Sustainability Focus Areas

Introduction

The evolution of industry is having a major impact on the natural greenhouse effect. Over the last century, the burning of fossil fuels, such as coal and oil, has increased the concentration of atmospheric greenhouse gases (GHG). The clearing of land for agriculture, industry and other human activities has also contributed to that increase. These changes to the atmospheric GHG composition are having major effects on the environment and society. Most importantly, our planet will become warmer, more evaporation and precipitation will occur, while the sea level will rise.

The COP 21 Paris Agreement calls on all countries to keep the global temperature increase to well below 2°C and to pursue efforts to limit the increase to 1.5°C above preindustrial levels. At COP 26, which took place in 2021, countries made collective commitments to curb methane emissions, to halt and reverse forest loss, align the finance sector with net zero by 2050, accelerate the phase-out of coal and end international financing for fossil fuels.

As one of the largest and most diversified industries in Europe, and as a significant emitter of GHGs, the chemical industry plays an important role in helping to achieve long-term GHG emission reductions in a European and global context. To understand a company’s impact on climate change, an emissions inventory or corporate carbon footprint can be calculated. The Greenhouse Gas Protocol, which is a globally accepted methodology for calculating GHG emissions, divides corporate emissions into three distinct scopes:

• Scope 1: direct emissions that occur at the source and are controlled by the reporting company
• Scope 2: emissions stemming from the generation of energy purchased by the company
• Scope 3: all other indirect emissions occurring in a company’s value chain

This framework guides Borealis, and many other companies, in pursuing climate targets in a meaningful way.

Governance

In 2022, Borealis established a Climate Strategy Coordination team to drive its transformation to a net-zero business. The team is led by the Director Sustainability and Public Affairs, with the CEO as sponsor and the Executive Board as its Steering Committee. As sustainability is a core part of the Group Strategy, the topic is integrated into almost all areas of the organisation. The team is therefore crossfunctional and brings together expertise and initiatives from throughout the Group in a focused way. The team is structured according to Borealis’ emissions inventory and hotspots identified in the Group’s Scope 1, 2 and 3 emissions, ensuring that the people responsible for these areas are connected and can drive change in a harmonised way, to maximise the impact for the Group. This approach also fosters transparency and ownership, to enable Borealis to effectively execute its climate strategy.

The Climate Strategy Coordination team reports progress to the Responsible Care Committee and the Energy & CO₂ Committee. Within Fertilizers, Melamine and TEN, energy and GHG emissions are governed by the Energy & CO₂ Committee, which is headed by the business’s CEO. To align the energy management system across the business, Fertilizers, Melamine and TEN has an energy management team with a presence in each location. The Energy & Plant Optimisation Team is working to identify the business’s full GHG reduction potential and create a roadmap to achieve it. The roadmap is part of the top ten priorities in the business’s 2025 strategy and is overseen by its management team.

Borealis’ Climate Strategy

PO and HC&E

Climate change mitigation and economic success must go hand in hand, to ensure that the innovations needed for global climate protection continue to be developed. Whilst it is essential for the Group to reduce emissions in its operations, Borealis is also contributing to avoiding and reducing value chain emissions, during the life cycle of its products.

Borealis is fully committed to reducing the carbon footprint of its operations and to achieving net-zero operations by 2050 or sooner. In 2022, Borealis launched its Group Strategy 2030, which stated its ambition to:

• reduce total Scope 1 and 2 emissions to 2.6 million tonnes by 2025 and to less than 2 million tonnes by 2030; and
• source 40% of electricity from renewable sources by 2025 and 100% by 2030.

The Scope 1 and 2 emissions target corresponds to a reduction of 50% in 2025 and 60% in 2030, against its base year emissions (2019), with the reduction including the divestment of Fertilizers, Melamine and TEN. The Group has identified its preferred technologies for mitigating Scope 1 and 2 emissions in the period to 2030, with the selection based on the required product quality, the supply of feedstock, market demand and economic and technological feasibility. Depending on the location, market, the availability of end-of-life products and the legislative framework, the options may include feedstock derived from biogenic, mechanically or chemically recycled plastics and capturing CO₂.

A real step change in Scope 3 emissions can only be achieved through co-operation across the whole value chain and therefore Borealis is working with its value chain partners towards this goal.

Increasing Renewable Electricity for PO and HC&E operations

The 2030 renewable energy goal is an important part of the journey towards climate neutrality by 2050 or sooner. To achieve the goal, Borealis will use a combination of on-site investments, where possible, and long-term contracts known as power purchase agreements (PPAs). The projects targeted are as close as possible to the Borealis locations where the power is consumed. Borealis believes that more renewable power will be needed if industries such as petrochemicals are to electrify further.

