Clariter
• Clariter is an international cleantech group that upcycles plastic waste into sustainable products • Founded 19 years ago in Poland. • Implanted on 4 continents, including a Research & Development Plant in Poland and an industrial-scale plant in South Africa. • Clariter continuously improves its patented process, with over 40 million Euros invested in research and development since 2003, and a R&D facility in Gliwice, Poland. • Clariter is continuously growing, and plans to build 2 news European plants in the 5 coming years in. One of them, which will be located in the Netherlands, will be able to output 50 kt of products per year. Another will be located in Poland. • One of the main advantages of Clariter’s product is their environmental footprint. According to a Life Cycle Analysis carried by CE Delft, the environmental footprint of Clariter’s products is far less compared to fossil-based products.
ID: 869073848440-94
Lobbying Activity
Response to Ecodesign for Sustainable Products - Product priorities
12 May 2023
This public consultation aims at identifying ESPRs priority product groups. Considering its volume of sales, and its impact on the environment, we believe that chemicals shall be part of the product groups regulated first. The chemical sector is the fourth largest industry in the European Union, accounting for 7% of manufacturing output by turnover. The European Union sector therefore represents the second largest producer of chemical products in the world, with EU 499 billion in sales in 2020 . But the European Chemical sector is also the third biggest Green House Gas emitter in Europe, behind steel and cement, with 925 Mt of CO2 emitted in 2021 . The chemical sectors emissions can be explained by the use of half of its energy input as a feedstock: for the chemical industry, fossil fuels are also a raw material. In 2020, 14% of the final oil consumption in the EU was used to produce petrochemicals . And without regulation, it might keep growing. According to the International Energy Agency, the demand for oil from the chemical industry will increase in the coming years, as the petrochemical sector became the largest driver of increased global oil demand. It is predicted to be responsible for over a third of the growth in oil demand by 2030 and nearly a half by 2050, ahead of industrial road transportation, aviation and shipping . To defossilise its industry, the chemical sector needs to phase out the use of fossil carbon and replace them with carbon coming from sustainable non-fossil sources. The substitution of virgin fossil carbon is also important in the context of the REPowerEU, which highlighted the need to reduce the import of fossil fuels from third countries. Recently, this requirement was clearly identified in the Transition Pathway for the Chemical Industry , a landmark document mapping tools, technologies and policies needed to help the European chemical sector to deliver its green transition. In this document, issued by the European Commission, the chemical industry identified inorganic waste, biomass and CO2 as alternative feedstock for carbon. Despite this established fact, the European Union still lacks clear targets concerning the use of alternative feedstock, especially on minimum recycled content. In 2021, the European Commission issued the Sustainable Carbon Cycles Communication, containing an aspirational target that by 2030, 20% of the carbon used in plastic and chemical products shall come from sustainable non-fossil sources of carbon. It his own-initiative report on the Sustainable Carbon Cycles , dating from March 2023, MEP Alexander Bernhuber is welcoming initiative aiming to phase out fossil carbon, and call on the 20% target to also apply to imported plastic and chemical products. However, this target is not legally binding, and there is no indication of future mandatory targets coming from the European Commission. The inclusion of minimum recycled content in chemical products would have little effect on the affordability of the chemical products in the long term. Considering that fuel is used both as a source of energy and as a feedstock for the chemical industry, the price of fuels is driving the price for chemical products. This is particularly true for oil, having a price subject to high volatility. On the other hand, the price of European plastic waste has been relatively stable in the past years, which makes it an economically viable alternative to fossil carbon. Phasing out the use of fossil carbon to introduce recycled content would therefore stabilise chemical products prices. Considering their volume of sales, their impact on the environment, and the lack of regulation on sustainability in the EU, Clariter encourages the European Commission to set eco-design requirements on the sources of carbon used in chemical products. This shall have a benefic impact on their price in the long term, without hindering their affordability.
Read full responseResponse to Initiative on EU taxonomy - environmental objective
3 May 2023
The EU taxonomy is a vital opportunity to increase the sustainability of the chemical sector, which must defossilise for Europe to meet its climate objectives, as set out in the Transition Pathway for the Chemical Industry. The European chemical sector is the largest chemical producer in the world, accounting for 7 % of manufacturing output by turnover and 499 bn EUR in sales in 2020. However, the chemical industry is also the third biggest emitter of GHG in Europe, with 925 Mt of CO2 emitted in 2021. The chemical sectors emissions can be explained by the use of half of its energy input as a feedstock: for producers, fossil fuels are also raw materials. In 2020, 14 % of the final oil consumption in the EU was used to produce petrochemicals. According to the IEA, the petrochemical sector became the largest driver of increased global oil demand, and is predicted to be responsible for over a third of the growth in oil demand by 2030 and nearly a half by 2050. To defossilise its industry, the chemical sector needs to phase out the use of fossil carbon and replace them with carbon coming from sustainable non-fossil sources. The substitution of virgin fossil carbon is crucial in the context of the REPowerEU and open strategic autonomy, as clearly identified in the Transition Pathway for the Chemical Industry, a landmark document mapping the tools and policies needed to help the European chemical sector to deliver its twin transition. In this document, issued by the European Commission, stakeholders identified inorganic waste, biomass and CO2 obtained via carbon capture as alternative feedstock for carbon. The EU Taxonomy for Sustainable Activities can enable the channeling of funding to new innovative clean technologies supporting the substitution of virgin fossil carbon. Clariter, international cleantech company founded in Poland, replaces through its unique and highly innovative technology virgin fossil carbon with sustainable carbon recycled from waste to produce high quality, high purity products such as waxes, oils, and solvents used across industries. The waste Clariter recycles to obtain this sustainable carbon is a broad range of plastic waste, including hard-to-recycle plastics. For this reason, we support the Europen Commission including the production of chemicals in the economic activities covered by the taxonomy delegated act, as supported by the Platform on Sustainable Finance. In addition to the technical screening criteria the platform identified, we recommend the inclusion of additional criteria, focused on the feedstock used to produce the chemical. We call on the European Commission to include the target that 20% of the carbon used in the chemical produced should come from sustainable carbon sources, as committed to in the Sustainable Carbon Cycle communication. This would also deliver consistency and coherence, and a clear signal for investors. Clariter supports the mass balance method, a widely used chain of custody model, to assess the achievement of the target. Biomass, plastic waste, and carbon obtained via carbon dioxide removal should be considered as sustainable, as identified in the Transition Pathway for the Chemical Industry. For Europe to meet its Green Deal ambitions it is vital that clean technologies are scaled up. Today there are innovative chemical recycling processes that upcycle waste into valuable products - in the case of Clariter we upcycle hard-to-recycle plastics into chemical products used along many value-chains. The EU taxonomy should support such recycling processes. To achieve this, we call on the European Commission, in Annex II point 2.7. concerning Sorting and material recovery of non-hazardous waste, to include chemical transformation processes, as a complementary solution to mechanical transformation processes. This would help address the issue of plastic waste that cannot be and/or is not mechanically recycled, and which instead are still sent to landfill and inc
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