In 2022, Braskem took another crucial step towards defining the company’s growth focus for the coming years, within a value creation strategy that integrates its commitments to sustainable development.
Throughout the year, were conducted a review and consolidation exercise of its Corporate Strategy to 2030, which is anchored on its strategic pillars and foundations, with a focus on creating value through balanced capital allocation, returning value to shareholders over the cycle, while we invest in our growth avenues, impacting positively all stakeholders.
The strategic pillars reinforce the ambitions Braskem has for the long term, considering the demands and opportunities in the traditional business, as well as sustainability criteria in its investment decisions.
Access the 2022 Integrated Report and learn more about Braskem’s Corporate Strategy.
Access 1T23 Earnings Release and learn more about the main projects by growth avenue.
Braskem has been committed to the principles of sustainable development since its creation in 2002. Through its strategy, it seeks to prevent and mitigate risks, in addition to capturing business opportunities associated with sustainability, with the aim of transforming people’s lives based on sustainable solutions of chemicals and plastics, analyzing the impacts of the value chain.
In 2021, Braskem renewed its commitments to sustainable development, which were built based on the materiality matrix, with the participation of more than 500 members, leaders and executives of the Company, and considered the analysis of global scenarios and trends, corporate risks and external references in sustainability. Aligned with the Sustainable Development Goals of the United Nations (SDG-UN) and approved by the Board of Directors, Braskem’s Sustainable Development Strategy comprises seven dimensions and defines its second cycle of long-term commitments for 2025, 2030 and 2050:
- Health and Safety
- Economic and Financial Results
- Elimination of Plastic Waste
- Combating Climate Change
- Operacional Ecoeficiency
- Social Responsibility and Human Rights
- Sustainable Innovation
Until 2022, a Braskem achieved 31%* of its sustainable development commitments.
Learn more about 2020-2030 commitments clicking here.
Learn more about Braskem’s ESG actions through quarterly ESG Report available on Results Center.
*The achievement of the commitments for sustainable development disclosed by the company (within projected costs and expected deadlines) is also subject to risks that include, but are not limited to: advancement, availability, development and accessibility of the technology necessary to achieve these commitments.
In 2021, the Industrial Decarbonization Plan was created with the aim of structuring the business plan and moving forward with initiatives that promote a 15% reduction in the absolute GHG emissions (scopes 1 and 2) by 2030. The program is based on the following fundamental pillars:
- Culture, Process and Governance: development of an industrial mindset focused on operating processes and identifying improvements that enable the reduction of greenhouse gases; inclusion of emissions management in the Company’s various work processes; governance for decisionmaking based on emissions; and promotion of partnerships for the development and implementation of structuring solutions;
- Lines of action, distributed on the fronts:
▪ Operational decisions: implement operational initiatives for continuous improvement with a view to reducing emissions;
▪ Energy Matrix: increase the share of renewable energies and low-carbon fuels in Braskem’s energy matrix
▪ Energy Efficiency: reduce greenhouse gas emissions through electrification, integration and energy optimization initiatives
▪ Transformational Projects: implement key initiatives capable of significantly reducing greenhouse gas emissions from the main emitter complexes
In 2022, efforts undertaken in the industrial decarbonization program resulted in the development of the global MAC (Marginal Abatement Cost) curve and a decarbonization roadmap. Currently, the global MAC curve has 161 initiatives, 69 of which have been prioritized for study and progress towards maturity, thus composing what we call the Decarbonization roadmap.
Energy efficiency and electrification are the main pillars of the roadmap, supported by a matrix rich in renewable energy and low-carbon fuels. Today, the roadmap has a reduction potential of 3.4 million tons of CO₂e, made up of initiatives of different degrees of maturity.
Understand the main initiatives and advances regarding Industrial Decarbonization Program in 2022 Integrated Report.
Sustainability is one of the pillars of Braskem’s Corporate Strategy to 2030. Through initiatives and processes, the Company transforms natural, renewable and non-renewable resources into chemicals and plastics, seeking to reduce and mitigate impacts on the environment and society.
