Sustainability Report: Taking Climate Action & Navigating the Net Zero Transition

In this episode of the LyondellBasell podcast series, we delve into the 2023 Sustainability Report titled Everyday Sustainability. Our guest, Chris Cain, Senior Vice President of Net Zero Transition Strategy at LYB, shares his insights on the company's climate action initiatives with podcast host Deepi Sidhu, LYB Content & Social Media Manager, Sustainability & Corporate Affairs. 

Chris discusses the importance of sustainability in the energy transition and the nuances of implementing emission reduction strategies in manufacturing. He also provides a personal glimpse into his life, including the balance of living between Houston and the Netherlands, and the diverse opportunities each location offers.

Tune in to learn how LYB is navigating the journey towards a sustainable future and the collaborative efforts needed to make it a reality.

Read the full LYB sustainability report on LYB.com and stay updated with all related news and future podcast episodes. Connect with us on social media: LinkedIn: LyondellBasell Facebook: LyondellBasell Instagram: LyondellBasell X: @LyondellBasell

LEGAL DISCLAIMER FOR FORWARD-LOOKING STATEMENTS:

The statements in this podcast relating to matters that are not historical facts are forward-looking statements. These forward-looking statements are based upon assumptions of management of LyondellBasell which are believed to be reasonable at the time made and are subject to significant risks and uncertainties. Actual results could differ materially based on factors including, but not limited to, market conditions, the business cyclicality of the chemical, polymers and refining industries; the availability, cost and price volatility of raw materials and utilities, particularly the cost of oil, natural gas, and associated natural gas liquids; our ability to successfully implement initiatives identified pursuant to our Value Enhancement Program and generate anticipated earnings; competitive product and pricing pressures; labor conditions; our ability to attract and retain key personnel; operating interruptions (including leaks, explosions, fires, weather-related incidents, mechanical failure, unscheduled downtime, supplier disruptions, labor shortages, strikes, work stoppages or other labor difficulties, transportation interruptions, spills and releases and other environmental risks); the supply/demand balances for our and our joint ventures’ products, and the related effects of industry production capacities and operating rates; our ability to manage costs; future financial and operating results; benefits and synergies of any proposed transactions; receipt of required regulatory approvals and the satisfaction of closing conditions for our proposed transactions; final investment decision and the construction and operation of any proposed facilities described; our ability to align our assets and expand our core; legal and environmental proceedings; tax rulings, consequences or proceedings; technological developments, and our ability to develop new products and process technologies; our ability to meet our sustainability goals, including the ability to operate safely, increase production of recycled and renewable-based polymers to meet our targets and forecasts, and reduce our emissions and achieve net zero emissions by the time set in our goals; our ability to procure energy from renewable sources; our ability to build a profitable Circular & Low Carbon Solutions business; the continued operation of and successful shut down and closure of the Houston Refinery, including within the expected timeframe; potential governmental regulatory actions; political unrest and terrorist acts; risks and uncertaintie

Episode Transcript

(00:00):
Over the last, I would say, several years, or say the last decade,
there's been so much more a growing focus on sustainability in general.
We call it the energy transition for a reason. In the net zero world,
we actually spend half of our time, three months at a time, back and forth between
Houston and the Netherlands.
It's good to get that European perspective and be able to work with my European team over there.

(00:23):
My wife and I love to go out and walk and just be outside and those types of
things, and you can do that very easily. Everything is accessible on foot or
a short tram or train ride away.
I really want you to speak Dutch the next time you do this, Chris.
This net-zero transition, we have to figure out what the best roadmap is for
us to be able to make the emissions reductions that we need,

(00:44):
and ultimately do that in a way that is value-accretive to the company.
We've got to be out in the front, we've got to be able to go faster than our
competition does and be able to capture that value.
Welcome to the Lionel Bissell podcast series. We're discussing the 2023 sustainability
report titled Everyday Sustainability.

(01:05):
And joining me today is Senior Vice President of Net Zero Transition Strategy, Chris Kane.
He's going to discuss taking climate action from his perspective in the company.
First of all, welcome in, Chris. Nice to see you again. Thank you. Thanks for having me.
I've got to ask you a little bit of personal stuff about you and your family.
So So you've got two kids. You're married.
I'm married. My wife, Gina, she's been with me for 31 years.

(01:29):
So she's clearly a saint. She's put up with me for that long and doesn't show
any signs of, you know, abandoning me yet. So that's good.
We have two kids, not so much kids anymore, both adults at this point.
My daughter, Emily, who's 26.
She's a teacher here in Houston. And my son, Matthew, who is 23, soon to be 24.
And he's an engineer and works for General Motors up in Michigan.

