Salt and chlorine producer Nobian was the first industrial company to make an agreement with the cabinet for state support for sustainability. With up to 185 million euros in support, the company will ensure that it emits almost no CO2 by 20302 more emissions. Nobian and the Ministry of Climate and Green Growth announced this on Thursday morning.
The agreement with Nobian, a former part of AzkoNobel, is the first concrete outcome after more than two years of the so-called tailor-made approach. The government wants to entice the twenty largest industrial emitters, including Tata Steel, Shell, the Dow plastics factory and the Yara fertilizer factory, to further reduce their emissions by 2030 in exchange for financial support. This policy is one of the crucial ways to achieve the climate goals for the industry.
However, reaching agreements appears to be a difficult and difficult process, and the ministry itself no longer adheres to the 2030 deadline for greening projects within the customized approach: it appears to be unfeasible. Apart from declarations of intent with a handful of companies, nothing concrete has been agreed to date.
NRC reported in November that this was partly due to discussion between various ministries and doubts among companies. Many large emitters in the Netherlands are part of international concerns that look worldwide to see where they can invest most profitably, and due to, for example, high energy prices, the Netherlands is often excluded.
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With Nobian (1,600 employees, turnover approximately 1 billion euros) it is now a success for the first time. The company will, among other things, replace a number of installations that currently run on gas with electrical installations in Hengelo and Delfzijl. This should reduce gas consumption in the Netherlands by more than 1 percent. A power-hungry chlorine factory in the port of Rotterdam will become a lot more efficient after the investments, and will consume 135 gigawatt hours less annually, approximately as much as the consumption of fifty thousand households.
In a statement, Minister Sophie Hermans (Climate and Green Growth, VVD) spoke of an “important milestone”. Nobian itself is investing 460 million euros in the plans. In total, the intention is that the CO2The company’s emissions decrease by 0.5 million tons compared to 2020 to practically nothing. This should also apply to nitrogen emissions, and Nobian will also use much less water.
Less complex case
The appointment with Nobian had been coming for a while; it was the only one where there was a clear shot, it was heard in circles around the ministry. This is also because the case is less complex compared to other large industrial companies: Nobian already emits relatively little CO2 is strongly rooted in the Netherlands and asked for a fairly small amount of support. The 185 million that the company receives pales in comparison to the billions of dollars that are currently being negotiated at Tata Steel. The steel mill emits more than 8 million tons of CO2 out, a multiple of Nobian.
The agreement between Nobian and the state also fits in with the image of the American private equity club Carlyle, which became owner in 2018. Carlyle says it regularly wants to invest in the greening of companies it owns. Nobian has been working extensively with grid operator Tennet for some time to stabilize the power grid, by turning up or down when there is more or less green energy available.
Carlyle’s hypothesis is that in a resale, as is common with private equity, companies are worth more if they are on the path to lower emissions. Last summer the Financial Times that Carlyle would consider selling Nobian for approximately 3 billion euros. A deal has not yet been reached.