A polymer is basically a long chain of repeating building blocks,
and we find them in nature, like cellulose that makes up trees
or they can be man-made, in which case we call them plastics.
Depending on the type of building block you can get
thousands of different materials.
From very rigid ones to flexible ones;
coloured ones or transparent ones.
For example, your phone, your computer, your running shoes
or your raincoats all contain polymers,
and would not work otherwise.
We are convinced that today's world needs polymers,
the question is how to make them in a sustainable manner.
We also see large consumer brands making very bold claims
and so that puts a real challenge to their suppliers
to come up with solutions that have the same performance
or better performance than the solutions today,
but that are also sustainable.
Arkema is a global specialty materials company.
With twenty-thousand people in fifty-five countries,
with a turnover above eight-billion Euros.
The core activity of Arkema is to develop innovative,
high performance, sustainable solutions across three platforms.
Adhesives, coating solutions and advanced materials.
On the roads you will find various applications of Arkema's know how.
For example, in electrical vehicles,
where our materials help boost battery performance.
enhance safety, and extend lifetime.
An entirely different example is running shoes,
where our materials help athletes break new records
while also preventing injuries.
Polymers today are still mostly oil based,
which is a finite resource and has its problems, as you know.
To really make polymers sustainable, we need
to work on three fronts.
The first one is to reduce our use of single-use plastics;
the second one is to adopt more widely
polymers based on bio-based renewable feedstock;
and the third one is really to increase the
degree of recycling of these polymers when they reach their end of life.
On a corporate level, we're also reviewing
our entire portfolio in terms of sustainability
to guide our strategic decisions.
On top of that, we have made a few bold commitments
in terms of CSR, for example reducing carbon emissions by
thirty-eight percent by 2030, compared to 2015
and this while we continue to increase our business.
Polymide 11 is a polymer that's one-hundred percent bio-based
derived from castor beans.
And, what's unique about this polymer
compared to some other bio-based polymers is really three things.
First of all it's an advanced material with really high performances,
secondly it's fully bio-based, and thirdly it's fully recyclable.
And so it's a comination of these three things that makes
it unique, and it's what we call ABC materials,
or Advanced Bio Circular materials.
Polyamide 11 was invented roughly after World War Two.
The first pilot for production was built here in Serquigny in 1949.
Here today it is still a very special material for Arkema,
and we are the only ones in the world to produce it.
Arkema's future today is an exciting one, because we are
right in the middle of the action.
Today, many of today's challenges require new, sustainable materials,
and we want to be there to be part of the solution.
Arkema is trying to co-innovate with customers,
we are not doing innovation alone.
We are co-innovating with our customers and their partners.
Scarpa is using the Polyamide 11
and especially our elastomer, the Pebax Rnew
in their ski boots, to help the alpinists
to work with reliable shoes in extreme conditions.
These materials have very good cold impact resistance,
and it's much lighter compared to other materials,
and of course it's sustainable.
Yes, I think it's a long story with Arkema because we
started to use PA11, a one-hundred percent bio-based
material in 2007, I think we were one of the first companies
to use this raw material.
From the very beginning, we found the interest of this
raw material because it's bio-based for sure, but
the mechanical characteristics are very high,
it's very strong and it's not breakable.
Because the challenge is so large we are convinced
we need to collaborate.
We want to show the way by developing materials,
sustainable materials, and putting them out there.
But also on a practical level, we need to
everyday set up partnerships to make it possible.
The Pragati project was started in 2016,
with a few partners; BASF, Jayant Agro Organics
and Solidaridad.
It's a project in which we work directly with farmers
and their communities to improve agricultural practices
and their living standards.
It's a project that's audited every year,
by an external auditor, and the results have simply been amazing.
We see that in the last four years,
yields have improved by fifty percent,
water usage has decreaded by twenty-five percent,
and more than five-thousand farmers have
been certified with the program.
After joining the Pragati programme, I have received alot of useful
information on farming so my family and I are happy.
Both my family and I enjoy farming and working on the fields too.
Due to the Pragati programme, I have reduced the use of fertilizers
and pesticides and I've been efficiently using water.
This has enabled me to admit my child into a respectable school and educate him.
We know that many chemical companies have put
sustainability at the heart of their strategy.
But we believe that for it to really have impact we need
to come up with practical solutions,
put them out there in the marketplace, and also
make the neccessary investments so that these solutions are
available on a wide scale.
Additionally, we think it's important to continue to invest,
and next year we plan to open up what will be
the largest bio-based factory in the world,
to make our advanced materials.
This is really a sign that we believe in this product,
that we believe in this path,
and in this way we hope to inspire others.
The world is changing today,
and you cannot just content yourself polishing the stone.
You need to move to react, but not only that.
You need also to be ahead of the game,
and Arkema really are the talents, the technology,
the geographical footprint.
And not only be a leader, but a reference
in the world of global specialty materials.