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Addressing Four Key Sustainability Endpoints

As part of a strategic review of our product portfolio, we identified the products that address four key sustainability drivers.

  • Products designed for use-phase efficiency, a concept defined by the Sustainability Accounting Standards Board (SASB) as products that "through their use—can be shown to improve energy efficiency, eliminate or lower greenhouse gas (GHG) emissions, reduce raw materials consumption, increase product longevity, and/or reduce water consumption,"  either through:
    • Improved products – by increasing the efficiency of a product during its use phase
    • Improved processes – by increasing the efficiency of the manufacturing process used to make a product
  • Stricter Environmental Standards – products that directly enable customers to meet environmental regulatory/legal requirements applicable to their products or manufacturing processes.
  • Reduced Consumption/Sustainable – products that enable customers to reformulate their products to avoid or reduce to de minimis levels substances of concern to their customers.

Together, the products in our portfolio that address these sustainability endpoints accounted for approximately $1.1 billion or 49 percent of total revenue in 2020.

 

​2020 SALES

​EXAMPLES OF GRACE PRODUCTS

Improving our customer's products 

​~$0.1B

- High-performing PP catalysts for lightweighting auto parts to improve fuel economy

- Custom single-site PE catalysts for downgauging packaging to reduce plastics requirements

- Silicas for tires to reduce rolling resistance and improve fuel economy

- Zeolites for dual pane windows to reduce energy use

​​Improving our customers' processes1

​~$0.4B2

- Advanced FCC catalysts to reduce raw material and energy requirements

- Advanced silica gel for filtration to reduce water use and waste

​Enabling our customers to meet stricter environmental standards 

​~$0.3B

- Hydroprocessing catalysts to meet cleaner fuels standards (e.g., IMO 2020)

- Additives to reduce SOx and NOx emissions from refinery operations

- Colloidal silicas for vehicle emission control devices

​​Enabling our customers to reformulate their products to meet consumer demand 

​~$0.1B

- Non-phthalate PP catalysts for safer packaging and household items

- Silicas for anti-corrosive coatings that are heavy-metal free

- Silicas for high performance paints with low-VOCs

Circular economy / Enabling material recycling and bio-feeds

​~$0.1B

- Refinery catalysts tailored to displacing crude with bio-based feedstocks

- Silicas to purify recycled biofeedstocks

- FCC catalyst sales where Grace recycles or enables recycling of spend catalysts

  ~$0.1B

​~49%2 2020 Sales directly contribute to sustainability objectives, compared to 34% in 2019

1. Represents revenues aligned to SASB Chemicals Sustainability Accounting Standards definition of products designed for use-phase resource efficiency, including improving energy efficiency, eliminating/lowering emissions, reducing raw materials consumption, increasing product longevity, and/or reducing water consumption.
2. Figure includes unconsolidated ART joint venture 

Product Development

Grace is investing heavily into products with at least one of these sustainability drivers. Over 300 employees conduct research at a dozen research and development centers globally. Roughly two-thirds of Grace research projects are focused on products that will deliver one of our sustainability drivers.  Over two-thirds of revenues expected from the commercialization of those projects have at least one of the above sustainability drivers, and many have strong sustainability value propositions.

With the oversight of the Grace Research Council, and guided by our PrISM process, we expect growth in many of these areas to outpace the growth in other product lines, and to prioritize our R&D resources accordingly. We are engaged in ongoing conversations with our customers to ensure we understand their sustainability needs and how they define value. The conversations occur at all levels of the business from front-line sales teams up through our business presidents and the Grace Leadership Team.

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