With regard to Combating Climate Change, in addition to the commitment to reach 2030 with an absolute 15% reduction in greenhouse gas emissions (GHG) in scopes 1 and 2 – in relation to the average of the years 2018, 2019, and 2020 –, Braskem is also committed to achieving 1.0 million tons of bioproduct production capacity by the same year. To this end, the following projects stand out:
- Expansion of current green ethylene capacity in Rio Grande do Sul: expansion from 200 kt/year to 260 kt/year of current green ethylene production capacity, using ethanol feedstock derived from sugarcane;
- MoU with SCG Chemicals: signing of a memorandum of understanding with SCG Chemicals to carry out feasibility studies to jointly invest in the construction of a new green ethylene plant in Thailand; and
- Partnership with Lummus Technology: partnership to develop and license Braskem’s technology for the production of green ethylene.
Plastic plays an important role in people’s lives and the businesses, being present in several areas of daily life: in health, transportation, food, products for the home and personal use and in many other segments. However, the growing use of plastic, especially single-use plastic, and the inadequate disposal of waste have generated discussions regarding its use.
In this scenario, Braskem is committed to the circular economy by engaging its value chain and creating more sustainable and circular solutions. Thus, the Company is committed to increasing the sales volume of products with recycled content to 1 million tons and to recovering 1.5 million tons of plastic waste by 2030. Investments on this front are focused on:
- Partnership with Valoren: construction of the first chemical recycling unit in Brazil, with the objective of chemically transforming, through the pyrolysis process, plastic waste into circular raw material, enabling the production of 6 thousand tons of circular products per year;
- Formation of JV with Terra Circular: the company, controlled by Braskem, seeks the development of technology capable of converting low-quality plastic waste into final products.
- Partnership with Alcamare: long-term cooperation agreement with Alcamare to produce resins from recycled material for food product applications and markets. Alcamare is the largest recycling company in Mexico and has state-of-the-art mechanical recycling technologies, being able to generate high quality products.
- Acquisition of equity interest in a recycling company: in February 2023, Braskem concluded the process of acquiring shares and subscribing to new shares issued by Wise Plásticos S.A. (“Wise”), a Brazilian company in the mechanical recycling sector, now holding a 61.1% equity interest in Wise. In this context, Braskem disbursed approximately BRL 138 million, considering the usual adjustments for this type of transaction, of which a relevant part will be invested directly in Wise to double its current production capacity to approximately 50 thousand tons by 2026.
Learn more about Braskem’s Strategy to Combating Climate Change and Elimination of Plastic Waste in “Natural Capital” chapter of 2022 Integrated Report.
Braskem’s Indicators Center have indicators of material topics reported in accordance with the guidelines of the GRI (Global Reporting Initiative) and SASB (Sustainability Accounting Standards Board).
The Company adopts practices based on a competitive and transparent remuneration strategy, which seeks to attract, develop, and retain the best professionals and remunerate its members based on market practices.
We adopt and apply a personnel management philosophy that emphasizes a performance-linked compensation structure and a decentralized management structure. The practice of variable compensation makes it possible to strengthen the alignment with the interests of shareholders, by obtaining and surpassing short and long-term results.
In furtherance of the commitments made, assigning roles and responsibilities to all professionals, since 2021 environmental, social, and governance (ESG) aspects have been included in the corporate goals, which are assigned, according to positions and responsibilities, from the business leader to the base of the hierarchy. In 2022, the ESG targets attributed to the business leader represented 33% of the total targets established.
Also, regarding Braskem’s Executive Management and non-statutory management variable remuneration, the short-term incentive is proposed according to the challenge of each member and performance is evaluated considering individual goals (through the fulfillment of individual goals) and Braskem’s operational and economic performance (EBITDA). The individual targets comprise ESG indicators such as, for example, commercialization of resins with recycled content, absolute reduction of CO2 emissions (scope 1 and 2), action plans related to socio-environmental risk management, etc.
For more information about Braskem’s remuneration practices access Form 20-F or 2022 Reference Form (Portuguese only).
The Board of Directors (BoD), one of the bodies of the governance system, is a collegiate decision-making body composed of eleven effective members, six of which are independent members, and alternate members. The Board of Directors has, among its members, a Chairman and a Vice-Chairman – additionally, the chairman of the Board of Directors does not exercise an executive role at Braskem. In addition to the Board of Directors, the governance structure is made up of the General Meeting, Executive Management, Fiscal Council and Advisory Committees to the Board of Directors, as well as the Corporate Governance area.
The BoD meets, ordinarily, at least six and a maximum of twelve times per fiscal year, and extraordinarily, whenever called by the Chairman, depending on the needs of the matters to be dealt with. In 2022, the average participation of Board members¹ in meetings was 100%, as recorded in the respective minutes.
