Land restoration, halting desertification and strengthening resilience to drought are the main issues to highlight on this World Environment Day, in which Molecor continues its commitment to sustainability and its firm commitment to care for the planet.
Our lands. Our future. Our contribution.
This year's theme is “Our lands. Our future. We are the #GenerationRestoration” and the fact is that, as mentioned by the United Nations, ‘we cannot turn back the clock, but we can grow forests, revitalize water sources and restore soils’. To work towards these objectives, Molecor has carried out two key environmental actions this year: the creation of Molecor Forest with 600 trees between Madagascar, Tanzania and Thailand, and the installation of a solar powered pump in a well in Madagascar.
The Molecor Forest project will not only help protect biodiversity, but will also mitigate climate change, thanks to the fact that this forest will absorb 227 tons of CO₂ from the atmosphere. In addition, we have worked directly with NGOs and local communities to select the right trees, the appropriate locations and, especially, the correct purpose: to promote sustainable development. This action also shows Molecor's contribution to the achievement of several of the Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs), such as SDG 13 Climate Action and SDG 15 Life of Terrestrial Ecosystems.
Molecor's environmental commitment
One more year, June 5th, which marks World Environment Day, is the most important date to take stock of the contribution we make to the environment and sustainability.
The planning of the company's Sustainability Strategy is one of the most outstanding actions. Among its main ambitions, it has set itself the commitment to be a Net Zero company by 2040, and with this, it has developed a Decarbonization Plan to achieve it.
As Molecor is #industrycommitted to the preservation of ecosystems, including the marine environment, it has completed the implementation and certification of all production plants in Spain in the Operation Clean Sweep (OCS) voluntary program, which aims to prevent environmental pollution due to the unintentional release of microplastics. The certification has been carried out in accordance with the requirements of the new European scheme, known as OCS Europe, and in this way, Molecor is ahead of the obligations derived from the new legislation on the subject being developed by the European Commission.
Taking care of the planet can be done from different perspectives and the awareness and responsibility on the use of energy is one of them. Molecor has recently obtained the Energy Management System certification according to ISO 50001:2018 in its production plant in Loeches, Spain. A new certification that allows us to identify the energy uses and consumptions of the production plant, whose continuous energy monitoring and review of the energy baseline to establish saving measures and improve the efficiency and performance of our facilities.
The calculation and preparation of the organization's carbon footprint report is also another perspective in Molecor's firm environmental commitment, and the company is calculating its greenhouse gas emissions emitted by direct or indirect effect from the development of the organization's activity for the years 2022 and 2023 using the Greenhouse Gas Protocol Corporate Standard (GHG Protocol) quantification methodology. A powerful tool to know which are the company's main consumptions and which are the ones that produce more emissions in order to be able to apply different measures to reduce them and reduce our carbon footprint.
The development and manufacture of certain Oriented PVC products with unique air-based technology is the key to Molecor's success, and Oriented PVC TOM® pipes and ecoFITTOM® fittings have proven to be the most environmentally friendly solution available on the market. Products that have lower energy consumption throughout their long life cycle and lower greenhouse gas emissions to the atmosphere, contributing to a smaller carbon footprint, as well as having a lower impact on climate change than other materials.
Proof of this can be seen in the recently obtained Environmental Product Declaration (EPD) for our most significant ranges, including TOM® pipes and ecoFITTOM® fittings. These are voluntary certifications that show the company's solid commitment to sustainability and the evaluation of the impact of its activities in the field of plastic pipes, and that attest to the veracity of the information published by Molecor on these products in relation to their greenhouse gas emissions, energy consumption or use of resources, among other environmental parameters.
The EPD or Type III ecolabel was developed in accordance with EN ISO 14025, which defines the requirements for this type of environmental label and was prepared on the basis of a Product Life Cycle Assessment (LCA) in accordance with ISO 14040 and ISO 14044. In addition, they have been carried out from cradle to grave, i.e. they provide information on the environmental impact of these products from the extraction of raw materials to their final disposal, including the stages of manufacture, distribution, installation and use.