(01:51):
With the kids being grown and in this role, in the Net Zero role,
we actually spend half of our time, three months at a time, back and forth between
Houston and the Netherlands.
It's good to get that European perspective and be able to work with my European team over there.
So we're going back and forth. Quite a logistical trip. I really want you to
speak Dutch the next time.
I'm working on that, but yeah, I've got a long way to go. All right.

(02:13):
What's your favorite thing about living in the Netherlands?
Oh my gosh. My favorite thing about living in the Netherlands,
frankly, the amount of time we don't spend driving.
We walk everywhere. We live in close to everything and we walk everywhere and
biking and all those types of things.
That's my favorite thing about living. Of course, it's easy to travel through

(02:34):
all of Europe and that's a huge advantage, but I think it's the simple things.
It's the amount of walking.
My wife and I love to go out and walk and just be outside and those types of things.
And you can do that very easily. Everything is accessible on foot or a short tram or train ride away.
I know that's not going to be the answer to my next question,
which is your favorite thing about living in Houston, not a walkable city.

(02:54):
Yeah, it is not the most walkable city.
No, my favorite thing about living in Houston, I think the amount of diverse
opportunities we have in the city, whether it's food, entertainment,
any type of social activities that you want.
I mean, it's just, it's all at our fingertips, right? You may have to drive
to get there, but it's all so accessible here.

(03:15):
It's still a growing city, even at that.
So yeah, the opportunities in Houston, you can't really beat in that regard.
All right. So Chris, you've been with LYB for about 29 years.
Correct. You started your career in manufacturing.
Before we get into your journey at LYB, tell us a little bit about yourself, where you grew up.
Yeah. So originally, I'm from Ohio in the Midwest and spent all of my growing up years there.

(03:38):
Ultimately, after kind of graduating high school, going off to college,
I went to Ohio State University or the Ohio State University,
I guess, as I'm supposed to say.
I'm an electrical engineer by trade and ultimately got started in my career,
you know, with another company actually, but right out of college.
And then about three years in, came to, to Lyondell Basel or what predecessors

(04:00):
for Lyondell Basel anyway, started as an engineer and went Went on from there
and spent the whole bulk of my career in operations, engineering,
site leadership, those types of things.
You have a unique perspective coming from the manufacturing side.
So now that you are SVP of Net Zero Transition Strategy, tell us how that perspective

(04:22):
has really shaped what you do in your career.
Yeah. So, you know, manufacturing is kind of in my blood.
I've been in manufacturing for so long, and I love it. I love the people at the sites.
I love the goal-oriented mission that we have.
I like the continuous improvement focus that you get in manufacturing,

(04:42):
and you can really see the results of what you're doing.
You know, coming into Net Zero, I think it gives me a unique perspective, certainly.
All of the things that we do from a Net Zero perspective are designed to bring
down or reduce the emissions that come from our manufacturing sites and from
the products that we make.
In doing that, it helps to have that base understanding of many of the technologies

(05:03):
that we operate globally.
I think having those ties to manufacturing still, and because net zero, while it's.
Got many more aspects to it than just manufacturing plants and plant projects
and those types of things.
Having that manufacturing base, that technical base, the understanding of all
the different technologies we operate does help in thinking about what's possible

(05:25):
and what some of the key levers are that we can utilize to decarbonize our assets.
Yeah. And in the 2023 sustainability report, we talk about some of those levers
and some of the goals, but with the What reduction targets and plans,
what are some of the nuances in reaching that?
Because you're trying to operate at the same time, but you're also trying to reduce emissions.

(05:45):
What are some of the nuances of operating? Some of the challenges that are there
is the plants that we operate run 24-7, 365, right? Or at least ideally they do.
And so you don't have a lot of opportunities to implement large changes.
And some of the things that we have to do to ultimately reduce our greenhouse
gas emissions in our plants, they're very large changes.

(06:08):
They're things that require, you know, large amounts of downtime in some cases within our assets.
They're very technical in nature. You know, they take a long time to execute.
Some of the projects are large, so they take a long time to execute and they're
substantial changes that you want
to make sure that you do safely and responsibly and all of those things.
So you have to work around to some degree, the schedule and the timing that

(06:30):
it takes to be able to do this work.
None of it happens quickly. So even if you know what you have to do or what you want to do,
even if you have the technology and all the means to be able to do it,
just the timing that it takes to implement those solutions and make those improvements,
it's kind of a dance to coordinate all of that across all of the assets that we have.

