For a multi-industry corporation active in various environment-sensitive business fields like cement production, packaging, and petrochemical, it is by no means easy to go green across the board. Thai-invested SCG Vietnam, however, has pledged to pursue sustainable development with an all-in endeavor to achieve net-zero production in the future.
Striving for green values
SCG Vietnam is a large-scale corporation in any business area it operates in Vietnam, from cement and building materials to packaging and petrochemicals. In any of these three major business scopes, SCG Vietnam has always embraced innovations with the primary aim to achieve green values.
The signature project by SCG Vietnam is Long Son Petrochemicals known as the first integrated petrochemicals complex in southern Vietnam. Turning this billion-dollar complex into a green production base requires much capital and great efforts due to the complexity of the project, ranging from mixed-feed cracker, downstream polyolefins plants and central utilities unit to port, jetty and storage facilities, but SCG has step by step introduced innovations to the project.
Long Son Petrochemicals Company Ltd. has since the first days of work designing has applied green standards to all processes to protect the environment and minimize emissions, said a leader of SCG Vietnam.
Take wastewater management for example, SCG Vietnam has applied stringent international standards and installed an automatic wastewater monitoring system to ensure that post-treatment water is safe for the environment. Gas emission control also follows strict standards, including the installation of an automatic air monitoring system.
Especially, SCG Vietnam has installed an enclosed ground flare (EGF) system that uses an efficient burner design to provide smokeless operation inside of a combustion chamber that conceals the flare flame. Such a system, which is the first ever in Vietnam, ensures clean, smokeless burning of flare gas compositions, low noise and no visible emissions.
At SCG Packaging as another key subsidiary of SCG Vietnam, environmental protection is also strongly attended to. All production facilities of BATICO under SCG Packaging are equipped with a solvent recycling system to reuse solvent and minimize solvent exhausts.
Owing to environmental protection efforts, at its paper packaging factory Vina Kraft for instance, all products, which can be recycled and are 100% biodegradable, meet SCG Green Polymer standards. In addition, these products are 95% made from recycled materials, so the footprint on the environment is minimal.
In the cement and building materials industry, meanwhile, multiple innovations have been introduced to enhance green values in manufacturing. These include the installation of the waste heat recovery system at SCG Cement, which helps reduce emissions by up to 70,000 tons of CO2 a year; and the replacement of clinker by fly ash that helps cut emissions by an additional 43,000 tons of CO2.
Strong commitment to ESG
According to the company’s leadership, sustainability is at the core of the corporation’s business strategy, and it has introduced Environmental, Social and Governance (ESG) throughout its business.
“The ESG strategy has been our core orientation to maintain sustability and create common values for all stakeholders,” said Praween Wirotpan, general director of SCG Vietnam. He explained that SCG Vietnam and subsidiaries in the country have been strictly following the ESG 4 Plus strategy adopted by the parent group in Thailand in 2021.
This strategy focuses on achieving the net zero emission goal, going green, reducing inequality, embracing collaboration, and harnessing good governance. Specifically, SCG Vietnam targets net-zero emissions by 2050, doubling the proportion of its products meeting SCG Green Choice to 67% by 2030, and elevating ESG collaboration programs to national, regional and international levels.
As co-chair of the Just Energy Transition community in Southeast Asia of the World Economic Forum, SCG will be the strong supporter of ESG in Vietnam, with an aim to collaborate with local partners to realize carbon neutrality and sustainability for the country where it operates in the future, according to the company.
In this spirit, SCG Vietnam has been seeking to tighten collaboration with local authorities and partners to promote the circular economy model. In June last year, SCG Vietnam worked with the Ministry of Natural Resources and Environment to kickstart the national action plan on the circular economy. In 2020, it also joined the public-private collaboration towards a circular economy for plastics waste management in Vietnam, which is a forum led by the ministry and grouping many corporations including DOW Vietnam and Unilever Vietnam, with the mission to promote the net zero emission goal.
Other CSR programs
Apart from regular sustainability programs at all its subsidiaries, SCG Vietnam has also launched numerous corporate social responsibility (CSR) activities over the years, with emphasis laid on raising awareness about environment protection.
For example, the company has launched the “Hacks to Heal Our Planet” contest to encourage green initiatives to safeguard the environment, or the “ESG Idea Pitching Contest” to look for green ideas.
Since 2020, Long Son Petrochemicals has launched the “Sorting Waste at Source” project at an elementary school in Ba Ria-Vung Tau Province, with an initial aim to educate students on the importance of environmental protection before multiplying the practice to the wider community. This company has also joined forces to conserve nearly 25 hectares of mangrove forest, an initiative that helps absorb over 400 tons of CO2 a year.
SCG Vietnam has also made direct contributions to the community where it operates. These include the scholarship program titled SCG Sharing the Dream, which has awarded 5,000 scholarships nationwide over the past 15 years; and construction of two community stadiums in Quang Binh Province in 2021 and Binh Duong Province in 2022.