Board members have a unified term of office of 2 (two) years, reelection being permitted. The average term of office in years of effective members on the Board¹ is 2.34 years.
Learn more about the composition of the Board of Directors, Executive Board and Advisory Committees
Learn more about the governance practices adopted by Braskem
¹ The calculation uses information referring to the effective members of the Board of Directors in office on the base date of 12/31/2022
In 2020, the Company implemented several improvements with regard to interactions with Class Associations, Entities and Employer Unions. The Corporate Guideline on the subject was updated, new payment flows were defined, the online reporting tool created for this control was improved and new rounds of training were carried out with members who have some type of interaction with Class Associations, Entities or Employers’ Unions.
All associations to which Braskem contributes in Brazil, Mexico, Europe, and the United States do not have the main role of creating or influencing public policies, laws and regulations. This role is just part of their actions to influence public policy regarding legislation in the chemical or plastics industry. And, to promote transparency in advocacy, it uses an internal tool to interact with Public Agents for records. In this sense, Braskem conducts political dialogue in cooperation with relevant interest groups, and is involved in a series of associations around the world.
To illustrate Braskem’s participation in the topic, the entities that the Company invested the most in 2022 were: Alliance to End Plastic Waste (AEPW); Brazilian Chemical Industry Association (ABIQUIM); Camaçari Industrial Development Committee; and Brazilian Downstream Association (ABD); Brazilian Association of the Alkalis, Chlorine and Derivatives Industry (ABICLOR). These accounted for 32% of the total invested (R$74 million) in the year.
Additionally, Braskem has a Corporate Guideline on Interactions with Public Agents and controls such interactions through an online tool, in which Members indicate when, where, with whom and why they had an interaction. The reports presented are periodically analyzed by a Committee composed of members of the Institutional Relations, Legal and Compliance teams. When the Committee considers that a report lacks sufficient information, is unclear, has been filled out incorrectly, or gives rise to compliance issues, the Committee contacts the member responsible for the report to gather additional information or educate him or her on the guideline. Members who repeatedly fail to comply with the guidelines may be penalized.
Furthermore, Braskem does not finance political parties, members of government, parliament or electoral candidates, as indicated in its Code of Conduct.
At Braskem, all members are equal and have the same rights and obligations, therefore, there is no difference between unionized and non-unionized employees. In this sense, and to demonstrate Braskem’s commitment to the subject, the Company has a specific area called Labor Relations (in free translation), dedicated exclusively to the fulfillment of such obligations. In addition, for employees who understand that any of their rights are being violated, they can access Ethics Line, which is a channel available for making any complaints, which will initiate investigations into the matter. Additionally, the Collective Bargaining Agreements (“CCT/ACT”) are public documents and their contents can be read at any time, as they are available for access to all members in the Company’s internal channel (“Workplace”). Thus, all employees are covered by the ACT/CCT applicable to workers in our segment, regardless of union membership.
Braskem is the only Brazilian company recognized as a Leading Company in Sustainable Development by the UN Global Compact. Since launching its Public Commitment in 2002, it has reinforced its role in guaranteeing respect for human rights. The Company has implemented the UN Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs) through its Sustainable Development Strategy and the UN Guiding Principles on Business and Human Rights in its governance and processes.
One of the priority fronts of Braskem’s sustainable development strategy concerns the dimension of “Social Responsibility and Human Rights”, which encompasses the pillar of Diversity, Equity and Inclusion (DE&I), and establishes the commitment to increase the participation of women leaders globally to 40% and black members in Brazil and the United States to 37%.
In this sense, in addition to the Code of Conduct, which prohibits all forms of discrimination and harassment, the Company also provides the Ethics Line Channel, a resource for receiving complaints about violations of the Code of Conduct by Members and Third Parties in several languages. All information is received and treated with absolute secrecy, and 100% of the cases received are analyzed independently and anonymized. The results and action plans arising from the investigations are carried out independently and impartially, being monitored by the Ethics Committee and the Statutory Compliance and Audit Committee.
This commitment was also reinforced by the implementation of a Global Corporate DE&I Guideline in 2022, which establishes the highest standards for dealing with Members when it comes to respect, inclusion, equity and valuing diversity in any region where Braskem is present and throughout its value chain.
In addition, affinity networks also make up the DE&I strategy, which are groups of people who connect and engage around a common subject, generally related to identity and personal experiences, providing visibility and acceptance to minority groups within the organization.
