wind and other renewable energy sources at its more than 120 manufacturing facilities worldwide to 30% of it power bill in 2030, said Chief Sustainability Office Yash Lohia. That’s an increase from 6%, he said, adding the move will help the company’s efforts to reduce its carbon footprint.
“We are going to install more solar panels at our facilities in Thailand, India and many other countries,” Lohia, the 33-year-old son of Indorama’s billionaire founder Aloke Lohia, said in an interview Tuesday. “We will also buy more clean energy from other developers to demonstrate our effort to reduce greenhouse gas emissions.”
Thai power producers including Gulf Energy Development Pcl, and B. Grimm Power Pcl are also accelerating investments in renewable energy as climate-change concerns prompt governments to turn to cleaner sources. Southeast Asia’s second-biggest economy plans to add at least 56,000 megawatts of new electricity capacity by 2037, with almost four-fifths of the amount set to come from renewables, according to the energy ministry’s website.
Indorama is also actively seeking recycling business acquisitions as part of a $1.5 billion spending plan to increase its reuse of plastic bottles in the production of polyethylene terephthalate, or PET, said Lohia.
With its business spanning the U.S., Brazil, China, India, France and Nigeria, Indorama’s customers — especially beverage makers — have raised the proportion of recycled materials in packaging to meet environmental regulations and funds’ investment policies, he said.
Indorama’s shares have slid 33% this year, compared with a 19% decline in the benchmark SET Index. The company’s first-half net income tumbled 88% as prices of its products fell amid the novel coronavirus pandemic.
Source: https://www.bloomberg.com/news/articles/2020-10-08/thai-petrochemicals-giant-to-add-green-power-to-cut-carbon-print