Driving Energy Efficiency

Energy consumption accounts for a significant proportion of Borealis’ total production costs. Borealis’ current ambition is to implement energy efficiency improvements equal to 20% of the absolute primary energy consumption in 2015, by 2030. Borealis sees energy efficiency as a cornerstone of its climate ambition, in line with the energy efficiency first principle, which is a priority for the EU and is supported by EU Commission recommendation (EU) 2021/1749.

Actions to improve energy efficiency fall into one of three levels, known as levers, for increasing optimisation. The three levels of actions are as follows:

• Lever 1: As a first step, Borealis is implementing tools to run its plants as optimally as possible, such as introducing an Energy Trendboard, which helps operators to continuously focus on energy consumption.
• Lever 2: Running plants most effectively requires continual optimisation of plant design and control, and the implementation of improvement projects to remove potential barriers to optimisation.
• Lever 3: Another way to increase energy efficiency is to implement new technologies during periodic production line revamps and to seek energy integration through industrial clusters.

The base for any energy efficiency improvement is to implement and comply with ISO 50001, combined with continuous leadership engagement from key teams. Borealis’ initiatives include energy teams at each production location that drive the location’s energy planning process, increase awareness, act as a forum for energy issues and ensure ISO 50001 compliance. To progress beyond this baseline, all Borealis locations run energy screening programmes every four years, often with third-party support, to evaluate their energy performance and identify improvement opportunities.

To identify ways to improve energy efficiency, Borealis builds on the outcome of the energy assessments, focusing on the impact of energy and CO₂ prices. Subsequent actions are prioritised based on their benefit to the planet, in the form of environmental benefits, people (for example, through improved working conditions) and profit (such as the ability to generate cost savings). The prioritisation is also based on factors such as a risk and opportunity assessment, including social, environmental and economic aspects, total cost of ownership, internal rate of return and organisational capacity.

Due to the divestment of Fertilizers, Melamine and TEN and the ambition to have 100% renewable power by 2030, Borealis is investigating how to revise the Group’s current overall energy ambition, to ensure it is in line with Borealis’ renewable energy and climate ambitions. A Group-wide energy assessment is ongoing to provide insights for this exercise.

Driving Transformation Towards a Circular Economy

To achieve its climate ambition, Borealis is also increasing its capacities for circular economy solutions, gradually introducing renewable and recycled feedstock for its own production.

Sustainable Polyolefin Products and Solutions

Borealis also plays a role in solving society’s climate challenges, by providing sustainable polyolefin solutions. For example:

• Society’s conversion to renewable power needs a high level of interconnectivity in the electricity grid over longer distances. Borealis’ Borlink™ technology ensures reliable power transportation from wind and other renewable energy sources k chapter Innovation.
• Borealis also enables the transportation of renewable energy by providing a high-voltage direct current (HVDC) cable compound based on its Borlink technology, which is being used in cross-linked polyethylene (XLPE) power cables that qualified for the tender for the “German Corridor projects”.
• Borealis’ advanced photovoltaic films (Quentys™) optimise the production of renewable solar energy.
• Plastics are raw materials for efficient electric vehicle system components and reduce emissions in transportation by enabling lightweight components for vehicles.

Fertilizers, Melamine and TEN

Fertilizers, Melamine and TEN is committed to Borealis’ goals for climate neutrality by 2050. For example, the business is:

• implementing roadmaps to reduce GHG emissions;
• investing to improve energy efficiency, under the current capital expenditure framework;
• pursuing cross-industry partnerships for breakthrough decarbonisation projects that are part of EU funding schedules, such as the IPCEI (Important Projects of Common European Interest) on hydrogen, for the locations in Linz (Austria) and Ottmarsheim (France);
• conducting a study of carbon capture and storage, with other companies, to decarbonise hydrogen for ammonia; and
• developing digital tools to support end users’ needsbased and precise application of products, thereby making more efficient use of resources.

Measurement and Calculation of Borealis’ Carbon Footprint

Borealis calculates its corporate carbon footprint following the GHG Protocol and includes EU ETS emissions. Borealis uses a broad range of emission factors, which are a means to calculate the GHG emissions for a given source. Each EU member state has its own emission factors, so natural gas use in Austria, for example, would have the specific Austrian emission factor applied to it. Other emission factors are standard factors from scientific literature or inventories or are measured by a certified laboratory. All EU ETS emission factors are permitted and approved by the relevant authorities. The Group reports:

• the previous year’s Scope 1 and 2 location-based emissions;
• Scope 2 market-based emissions prior to that; and
• Scope 3 emissions for the year prior to that.

