According to the company’s website press release on February 16, 2023, Sumitomo Chemical obtained its first ISCC PLUS certification*1 for acrylonitrile produced at its Ehime Works (Niihama, Ehime, Japan) from the International Sustainability and Carbon Certification (ISCC), an international certification system for sustainable products.
Acrylonitrile is used in a wide range of products, including synthetic fibers such as acrylic fiber, synthetic resins such as acrylonitrile butadiene styrene (ABS) resin, paper strength enhancers, and polymer flocculants. Businesses are called on to shift their raw materials away from fossil resources in order to achieve a sustainable society, and as part of its efforts to address the need, Sumitomo Chemical has been applying for ISCC PLUS certification for its products made from biomass and recycled raw materials. The acrylonitrile has become the Company’s first ISCC PLUS certified product.
The acrylonitrile can be sold by applying the mass balance approach*2 because the certification, which covers the entire supply chain, from manufacturing to distribution, provides assurance that it uses a sustainable raw material. Sumitomo Chemical will offer to customers products that are certified as sustainable, with the aim of contributing to the reduction of greenhouse gas emissions across society.
Sumitomo Chemical has identified the mitigation of environmental impact as one of its material issues to be addressed as management priorities. The Sumitomo Chemical Group will continue to work to obtain ISCC PLUS certifications and strive together with various stakeholders to achieve a sustainable society.
*1 An international certification system to certify and manage across the supply chain sustainable products derived from biomass and recycled raw materials. Under the ISCC PLUS certification, the mass balance approach can be used.
*2 In the mass balance approach, when a product is manufactured using a raw material with a certain characteristic (such as a biomass raw material and a recycled raw material) and a raw material without it, that characteristic can be allocated to a part of the output of the product based on the proportion of the raw material with that characteristic used in the manufacturing process.
