How did SABIC perform in 2021?

Our performance over the past year was driven by operational resilience and supply chain excellence amidst rising oil prices. There was also steady demand in most of our key industries, including automotive, healthcare, and electrical and electronics as brands continued to innovate by launching new products and solutions that catered to changing consumer needs. This helped our performance strongly rebound from the impact of the pandemic in 2020. Our commitment to sustainability was demonstrated in our roadmap to achieve carbon neutrality by 2050. Alongside our ambitions to tackle climate change, we continued to drive the circular economy and integrate ESG principles into our businesses.

In the region, we maintained focus on driving greater value, sustainability and market-leading innovation, which was key to fueling our continued growth and success.

Can you highlight the main milestones SABIC achieved on the sustainability front?

SABIC is actively transitioning to achieve carbon neutrality. We are already contributing to the Circular Carbon Economy through a range of landmark developments, including our operation of the world’s largest CO2 capture and purification plant in Jubail. Using proprietary technology, the CO2 is captured from the production of ethylene glycol, which would otherwise be emitted into the atmosphere, and it is converted into feedstock for industrial processes. This CO2 is not just captured – it is reused, in making commercially viable products such as chemicals, fertilizers and fuels.

Earlier last year, SABIC, BASF and Linde announced the signing of a joint agreement to develop solutions for electrically heated steam cracker furnaces which will aim to substantially reduce emissions as electrical heating offers opportunity to use various renewable power sources.

Progressing a circular economy requires a total transformation of the value chain, and we have begun working with our partners upstream and downstream to reinvent our way toward a circular economy.

A recent example of this innovation, under our TRUCIRCLE™ portfolio, is our leading-edge collaboration with Malaysia-based plastic recycling company Heng Hiap Industries (HHI) to create certified circular polymers produced through the advanced recycling of Ocean Bound Plastics, which are used plastics recovered from ocean-feeding waterways, shorelines, and inland areas within a 50-kilometer radius.

Could you comment on the pace of adoption of recycled products?

Heightened concerns over health and safety over the past two years may have slowed the transition to a circular economy. But the pandemic has also triggered changes in consumer behavior. With this focus on sustainability, recycling and the transition to a circular economy are here to stay. SABIC and others in the petrochemicals industry in Asia and across the globe are well-positioned to play a significant part in driving sustainable economic rebuilding and recovery in 2022 and beyond.

Developing a circular recycling system is a significant undertaking and one that requires all parties in an eco-system to play their part.

What are the core values that SABIC promotes as an employer?

People are the foundation of our success. We recognize that diversity of experience, knowledge and ideas in an inclusive atmosphere makes our company more creative, innovative and effective.

SABIC has been recognized as a Top Employer in Asia Pacific for nine consecutive years, underscoring how we continually strive to elevate standards as an employer of choice.

The COVID-19 pandemic has been a catalyst for the faster adoption of automation, AI and digital technologies, with SABIC embracing this change by re-designing work processes and adapting the workplace to stay ahead.

We remain acutely aware of the necessity to adapt quickly to new ways of working across the region and evolved our HR strategy to ensure the uninterrupted development of our people through a range of new learning and development platforms. In addition, we automated HR administrative processes, increased employee touchpoints virtually, and created a flexible leadership model, the SABIC Leadership Way (SLW), aimed at nurturing strong global business leaders.

What are SABIC’s objectives for the coming years?

The petrochemicals industry can truly be a catalyst in leading change, by providing innovative solutions and new capabilities for impactful initiatives that address our customers’ diverse, fast-changing needs in APAC.

In addition, to help address UN SDG 2030 sustainability goals, SABIC is proactively collaborating with multiple stakeholders to innovate and develop bespoke solutions that further improve and transform sustainability across the value chain.

Our industry is uniquely positioned to collaborate with partners upstream and downstream to progress our business practices, and to impact sustainability amongst our industry, as well as the wider communities we live and work in.