Solvay to Reduce Discharge at Italy Plant After Investor Pressure -- Update
06 Septembre 2022 - 12:23PM
Dow Jones News
By Pierre Bertrand
Solvay SA said Tuesday that it has reached an agreement
regarding industrial waste with activist investor Bluebell Capital
Partners, which had previously called for its chief executive
officer to resign over the issue.
The Belgian chemical company agreed that it will reduce the
discharge of limestone residue into the sea from its plant at
Rosignano in Italy, and will invest in a new soda-ash production
process.
The initiative should enable Solvay to further cut its
carbon-dioxide emissions and reduce any discharge of limestone
residues to zero by 2050, the two said in a joint statement. The
measure, part of Solvay's One Planet sustainability plan, brings to
an end a pressure campaign by ESG-focused fund Bluebell, which in
September 2021 called for Solvay's CEO to resign over environmental
concerns relating to the Rosignano plant, on Italy's Tuscan
coast.
"We have been pleased with our continuing and productive dialog
and engagement with the Solvay management team," Giuseppe Bivona,
Bluebell's co-founder, said. "We have always been appreciative of
Solvay's One Planet roadmap. Our primary concern was soda-ash
production at Rosignano and the recent announcements to
significantly reduce the discharge of solid materials directly into
the sea and accelerate investments to reinvent the soda ash
production process with all its environmental benefits are huge
steps forward."
As part of its soda-ash manufacturing process, the plant
discharges limestone residue into the Mediterranean Sea. It is what
gives the local beaches their white color, Solvay says on its
website.
The company said in February that the process only uses natural
materials, doesn't involve heavy metals, and that the discharge is
safe and in compliance with national and European Union
regulations.
The plant's permit was renewed by the Italian Ministry of
Ecological Transition in January for the next 12 years, according
to Solvay's website.
But Bluebell, which owns one share in Solvay, accused the
company in an open letter sent to media organizations in February
of dumping suspended solids containing nickel, cadmium, chrome,
arsenic and mercury into the sea.
As part of the two companies' agreement, Solvay said it will
invest an estimated 15 million euros ($14.9 million) in its
Rosignano facility for targeted improvements and optimization. As
well as cutting the amount of limestone discharged at the plant, it
will test a new soda-ash production process in France designed to
emit 50% less carbon emissions, reduce water, brine, limestone
consumption and completely eliminate limestone residues, the
company said Tuesday in a separate release.
"We appreciated the recent constructive engagement with Bluebell
and I'm thrilled we have found a common ground," Solvay CEO Ilham
Kadri said.
Write to Pierre Bertrand at pierre.bertrand@wsj.com
(END) Dow Jones Newswires
September 06, 2022 06:08 ET (10:08 GMT)
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