Borealis uses 2019 as the base year for its GHG targets. This will be adapted when needed, according to the GHG Protocol accounting rules. As a result of OMV’s 75% ownership of Borealis, the Group’s emissions are also included in the OMV Group emissions inventory and base year emissions. Any decision to shift the base year emissions will therefore be affected by the materiality of the change versus the OMV Group emissions. While under the Protocol accounting rules, the divestment of Fertilizers, Melamine and TEN should be seen as a base year adjustment, the operations and emissions will no longer be part of Borealis’ inventory. Borealis has 2019 as its base year for emissions because the majority of its assets were operating for the full year, pre-pandemic. It is also in line with the base year of OMV Group, which owns approximately 75% of Borealis. This base year is set for all scopes.

Borealis’ Scope 1 and 2 calculations include all companies where the Group owns more than 50% and has operational control. Emissions of companies not under operational control or with less than 50% ownership are included in Scope 3.15 (investments).

Borealis HC&E and PO GHG according to Greenhouse Gas Protocol for 2019–2021 ^{1) 2)}

1) At the time of publication of this report, no final data is available for Scope 2 market-based and Scope 3 emissions in 2022. The data includes the emissions of Rosier (Scope 1 = 14.6 kt CO2e, Scope 2 = 1.5 kt CO2e). // 2) Fertilizers, Melamine and TEN and Rosier excluded. Small shifts in emissions occured due to minor updates, corrections and final EU-ETS verifications by authorities of member states.

Performance 2022

Scope 1 and EU ETS

Scope 1 involves direct emissions from Borealis’ sites and includes internally generated power and steam (before furnaces) and flaring, which make up a large part of Borealis’ Scope 1 emissions. Borealis takes into account all greenhouse gases in the Scope 1 ¹⁾, calculation as defined in the GHG protocol ²⁾. Borealis does not report direct biogenic CO₂ emissions as they were negligible in 2022. Biomass in the feedstock is mostly allocated to the product using ISCC mass balancing.

In 2022, Borealis produced 1,346 ³⁾ kilotonnes of EU ETS CO₂ equivalent emissions. This is less than the 1,527 kilotonnes in 2021 due to reduced production as a result of COVID-19 and the energy crisis resulting from the war in Ukraine. For 2023, Borealis has set a target for the HC&E and PO divisions to emit no more than 1,436 kilotonnes of EU ETS CO₂ equivalent emissions.

Fertilizers, Melamine and TEN’s CO₂ equivalent emissions in 2022 decreased to 2,022 kilotonnes versus 2,325 kilotonnes in 2021, due to emission reduction projects and lower production.

^{1) Emissions of company cars are not reported for 2022. Borealis is assessing how to report them in future // 2) CO₂, N2O, SF6, HFC, PCF, CH4 // 3) 8.1 kilotonnes of CO₂e in 2022 from Rosier operation not included.}

Scope 2

Scope 2 emissions involve indirect CO₂ equivalent emissions caused by Borealis’ consumption of externally generated electricity, external steam and energy that the Group purchases and brings into its facilities from other sources. It is expressed as market-based or location-based emissions, as defined in the Greenhouse Gas Protocol.

Borealis’ main sources of energy are electricity, heat (primarily from steam), natural gas and fuel gas. Borealis documents, tracks and follows up on all sources of energy each month, for every location.

Data on all of Borealis’ energy consumption is collected as it is metered, then converted to the equivalent in primary energy using the Group’s environmental data management tool. This allows Borealis to summarise different energy sources using one consumption figure, enabling comparability across plants and production lines. Borealis aims in the future to track energy consumption and the realised energy improvement projects both on primary and final energy, which is the actual energy consumed. Ensuring transparency helps the Group to identify energy improvement opportunities that are in line with its climate strategy, which is essential for continuous reduction of emissions. Some emissions from energy (Scope 2 – market-based) can only be estimated when data from suppliers are final, at the end of Q1 of the following year. Borealis therefore finalises its corporate carbon footprint for the previous year, by the end of June. ETS emissions are subject to external verification by EU member states.

