Management approach
Material topic: Air emissions
[GRI 3-3]
Actual and potential negative and positive impacts
Positive
- Further improvement and development of closed-loop processes and recovery technologies
- Showing leadership in pulp and fiber production with low environmental and social impacts
Negative
Own activities:
- Air emissions carry potential regulatory, technology, market and corporate reputational risks
- Air emissions can affect the health of employees and community residents as well as the surrounding environment
Business relationships:
- Air emissions can affect the health of employees and community residents as well as the surrounding environment
Policies and commitments
- “Naturally positive” sustainability strategy with “Sustainable innovations” focus area
- Sustainability targets for the Lenzing Group
- Group Policy for Safety, Health and Environment
- Lenzing Group ISO 14001:2015 certification
- Group Environmental Standard
- Global Code of Business Conduct
- Global Supplier Code of Conduct
- Higg FEM
Actions taken
- LURA III (air cleaning system) started operations as part of viscose modal production at Lenzing
- Lenzing contributing to leading multi-stakeholder initiatives (ZDHC, SAC, etc.)
- Continuous improvement activities to further reduce air emissions
- Environmental management system based on ISO 14001:2015 (including risk assessment and internal audits to ensure effectiveness of the measures implemented)
- Regular Global QESH meetings with management review
Sustainability targets, measures and progress
For more information, please see the “Sustainability targets, measures and progress” chapter.
Responsible
- CEO
- Site managers
Supporting
- Global QESH
- Performance.Improvement.Technology
[GRI 305-7; ESRS E2-4, E2-5]
Reduction of sulfur emissions
Sulfur and sulfur compounds are indispensable for the standard viscose fiber manufacturing process. Lenzing has dramatically reduced sulfur emissions over the decades by increasing cycles and recovery systems. Although all of the Lenzing Group’s viscose fiber production sites (Lenzing, Austria; Nanjing, China; and Purwakarta, Indonesia) are equipped with waste gas purification and recovery technologies, some carbon disulfide (CS2), hydrogen sulfide (H2S), and sulfur dioxide (SO2) is emitted from the process itself and from on-site energy production. The planned second carbon absorption plant (CAP) project in Indonesia is on schedule. It will be essential for reducing specific sulfur emissions by 50 percent by 2023 (sustainability target 1).
In 2022, the absolute and specific air emissions reduced slightly compared to 2021 due to lower production level. CS2 emissions have fallen at the Austrian site in Lenzing due to the new emission treatment system that went into operation at the beginning of 2021 (table “Absolute emissions to air”).
Lyocell fiber production generates only trace emissions since NMMO, an organic solvent, remains in the water/solvent cycle throughout the entire process and is recovered at a rate of more than 99.8 percent. For more information about important steps taken in 2022, please see the “Sustainability targets, measures and progress” chapter.
|
2014 |
2020 |
2021 |
2022 |
||||
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
Sulfur emissions (t) (CS2, H2S emissions expressed as sulfur) |
34,787 |
19,187 |
25,969 |
21,449 |
||||
SO2 emissions (t) |
3,908 |
2,135 |
2,603 |
2,419 |
||||
NOx emissions (t)b |
|
587 |
1,321 |
946 |
||||
|
||||||||
|
2014 |
2020 |
2021 |
2022 |
|---|---|---|---|---|
Sulfur emissions |
100 % |
60.90 % |
73.80 % |
67.10 % |
SO2 emissions |
100 % |
60.30 % |
65.90 % |
67.40 % |
For more information about other waste streams besides waste water and air emissions, please see the “Waste management” chapter.