Neste, the world’s largest producer of renewable diesel refined from waste and residues, and Covestro are starting a strategic cooperation in Europe to promote the use of sustainable raw materials in plastics production.

Covestro, among the world’s largest polymer companies, will be supplied with material from renewable sources to replace a significant portion of the fossil raw materials used to date in the manufacture of polycarbonates. This type of a high-performance plastic is used, for example, in car headlamps, LED lights, electronic and medical devices and automotive glazing.

Over the short term, the collaboration aims to replace several thousand tons of fossil raw materials in the production of polycarbonates with raw materials produced with Neste’s renewable hydrocarbons.

Neste produces its renewable hydrocarbons entirely from renewable raw materials, such as waste and residue oils and fats. Thanks to being a drop-in replacement to commonly-used fossil feedstock in the polymers production, Neste’s product is suitable for existing production infrastructures and enables customers like Covestro to produce more sustainable products with consistently high quality using their existing processes.

'The polymers and chemicals industries will play a major role in the circular economy and fight against climate change. That is why Neste is committed to supporting the industry forerunners like Covestro on their sustainability journey,' says Neste’s President and CEO Peter Vanacker.

He says: 'Our collaboration enables Covestro to play a significant role in providing climate-friendlier raw materials to leading brands and help them reach their materials-related sustainability targets. With Covestro, the positive impact provided by Neste’s renewable hydrocarbons is expanded beyond the field of polyolefins, showing the product’s value and compatibility with more complex value chains.'

'With this collaboration we are emphasising our intention to make our production more sustainable and to drive forward the change to a circular economy. Using alternative raw materials more intensively as we are doing is an important basis for this,' says Covestro’s CEO, Dr Markus Steilemann.

'We are fully committed to working with many partners to manage the transition to a circular economy, the great overall social project of the coming years and decades. To this end, we are also cooperating with upstream partners such as Neste to meet our own raw material requirements from renewable sources to an even greater extent. By transforming our production, we are helping important industrial sectors such as the automotive and electronics industries achieve greater sustainability and reduce the dependence on crude oil.'

In the future, both companies intend to expand the scope of their partnership, also with regard to other types of polymers. At the same time, they are inviting other stakeholders along the value chains to cooperate.

Neste creates sustainable solutions for transport, business, and consumer needs. Its wide range of renewable products enable customers to reduce climate emissions. It is also a technologically advanced refiner of high-quality oil products. In 2019, Neste's revenue stood at €15.8 billion. In 2020, Neste was placed third on the Global 100 list of the most sustainable companies in the world.

Covestro manufactures high-tech polymer materials and the development of innovative solutions for products used in many areas of daily life. The main industries served are the automotive, construction, wood processing and furniture, and electrical and electronics industries. Other sectors include sports and leisure, cosmetics, health and the chemical industry itself. Covestro has 30 production sites worldwide and employs approximately 17,200 people. It had sales of €12.4 billion in 2019.