Scope 2 emissions (location-based) for HC&E and PO in 2022 were 563 kilotonnes, which is 4.57% less than in 2021. Scope 2 (market-based) emissions in 2021 were 799 kilotonnes CO₂, which was more than the 767 kilotonnes in 2020. Some of the increase in 2021 compared to 2020 was due to changes in the residual power emission factors in some member states and sourcing of power from waste incineration, despite the increased sourcing of renewable energy (21.4% in 2021 versus 10.5% in 2020). In 2022, HC&E and PO sourced approximately 28.0% of renewable power.

In 2022, Borealis’ total energy consumption was 21,364 GWh Prim, compared to 21,730 GWh Prim in 2021, of which 14,923 GWh Prim was for PO and HC&E ¹⁾ and 6,441 GWh Prim for Fertilizers, Melamine and TEN.

This represents a decrease of 1,221 GWh prim for PO and HC&E ²⁾ due to reduced operations as a result of the energy crisis and an increase of 855 GWh prim for Fertilizers, Melamine and TEN.

_{1) 2) Including Rosier}

Total energy consumption per source in 2022

1) Including Rosier

Total energy consumption per product group in 2022

In total, 251 GWh Prim of energy in the form of steam or heat were sold (61 GWh Prim for PO and HC&E, and 190 GWh Prim for Fertilizers, Melamine and TEN).

Energy efficiency improvement is expressed as the sum of the improvement measures of projects that are individually evaluated compared to business as usual. To evaluate the objective, this amount is divided by the absolute energy consumption in 2015 (24 TWh primary energy). Borealis has implemented projects that will achieve 10.35 % of the 20% reduction by 2030. Consequently, 1,916 GWh of primary energy savings were achieved by the end of 2022. The reduction in energy consumption to the end of 2021 included improvements achieved in the Fertilizers, Melamine and TEN division. From 2022, only the achievements of HC&E and PO are added to the total reduction in energy consumption and are divided by their baseline energy consumption. The reported achievement is then normalized to the original ambition.

Total fuel consumption per source in 2022

1) Including Rosier

Non-renewable resources ²⁾: The amount of commercial liquid fuels used is insignificant. Fuels and steam consumed are mainly used for processes. Data for cooling consumption are currently not available.

Renewable power sourcing ambition is expressed in % of the power used in the HC&E and PO businesses that is from renewable sources such as wind, solar, biomass or hydro and connected directly to Borealis’ internal grids or sourced on the European markets through power purchase agreements (PPAs), always covered by guarantees of origin. Borealis intends to reach 100% by 2030 and explores co-ownership of renewable power assets.

Final energy consumption of PO and HC&E ³⁾: 2,681 GWh electricity, 845 GWh steam, 6,826 GWh fuel gas and 456 GWh natural gas. Energy consumption is converted into primary energy as follows: fuels (including natural gas): 100% conversion to energy, factor 1; steam 90% boiler efficiency, factor 1.11; electricity: 40% efficiency, factor 2.5.

Final energy consumption of Fertilizers, Melamine and TEN: 660 GWh electricity, 6.4 GWh steam, 19.2 GWh fuel gas and 4,803 GWh natural gas. Energy consumption is converted into primary energy as follows: fuels (including natural gas): 100% conversion to energy, factor 1; steam 90% boiler efficiency, factor 1.11; electricity: 40% efficiency, factor 2.5.
_{2) 3) Including Rosier}

Polyolefins production energy intensity 2018–2022 ¹⁾

1) Polyolefin production intensity is referenced to sum of all assets producing plastics.

Hydrocarbons production energy intensity 2018–2022 ¹⁾

1) Hydrocarbon production intensity is referenced to the sum of production of ethylene, propylene and aromatics from all assets.

Fertilizers, Melamine and TEN production energy intensity 2018–2022

Scope 3

Scope 3 emissions include other indirect emissions in the value chain, both downstream and upstream. For Borealis, the following Scope 3 categories are material and therefore included in the calculation under the Greenhouse Gas Protocol:

• 1 Purchased goods and services
• 2 Capital goods
• 3 Fuel and energy-related activities not included in Scope 1 or 2
• 4 Upstream transportation and distribution
• 5 Waste generated in operations
• 10 Processing of sold products
• 11 Use of sold products
• 12 End-of-life treatment of sold products
• 15 Investments

Categories 6 to 9, 13 and 14 are not included in the calculation, as they are not material for Borealis.

As Borealis transitions to being climate neutral by 2050, circular and bio-based materials will be key levers to reduce GHG emissions. The Group has therefore opted to calculate Scope 3 category 12 (end-of-life treatment of sold products), based on the recycled and biogenic content of the products it produces. By taking this conservative and fully transparent approach, Borealis is assuming the burden of recycling and emissions in its own circular transition.

