Creating possibilities for a sustainable world

At Oil Additives, sustainability is the central theme of our purpose – Creating possibilities for a sustainable world.

We are taking action as a partner to our customers to drive growth of sustainable lubricants.

We will reduce our specific product carbon footprint 30% by 2025.

We perform portfolio sustainability assessments, quantified by life cycle analyses, to further drive a sustainable product portfolio development, also engaging our customers in product portfolio reviews.

• Phase 1: Electrical emission reduction (2020) - Switch to green electricity in Darmstadt/Weiterstadt (hydropower Rheinfelden + biogas), Houston, Morrisburg, and Singapore (renewable energy certificates).
• Phase 2: Further efficiency measures and shift to electrical heating (2021-25).
• Phase 3: Evaluation and application of long-term plans further reducing carbon emissions after 2025, e.g. through switch to biogas.

According to the United Nations Department of Economic and Social Affairs, “The 2030 Agenda for Sustainable Development, adopted by all United Nations Member States in 2015, provides a shared blueprint for peace and prosperity for people and the planet, now and into the future. At its heart are the 17 Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs), which are an urgent call for action by all countries - developed and developing - in a global partnership. They recognize that ending poverty and other deprivations must go hand-in-hand with strategies that improve health and education, reduce inequality, and spur economic growth – all while tackling climate change and working to preserve our oceans and forests.”

At Oil Additives, our sustainability strategy supports the following goals:

• Goal 9 – Industry, Innovation and Infrastructure: Build resilient infrastructure, promote inclusive and sustainable industrialization and foster innovation.
• Goal 12 – Responsible Consumption and Production: Ensure sustainable consumption and production patterns.
• Goal 13 – Climate Action: Take urgent action to combat climate change and its impact.
• Goal 17 – Partnerships For The Goals: Strengthen the means of implementation and revitalize the global partnership for sustainable development.

While all emissions cannot be avoided, Oil Additives has invested in climate protection projects that hold the internationally recognized certification of the Gold Standard.

The compensation projects that Oil Additives is involved in are located in each region where we have production sites - Americas, Europe and Asia Pacific - and are focused on wind energy. This creates a strong tie to one of the application areas of our products, providing clean energy via windmill farms. 

Clean electricity through wind energy from the Marmara region

Promoting clean wind energy in Chile

Wind power project in in Beluguppa, Andhra Pradesh

Consequently, we’re making a significant effort to implement and improve sustainability standards along the supply chain of renewable feedstocks. At Evonik Industries, we’ve already established clear procurement strategies and risk management systems for our critical raw materials, such as conflict minerals, and renewable raw materials, such as palm oil. At Oil Additives, we`ve therefore defined Responsible Sourcing Criteria for supply chains fall the way to the plantation level. We carry out ongoing supplier evaluations and promote those suppliers who best meet our targets of responsible sourcing, traceability and ecological compliance. These include:

• Traceability of palm oil derivatives to plantations or mills.Compliance with the laws of the country of operation. Suppliers must confirm their legal compliance long the supply chain with a focus on anti-corruption and land-tenure rights.
• Expanding palm plantations must ensure conservation and restoration of High Conservation- and Carbon Stock areas and peatlands.
• Renouncement to peat clearance for new plantations and the adoption of a responsible maintenance system of peatland in existing plantations.
• Compliance and informed consent from indigenous peoples and local communities regarding new plantations, focusing on land-grabbing procedures and ILO rights of workers.
• Suppliers of palm-based products must either be a member of the RSPO or comply with the sourcing rules set by the RSPO (RSPO principles & criteria 2018) and validated by external partners.

In addition to these supply chain criteria, we’ve also adopted the following self-imposed commitments:

• To improve the social and educational level of small-holders and make a positive contribution to the livelihood of underprivileged people associated with palm oil production.
• To economically integrate indigenous peoples and communities.
• To improve processes and feedstock efficiency.
• To implement innovative forest and peatland management systems.

And by 2025, we want to be exclusively using traceable and sustainable edible oil esters and primary derivatives of palm oil.

We know the challenges of responsible sourcing, but meeting these challenges is not something we can achieve on our own. It’s yet another reason why we joined the Action for Sustainable Derivatives (ASD) as founding member within Transitions and BSR.

Because for us, transparency is the major component for responsible sourcing. And it is only when we have completely achieved this, that ecological and social efforts will be able to go hand in hand into the future.

Denis Sepoetro, the Sustainability Manager at Oil Additives focuses on the implementation of the Oil Additives sustainability strategy, including identifying long-term sustainability goals. He is further developing and enhancing the strategy, ensuring we are positioned as a key partner to our customers in their own sustainability journey.

Denis studied mechanical engineering with a specialization in renewable energy at RWTH Aachen University. He started at Evonik in the Life Cycle Management team within the Technology and Infrastructure process technology department in October 2017. Since then, he has helped business lines as well as functions across Evonik to anchor sustainability in their businesses. Projects varied from conducting life cycle assessments (LCA) to consulting on how sustainability can be integrated in strategies and customer relationships.

Evonik sees responsibility and long-term business success as two sides of the same coin. Sustainability has long been a growth driver in many of its businesses. Being a leader in technology enables Evonik to offer customers a wide range of solutions that contribute to efficient use of resources and reduce their impact on the environment. In 2022, Evonik embarked on the next phase of its strategic business transformation. As part of Next Generation Evonik, sustainability is becoming an integral element of important core processes such as portfolio and innovation management, production and technology, and human resources work. Discover our sustainability topics in the current Sustainability Report on the Evonik corporate homepage.