In early July, Radici Chimica SpA, a RadiciGroup chemical company engaged in the production of polyamide 6,6 (Radipol®) and related chemical intermediates (Radichem®), signed an important agreement with the Italian Ministry for the Environment to apply a new method to its production chain, on an experimental basis, to determine the 

In early July, Radici Chimica SpA, a RadiciGroup chemical company engaged in the production of polyamide 6,6 (Radipol®) and related chemical intermediates (Radichem®), signed an important agreement with the Italian Ministry for the Environment to apply a new method to its production chain, on an experimental basis, to determine the Product Environmental Footprint (PEF) and the Organisation Environmental Footprint (OEF).

This method was recently set out in a Communication by the European Commission on how to improve the availability of clear, reliable and comparable information on the environmental performance of products and organizations, with the goal of harmonizing the different measurement methods available today.

The agreement between the Italian Ministry for the Environment and RadiciGroup – signed by Corrado Clini, general director of the Department of Sustainable Development, Climate and Energy of the Ministry for the Environment, and Pio Gazzini, site manager of Radici Chimica SpA – defines the work plan that the Group chemical site will implement for the measurement and analysis of greenhouse emissions associated with the production of PA 6,6. The plan will be set out in accordance with the ISO Series 14040 standards and the European Union PEF and OEF methods.

The agreement signed by RadiciGroup falls within the public-private partnership initiatives promoted by the Italian Ministry for the Environment, which have among its participants the main Italian manufacturers (textiles, agriculture and foods, cosmetics, tourism, ceramics, infrastructure, big distribution, etc.).

“This collaboration with the Ministry for the Environment is perfectly aligned with the sustainability objectives of our 2011-2014 improvement plan,” Mr. Gazzini explained. “Included among these objectives are the almost total reduction, by 2014, of nitrogen protoxide and NOx emissions from our adipic and nitric acid production process. The path to establishing corporate policies that embrace social and environmental, as well as economic considerations, is always a complex one. For Radici Chimica, this agreement is a further testimony to its commitment to achieve a fair balance between industrial activities and sustainability by integrating chemicals and the environment.”

“The Ministry’s environmental footprint determination programme, which RadiciGroup has just joined with this voluntary agreement, has already been adopted by more than 200 Italian companies,” Mr. Clini said. The enterprises we collaborate with have come to realize that staying competitive on the international market requires innovation capabilities aimed at improving environmental performance. Our work is in line with the European strategy for ‘carbon intensity’ reduction in the economy and is one of the main goals of the big investments being made today for the development of new technologies at both the European and international levels.”

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11 July 2013