NOVA Chemicals Corporation (“NOVA Chemicals”) published its 2021 Environmental, Social and Governance (ESG) Report today to share progress on its ambition to build a circular economy for plastics, advance its inclusion and diversity strategy, and find solutions for industrial decarbonization.

“This year’s report details how we are integrating our ESG priorities into how we do business – from how we engage our people, to how we make our facilities safer and higher performing, to how we prepare for a future with less carbon and more recycled plastic,” said Luis Sierra, president and CEO, NOVA Chemicals. “I am also pleased to share that we are now a participant in the United Nations Global Compact® and are looking forward to collaborating on this global sustainability initiative as we align NOVA Chemicals’ purpose with others to truly shape a world that is better tomorrow,” Sierra added.

Amidst supply chain challenges, weather events and energy market dynamics, NOVA Chemicals delivered sector-leading business results in 2021 and made progress in several key areas of its ESG strategy.

Building a Plastics Circular Economy

A plastics circular economy transforms the lifecycle of plastic, helping to eliminate plastic waste and minimize new resource use. As a resin producer, NOVA Chemicals focuses on three pillars: increasing plastic recyclability, increasing use of post-consumer plastics, and preventing plastics from becoming waste. Toward this goal, NOVA Chemicals entered three collaboration agreements to supply recycled polyethylene resins (rPE) to its customers, began railcar shipments of rPE, and introduced next-generation moisture barrier resin to expand the recyclability of food packaging applications. See page 13 of the ESG Report for more information.

Advancing Inclusion and Diversity

To foster an agile, high-performing team of employees who feel they belong, are engaged and represent the communities in which we live and work, NOVA Chemicals created its first-ever employee Inclusion and Diversity Council in 2021 and set new targets for hiring and engagement practices.

By the end of 2030, NOVA Chemicals aspires to achieve a:

  • 10% increase in diversity across all levels of the organization from our 2020 baseline
  • 30% representation of women across all levels of the organization
  • 5% increase in representation of people of color in leadership from our 2020 baseline
  • 10% increase in women in leadership from our 2020 baseline

Learn more on page 30 of the ESG Report.

Safe and Reliable Operations

NOVA Chemicals has a vision to achieve Goal ZERO (zero injuries and incidents) by ensuring safety is embedded in all processes and programs. In 2021, NOVA achieved strong safety performance with a 0.27 combined employee and contractor recordable injury rate. This was accomplished in a year of significant construction activity as the company made progress towards completion of construction on its new Advanced SCLAIRTECH™ technology facility (AST2) and ethane cracker facility near Sarnia, Ontario. Learn more on page 34 of the ESG Report.

NOVA Chemicals’ 2021 ESG Report was prepared in alignment with the United Nations Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs), Global Reporting Initiative (GRI) Standards and the Sustainability Accounting Standards Board® (SASB) Standards. By aligning with these frameworks and expanding our disclosures, we enhance comparability with our peers and more clearly connect our ESG activities with company value creation. An electronic version of the report is available at www.novachem.com/sustainability