Borealis uses general mass and spend-based emissions factors to calculate Scope 3 emissions. In future reporting, the Group will strive to include supplier and customer-based emission factors, when they become available.

A major part of Borealis’ Scope 3 emissions falls into category 15 (investments). This includes the Group’s stake in Borouge, as a result of which 40% of Borouge’s Scope 1, 2 and 3 emissions are taken into account. Borouge’s Scope 3 emissions are extrapolated by using the same ratio of Scope 3 to the total of Scopes 1 and 2 as Borealis, while excluding category 15. A similar approach is taken for Borealis’ financial stake in Baystar™ (Texas, US).

Borealis Fertilizers, Melamine and TEN greenhouse gas emissions according to Greenhouse Gas Protocol for 2019–2021 ^{1) 2)}

1) At the time of publication of this report, no final data is available for Scope 2 market-based and Scope 3 emissions in 2021. Data excluding Rosier. // 2) In 2021 and 2020, double counting occurred in the area of sales of CO2 as a product to third parties. The emissions were included in both the Scope 1 ETS and Scope 3.11 use phase emissions. This was adjusted in this year's reporting period so that the emissions only occur in Scope 3.11 use phase. Scope 1 emissions over 2019 to 2021 corrected for double counting. Scope 3 emissions corrected over 2020 to 2021 due to double counting.

Reduction of GHG emissions ¹⁾

1) Reductions occured directly as a result of reduction initiatives. // 2) All Kyoto gases are included. Base year: 2019 (most representative year before COVID). Reductions took place in scope 1 and 2. Only marginal reductions in scope 3 by small amount of recycling and bio-based feedstock.

GHG emission intensity

1) Total production includes PO, HC&E, COM (compounding activities) and CES. Scope 1 and scope 2 (location-based) are included in the intensity ratio. All Kyoto gases are included. // 2) Total production includes Fertilizers, Melamine and TEN. Scope 1 and scope 2 (location-based) are included in the intensity ratio. All Kyoto gases are included.

Activities 2022

In 2022, Borealis continued its engagement in the following key strategic partnerships:

• Antwerp@C, a consortium with the Port of Antwerp (Belgium) and seven leading chemical and energy companies. The consortium is investigating the building of CO₂ infrastructure in the port, which is one of Europe’s larger integrated energy and chemicals clusters. This infrastructure could support carbon capture, utilization and storage (CCUS) applications and reduce the CO₂ emissions within the port by half between now and 2030.
• The Cracker of the Future Consortium, in conjunction with four petrochemical companies, which is investigating how to use renewable energy instead of fossil-based energy to operate steam crackers. These crackers are used to produce base chemicals that are primarily turned into plastics and they represent the industry’s principal opportunity for reducing GHG emissions. The companies have agreed to invest in R&D and knowledge sharing, as they assess the possibility of transitioning their base chemical production to renewable electricity.

In 2022, Borealis initiated a number of activities, including:

• Creating a team in HC&E to focus on the future footprint of the assets with the highest Scope 1 and 2 emissions. The team analyses and compares technical solutions to reduce the assets’ footprint and takes into account actions and innovations inside and outside the Group.
• Developing robust internal pricing for CO₂ emissions in PO and HC&E. Together with the regulatory and policy framework, this will enable sustainable investments and help make the transition to net zero possible.
• Extending the Group’s compliance with the energy management standard ISO 50001:2018. A series of internal audits was undertaken to prepare for certification of the energy management system.
• Improving the extruder in Burghausen (Germany), which has an expected saving of 8 GWh/year primary energy.
• Reducing natural gas consumption in the regenerative thermal oxidisers in Linz Polyolefins, which will have an expected primary energy saving of 4.3 GWh/year.
• Increasing the share of renewable energy consumed from 21.2% in 2021 to approximately 28% in 2022, as well as signing PPAs to lock in renewable energy supply for future years.
• Together with VERBUND, erecting a new photovoltaic park to supply power to Borealis’ operations in Schwechat, Austria. The construction phase began in May 2022 and was completed by the end of 2022. It is projected to reach around 4.7 megawatt-peak (MWp), with an annual energy yield of around 5.6 gigawatt hours (GWh). This is roughly comparable to the amount of energy consumed annually by 1,400 Austrian households.

