Creating Innovative Solutions For A Sustainable Tomorrow
Kraton is dedicated to advancing the biobased and circular economy, offering innovative solutions to help customers reduce fossil-based materials, increase the use of recycled or renewable resources, and lower carbon emissions while enhancing product performance and extending product life. We innovate to deliver sustainable solutions that help our customers reduce environmental impact during product manufacturing, processing, use, and end-of-life.
Meeting our customers’ sustainability needs requires credible data that helps quantify the value of using Kraton products. Lifecycle Assessments (LCA) are vital for assessing products’ environmental impacts, providing a standardized methodology primarily recognized for calculating global warming potential or carbon footprint.
ISCC PLUS is a globally applicable sustainability certification system covering all sustainable feedstocks, including agricultural and forestry biomass, circular and biobased materials, and renewables. ISCC PLUS provides traceability along the supply chain and verifies that the amount of certified recycled or renewable raw material that a company uses matches the amount of recycled or renewable content that is attributed to their end products.
Inside Reliable Partners
Enabling Biobased Hygiene Solutions
Sustainability and innovation have become increasingly important in the hygiene market, with stakeholders pushing for eco-friendly alternatives to traditional materials. Kraton has been at the forefront of these efforts, collaborating closely with key industry stakeholders and the European Commission to impact the Ecolabel criteria for absorbent hygiene products. The Ecolabel is instrumental in the European Commission’s Sustainable Consumption and Production (SCP) and Sustainable Industrial Policy (SIP) action plans.
Driving Sustainability
The tire industry’s need to constantly innovate is driven by consumer demand for dependable yet affordable tires and vehicle manufacturers’ quest for superior performance. In addition, global regulators amplify the challenge by setting strict minimum requirements for wet grip, rolling resistance, noise, and durability. These external pressures force tire companies to seek new materials from suppliers, and design new tires to continuously meet diverse demands.
Read more about Kraton's Pine Chemical products in action on page 38 in our 2023 Sustainability Report.
Designing for Recyclability
Kraton offers sustainable polymer solutions that help various industries enable end-of-life recyclability, have design freedom, and maximize recycled content. From automotive and packaging to medical applications, brand owners trust Kraton to help achieve their sustainability goals.
Advancing Adhesives Sustainability
In today’s adhesive industry, there’s an increasing demand for solutions that deliver exceptional performance and prioritize sustainability and cost-efficiency. With growing environmental concerns and market competition, formulators constantly seek innovative raw materials that meet these evolving needs.
Our latest polymer innovation is a new design of SBS polymer that provides exceptional performance in pressure-sensitive adhesive (PSA) applications, such as tapes and labels, particularly when combined with biobased ingredients. This innovative SBS polymer is a competitive alternative to SIS in specific PSA formulations, providing formulators with a versatile raw material that also improves their supply security.
Read more about Kraton Polymer products in action on page 34 in our 2023 Sustainability Report.
Kraton’s Product Stewardship and Regulatory Affairs team (PSRA) actively participates in various stages of Kraton products’ lifecycle, from inception in research and development to product launch, commercialization, distribution, and customer support. PSRA reviews raw materials and products for their health, safety, and environmental aspects by conducting material reviews, product testing, safety data sheets (SDS), labeling, risk assessments, product prioritization, and regulatory tracking (new regulations and changes to existing regulations) for both pine chemicals and polymer portfolios.
PSRA collaborates with multiple internal and external stakeholders on initiatives intended to monitor or improve our products’ overall environmental, human health, and sustainability impact. PSRA also collaborates with Consortia and Consultants to ensure our products are tested for safety and comply with various regulations by market and region. In addition, the PSRA team actively participates in industry groups that monitor regulatory changes and trends in relevant topics to assess their impact on our product portfolio and the environment.
Notable Projects
Read more about Product Regulatory & Customer Health and Safety in action on page 42 in our 2023 Sustainability Report.
At Kraton, we recognize that responsible business practices are not limited to our operations, but extend into our supply chain. Our supplier relationships significantly impact the environment, society, and the economy. Therefore, we value collaborating with suppliers who share our commitment to responsible business practices. Our goal is to reduce our environmental footprint, uphold human rights, and promote sustainable development in the communities where we operate. By prioritizing responsible business practices throughout our supply chain, we build strong relationships with our suppliers, foster innovation, and create long-term value for all stakeholders.
To achieve this, we have created our Responsible Procurement Program based on the following policies:
Read more about our Responsible Business Practices on page 43 in our 2023 Sustainability Report.
We are committed to empowering and ensuring our team and partners make a positive impact through ethical and responsible business practices. We are also committed to conducting business with reliable suppliers aligned with Kraton’s environmental, social, and ethical standards.
Relevant Topics
TfS is a global procurement-driven initiative to assess and improve the sustainability performance of chemical companies and suppliers. The TfS program delivers the de facto global standard for the ESG performance for chemical supply chains. The program is based on the UN Global Compact and Responsible Care® principles and facilitates exchanging best practices for embedding sustainability throughout the supply chain. TfS is a global organization with regional members in Asia, North America, and South America.
We utilize the TfS platform for multiple purposes, such as conducting due diligence on potential new suppliers. We also engage with current suppliers by recommending improvement actions and offering training support to help them build their capacity. Furthermore, we track the overall CSR performance of our supply chain with benchmarks and train procurement teams on sustainable development.
We track performance using TfS Key Performance Indicators (KPIs) to measure sustainability improvements and increase their impact.
KPIs include:
Regarding audits, we track the number of valid audits and the amount completed during the calendar year. We aim to continuously improve supplier sustainability performance and promote a culture of responsible business practices throughout our supply chain.
Read more about TfS on page 45 in our 2023 Sustainability Report.
Addressing Scope 3 Emissions Through Supplier Engagement
Complimentary to our work through the TfS initiative to enhance the sharing of PCF, we assessed the emissions of our value chain as accurately as possible to take tangible and effective actions toward reducing our global Scope 3 carbon footprint now and in the years to come.
Accordingly, in 2023, we’ve invested significant efforts toward baselining the emissions related to the raw materials used at our facilities. Evidently, we cannot deliver on these commitments without the contributions of our key partners.
This is why we’ve engaged with our key suppliers to:
Addressing Scope 2 Emissions Through Fossil-Free Electricity Purchases At Our Scandinavian Plants
Working toward our 2030 goals on Scope 2 GHG intensity reduction, Kraton started to take tangible actions toward reducing our Scope 2 emissions through the purchase of fossil-free energy for our Scandinavian plants, making our Sandarne and Oulu plants 100% and 98% fossil-free respectively from 2023 onward. This procurement action led to a total estimated reduction of our Scope 2 CO2 footprint of 18,000 tonnes of CO2 equivalent for 2023 in comparison to 2022.
We are currently exploring several procurement opportunities to reduce our global Scope 2 footprint, with promising outcomes expected in the near future.
Read more about Addressing Emissions through Procurement on page 48 in our 2023 Sustainability Report.
Kraton is honored to receive the prestigious 2023 Henkel Adhesives Technologies Sustainability Award and recognized as runner-up for the Operational Excellence Award, a testament of our strong commitment to sustainability for our customers. Kraton continues to support Henkel in the move to improve the sustainability performance of the product portfolio in the packaging and consumer goods business area, enabling Henkel to develop a more sustainable portfolio and reduce their carbon footprint. Henkel’s Supplier Awards are reserved for their top strategic partners globally, recognizing best-in-class performance.