(06:52):
And obviously, we're a company with a broad footprint globally,
so it's not a small undertaking to try to do this across all of our assets. Yeah.
And we talked about this 2023 sustainability report that just came out.
A big portion of it is dedicated to talking about taking climate action and
what that challenge looks like.
Why is it important for LYB to focus on this topic and how does it fit into

(07:15):
the company's overall strategy, taking climate action?
Yeah, I see it as something that I guess coming from manufacturing,
we've always had a focus on environmental performance improvement and safety
performance improvement and those types of things.
And over the last, I would say, you know, several years or say the last decade,

(07:36):
there's been so much more growing focus on sustainability in general.
And it's become very clear that just thinking that we can sit back and kind
of execute business as usual and keep making the same products with the same
technologies and in the same ways as we always have,
that's not going to be a winning strategy in my view for the long term.

(07:59):
I think in our case, it's really of strategic importance for our company that
we start, you know, we call it the energy transition for a reason, right?
And this net zero transition, we have to figure out what the best roadmap is
for us to be able to make the emissions reductions that we need and ultimately do that in a way that's.

(08:21):
That is value accretive to the company. Yes, we want to make those environmental
emissions reductions, but at the same time, there's a strategic opportunity
there that we want to capture.
Being low carbon or producing low carbon products and our entire circular and
low carbon solutions team is focused on how do we bring value to the company

(08:45):
with those types of products and those new technologies implemented,
that's going to be a key lever for us, I think, to be differential in the marketplace going forward.
And you have to be a leader in that space. And in my view, you can't be a follower
and expect to have that long-term success. We've got to be out in front.
We've got to be able to go faster than our competition does and be able to capture

(09:07):
that value as the market really emerges more and more from a sustainability perspective.
Yeah. And a lot of the progress and highlights are outlined in the sustainability
report, which is over 100 pages.
But when you look back on that, what are some of the key highlights that the
company has achieved that you're really proud of?
Well, I think, quite frankly, just launching all of these efforts that we've

(09:31):
undertaken from a climate perspective, we have pursued through our VEP programs,
the Value Enhancement Program, we've pursued energy efficiency and process improvements
and optimization work across our manufacturing sites that have have yielded
very nice benefits from both an emissions reduction standpoint and a value standpoint.
We've been a leader, I think, in our industry when it comes to renewable energy

(09:55):
procurement and those types of things, really starting to enable that electricity
and power production capability from a renewable standpoint.
We've done really well there. We've exceeded all of our goals in that area.
And then we've also been able to advance some of the.
What I would say we call the big rock projects internally, some of the projects

(10:16):
to really make deep decarbonization happen or at least create the potential
for that to happen within our olefins manufacturing plants.
And that comes down to hydrogen and at least as a first step to be able to fuel
hydrogen that's more clean burning, reduces CO2 emissions compared with traditional
natural gas firing and those types of things.

(10:38):
So we've made significant progress on some of those types of projects and activities.
And I think it's going to lead us for those early reductions as we pursue our 2030 ambition.
So very proud of what we've accomplished so far there. All right.
And what about just for anyone listening to this conversation,
what's one big key takeaway you want them to take away just from what you do

(10:58):
here at LYB or maybe what the company is efforting to do here?
I think one big takeaway is that we know as an industry, and I think certainly
as a company for Lionel Bissell, we know what we can do to make the CO2 emissions
reduction that we want a reality.
We know what it's going to take technically and those types of things,

(11:19):
especially as we talk about 2030 ambition.
Certainly net zero ambition for 2050 and those types of things is further down
the path, and it will take a lot more advancement in technology and all of that.
But for 2030, we know what to do.
The key is how do we get it done? How can we make all those things happen?
There's many risks and challenges associated with trying to execute projects

(11:42):
and make investments that large.
We want to do it in a financially responsible way. We need to understand the
market dynamics in the future of what is that premium value going to be for
low-carbon products and those types of things.
So it's not about knowing what to do.
It's how to make that happen in a financially valuable way to the company and

(12:03):
ultimately deliver within the timeframe that we're trying to achieve.
I think that's where the biggest challenges are, and we can't do it alone.
We need government support. We need regulatory support.
We need support from other third parties. You know, we have partnerships and
consortiums we're working with to make this happen.
And then we have our own project execution and financial goals that we need to meet.

(12:26):
So there's lots of challenges there, but it is possible.
It is something that's really tangible and achievable, but it's a complex problem to try to solve.
Well, I appreciate the time so much. Thank you so much for stopping by during
your three-month stint here in Houston. Absolutely.
That's going to do it for our podcast series for the sustainability report from Leyndell Bissell.
You can read the full LYB sustainability report on LYB.com.

(12:48):
You can download the report, check out the highlights, and catch up on all news related to LYB.
Stay tuned for more episodes in our podcast series and thank you so much for watching.
Music.