Understand the main initiatives and advances regarding DE&I Program in 2022 Integrated Report.
Braskem is a petrochemical company and has water as the main input for the generation of steam and in the thermal process of its industrial units as a priority, therefore, it depends on this resource to operate. Thus, the Company is susceptible to lack of this resource, for example, water scarcity in some region can cause production interruption. In this sense, topics related to water consumption and water management are guided by the Company’s Sustainable Development Policy and HSE Policy, in addition to internal guidelines and specific legal requirements for each location in which it operates. Additionally, these topics are also part of the 2020-2030 Commitments, referring to the dimension of Operational Eco-efficiency and Climate Change, which are monitored by the Board of Directors, and in the Company’s ERM (Enterprise Risk Management), supervised by the CEO.
When defining its Water Security strategy, Braskem takes as a reference the requirements of the CEO Water Mandate, GRI and CDP with a focus on its operations, management of the production chain and watersheds, collective actions, among others. Braskem also participates in important water groups in forums such as CEBDS (e.g. commitment to water security), UNGC CEO Water Mandate and UNGC Brasil, participating in collective actions and awareness raising.
In 2021, Braskem joined the Water Resilience Coalition, of the Global Compact, and the “Race to Resilience”, of the United Nations Framework Convention on Climate Change (UNFCC), which seeks to accelerate, by 2030, the actions of non-governmental organizations in combating climate change. The focus is on helping the most vulnerable communities in this area, implementing initiatives that build resilience and mitigate the physical impacts of changes, such as extreme heat, drought and floods, in addition to seeking solutions that do not compete with the consumption of potable water in the vicinity of the company’s operations. Company. These initiatives strengthen the water security strategy, as the projects that the Company intends to develop are located in high water risk basins in the regions where it operates.
One of the main initiatives in which Braskem is recognized for its water management is Aquapolo, a project that aims to transform treated sewage into reuse water for industrial activities in São Paulo, one of the main initiatives implemented by Braskem to mitigate the risk and the largest reuse plant in operation in Latin America with 1,000 liters/s of capacity.
In operation since 2012, the project is the result of a partnership between the sanitation company SABESP, at the time, the private operator BRK Ambiental, and Braskem in a 41-year contract to supply the Company’s plants in the ABC petrochemical complex. Today, Aquapolo is operated by GS Inima and supplies almost 100% of the water consumed by the ABC Paulista units, which helps to minimize the risk of shortages in the region.
For more information on Braskem’s governance, strategy, risk management and initiatives on the subject, access the most recent CDP Water Security.
At Braskem, each industrial unit has its waste management program, PGRS – Solid Waste Management Plan, in which the waste generated is identified, its classification and the appropriate handling. Hazardous waste generated by Braskem has an FDSR – Waste Safety Data Sheet, which contains details for specific handling, transport and disposal. Based on the PGRS, a specific action plan can be stipulated, suited to the specificity of each of its operations. The plans are adapted to the reality of each of the regions, since the Company is a global company and is present in several regions of Brazil, and must be in line with the legislation in force in each region where it operates. Given this, the eco-indicator of waste generation is monitored at the regional level and consolidated globally, as well as the established targets linked to the theme.
According to the waste management program, these are monitored from generation to disposal and are categorized as hazardous and non-hazardous waste. For this analysis, waste generated within Braskem’s units or in locations under its management is considered. For waste generated by third-party companies in the provision of services to Braskem, these are the responsibility of service providers, and this obligation is registered in the contract and follows local legislation.
Seeking to comply with applicable legal requirements and best practices, Braskem strives to meet the order of priority for waste management: 1. non-generation; 2. reduction; 3. reuse; 4. waste treatment; 5. environmentally adequate final destination of waste.
Braskem has operational support in waste management from outsourced companies specialized in the subject. The monitoring of the services provided is carried out by the Environmental team of each industrial unit, monthly evaluating the data generated and holding periodic monitoring meetings to update the actions agreed in each specific contract. All data is consolidated by the units’ Environment team and used for reporting to Corporate SSMA and public bodies.
For more information on Braskem’s governance, strategy, risk management and initiatives on the subject, access ESG Dashboard.
An Emergency Response Plan (ERP) is an action program designed to mitigate damage from potential risk scenarios that could jeopardize a facility’s ability to function. This plan must include measures to mitigate the impact on people, the environment and the facility. ERP also includes provisions for assessing the severity of the risk scenario, from pre-emergency plans, firefighters and media communication and so on.
