Amid the global push for companies to cut greenhouse gas emissions, Braskem — Latin America’s largest petrochemical company — has created a subsidiary focused on green plastic production. The move is a strategy to free its green line from the core — and fossil fuel-based — business.
Braskem was a pioneer in the production of sugarcane-based plastics at an industrial scale ten years ago. By 2021, they had produced roughly 200,000 tons of biopolymers — expected to reach 260,000 tons by year-end, and 1 million tons by 2030.
However, the company’s ESG track record is checkered, at best. Abusive salt-mining practices led to geological alterations in the northeastern Brazilian city of Maceió, and the ground has sunk, with collapsed homes and entire neighborhoods left looking like war zones.
In 2021, The Brazilian Report published an award-winning report on the crisis caused by Braskem practices.
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