Scope 3 reduction actions included:

• The carbon capture and utilisation (CCU) initiative “Carbon2ProductAustria” (C2PAT) is currently in the concept development phase for an industrial-scale installation. The overall aim is to produce high-quality products from “unavoidable” CO₂ emissions and green hydrogen. The project is planned to serve as a blueprint for other industries in the future, especially for the “hard-to-abate” sectors. It will contribute to Borealis’ circularity journey and is a next step towards more independence from fossil raw materials, by closing the carbon cycle. To implement C2PAT, Lafarge, Verbund, OMV and Borealis have joined forces to develop the project. This will be followed by modelling this new value creation cycle and, based on learning from this “virtual pilot” in relation to technology, the value creation cycle, market development and the legal framework, aims to enable large-scale installation before 2030.

Building Awareness and Partnering Across Industries to Foster Learning

Borealis takes part in a number of initiatives to raise awareness and foster learning, both within the Group and externally. These include:

• Participating in the Expert Advisory Group of the Science Based Targets initiative (SBTi), contributing to the development of science-based target methodologies for the chemicals sector, with decisions on the final methods being made by the SBTi. The methods developed in this project will be available at no cost to all stakeholders, with the aim of supporting alignment with the Paris Agreement.
• Launching a collaborative research and development programme to drive industry change in Finland.

The initiative, named “Sustainable Plastics Industry Transformation” or SPIRIT, aims to drive the transformation of the plastics industry in Finland through four main activities:

• replacing conventional fossil fuel-based feedstocks with renewably sourced ones;
• developing technologies and processes for the mechanical and chemical recycling of plastics;
• decarbonising production operations through electrification, as well as the use of hydrogen and renewable energy sources; and
• exploring enablers for the green transition, including design for recycling, standardisation, improved traceability and collection systems.

The project has received a commitment for funding from Business Finland and is leveraging the platform to accelerate learnings in the Finnish industry, in collaboration with other partners. Learnings are also shared within the Group, to maximise knowledge exchange.

• Co-funding a research project, FUTNERC, with the Swedish Energy Agency and Preem, which aims to accelerate the transformation of the chemical industry to achieve net-zero greenhouse gas emissions from refineries and chemical plants by 2050.
• Rolling out Group-wide awareness training to all employees on climate change and Borealis’ role. The Group held several workshops to communicate Borealis’ carbon footprint and inspire all employees to take action in their areas of responsibility.
• Launching “Neoni” at K-Fair 2022, which is a new CO₂e emissions calculator for Borealis products and is planned to be available for customers in Q1 2023.

Fertilizers, Melamine and TEN

• Fertilizers, Melamine and TEN and VERBUND have jointly installed a rooftop photovoltaic array at the Chemical Park, Linz. The array has a surface area of 4,794 square meters, making it one of the ten largest in the province of Upper Austria. The facility can produce around 1 megawatt-peak and supply around 1 GWh annually, roughly equivalent to the electricity consumption of 250 households. The solar power will enable Fertilizers, Melamine and TEN to reduce the annual CO₂ emissions of this location by 350 tonnes each year.
• Fertilizers, Melamine and TEN has begun a decarbonization project with VERBUND, which will use green hydrogen to produce fertilizers, melamine and technical nitrogen at Linz on an industrial scale and in a more sustainable way. Green hydrogen is the key to decarbonising industrial products and processes, particularly in areas that are difficult or impossible to electrify. The joint project is taking place within the IPCEI framework and entails the production of green hydrogen at an industrial electrolysis plant (60 MW) using electricity from renewable sources and deionised water. The oxygen generated by water splitting during the electrolysis process will be used directly in production. The electrolyser will also provide grid services for the transmission network. The electrolysis plant is scheduled to start operations in 2025, with projected annual CO₂ emissions reductions of up to 90,000 tonnes.

Outlook

Borealis’ energy and climate objectives for 2023 are to:

• establish a data management process for climate-related data and develop an integrated tool for CO₂ management, to actively manage the portfolio of emission-reduction projects;
• set up an accounting model based on a CO₂ budget for Scope 1 and 2;
• evaluate the feasibility of setting science-based targets;
• set up carbon management governance across the Group;
• limit ETS emissions to 1,436 kilotonnes of CO₂e (HC&E and PO);
• achieve energy performance of 3.984 MWh Prim Energy/ tonne in Hydrocarbons;
• achieve energy performance of 1.289 MWh Prim Energy/ tonne in Polyolefins; and
• investigate the current energy ambition, to ensure it is in line with the Group’s renewable energy and climate ambitions.