The Company’s Global Governance System for Crisis Management is governed by a guideline, which defines the principles and establishes that such situations are promptly identified and efficiently managed, allowing decision-making to mitigate corporate risks associated with personal safety, regulatory compliance, reputation, strategic, financial and operational. In addition, the Directive also provides for the creation of a Crisis Management Committee to conduct any emergency response and investigation according to the nature of the causes and impacts of the actual or potential situation, including industrial operation issues.
According to Braskem’s global HSE guideline, every plant and office must (i) implement a specific PRE to effectively respond and recover from local emergencies; (ii) have emergency teams trained in the use of emergency response techniques, equipment and apparatus, Emergency Action Plan and Emergency Pre-Plans compatible with their assigned functions; (iii) every facility with potential for community impact must have a community emergency and contingency plan minimizing losses and responsibilities, considering the involvement of local emergency planning community entities; (iv) all Emergency Response Plans must demonstrate understanding and functionality, thus, at least, all members must participate in an emergency simulation annually, among others.
Additionally, to achieve and maintain excellence in its operations, Braskem developed Intelius, based on ISO 45001, ISO 14000, RC 14001 and ISO 9000 standards, which seeks to align the Company with the best global practices by integrating and creating standards for industrial and non-industrial processes in line with the principles of the Health, Safety, Environment, Quality and Productivity Policy. Additionally, the system undergoes an annual internal audit to identify and repair potential non-compliance with these principles.
At Braskem, all facilities must establish a process for supervising and managing third-party contractors (and subcontractors). These processes require and ensure that contractors are effectively qualified, selected and supervised to ensure alignment with applicable legal and Braskem requirements. Contractors include companies that provide services at a Braskem location or provide distribution and logistics services.
In this sense, the contracted companies are responsible for: (i) complying with Braskem’s Code of Conduct for Third Parties; (ii) provide its employees with a safe, healthy and environmentally correct work environment; (iii) maintain its own HSE management system applicable to its businesses; (iv) comply with Braskem’s Procedures and Work Instructions; (v) ensure that its employees are trained and qualified; (vi) carry out analyzes and/or assessments to identify risks associated with operations and implement controls for the proper elimination or mitigation of risks; (vii) immediately report all incidents to Braskem and carry out investigations in line with the requirements of the global standard in incident management; and (viii) implement practices that reduce the environmental footprint of its operations and activities in line with Braskem’s sustainability goals.
Braskem has a Code of Conduct for Third Parties, which is in line with the UN Universal Declaration of Human Rights and recommendations of the International Labor Organization, in addition to the Global Sustainable Development Policy and the Global Anti-Corruption Policy, which aim to ensure that suppliers and other stakeholders are aligned with the Company’s principles and practices in relation to social, environmental, compliance, legal and anti-corruption practices, as well as for free competition.
Additionally, Braskem has several processes for mapping its supply chain and for mitigating any related risks, with the objective of identifying impacts, carrying out studies and engaging suppliers in social and environmental actions.
Such processes are governed by an internal guideline for the evaluation and performance of suppliers, which defines which categories of purchases are and, consequently, which are the suppliers with the greatest risk and socio-environmental impact, enabling quality assessments of the companies mapped based on criteria of SSMA and Compliance. A due diligence process is also carried out when contracting suppliers to assess compliance and integrity risks.
In cases of more critical sectors, based on human rights due diligence, as is the case of sugarcane ethanol, we also have exclusive supply codes and criteria, whose compliance with the standards required by the company is mandatory for training of the partnership.
To contribute to the mapping and strengthening of these policies, we have engagement, recognition and training actions with our suppliers and internal public, in addition to projects such as the CDP Supply Chain, the IDF (Supplier Performance Index) and Ecovadis, which generate indicators and allow the implementation of action plans in case of non-compliance by participating suppliers.
In 2022, Braskem held the second edition of the Supplier Sustainability Recognition award, which highlights the good ESG practices of our suppliers and encourages our value chain to adopt actions in socio-environmental performance, human and labor rights, the environment, ethics and sustainable procurement . In all, 24 companies were recognized in various socio-environmental pillars.
Finally, to verify the various risks linked to contracting suppliers, Braskem has specific and targeted analyzes and actions according to the sector, category and exposure of these companies in co-responsibility studies and brand exposure to the market.
Learn more about Braskem’s supplier management in 2022 Integrated Report