WILMINGTON, Del. - The Chemours Company (Chemours) (NYSE: CC), a global chemistry company with leading market positions in titanium technologies, fluoroproducts and chemical solutions, was presented today with the Sustainability Leadership Award from the American Chemistry Council for the development of Opteon™, its industry-leading, sustainable family of refrigerant chemical products.
Chemours developed Opteon™ to help its customers meet increasing market demands for high performance, more environmentally sustainable refrigerants and blends, fueled by increasingly stringent global-warming regulations around the world, as well as changing consumer preferences. Opteon™ refrigerants have zero ozone depletion potential (ODP) and very low Global Warming Potential (GWP).
"Our development of Opteon™ is a perfect example of how the power of chemistry can help solve some of the world's largest challenges," said Mark Vergnano, Chemours president and CEO. "Working with our value chain partners, we remain committed to providing the world with high-performing, low-GWP refrigerant products that are better for the environment. And with the start-up of our new $300 Million production facility in Corpus Christi, Texas, we have tripled our company's capacity for Opteon™, which allows us to meet growing customer demand while investing and creating new manufacturing jobs here in the United States."
Gaining momentum
Demand for more sustainable refrigerants has accelerated in recent years as the United States, Japan, and a number of European countries have rolled out stricter environmental standards, starting first with mobile air conditioning and then expanding into commercial refrigeration and residential and commercial air conditioning.
In mobile air conditioning, Chemours expects over 145 million vehicles on the road to be using Opteon™ YF (HFO-1234yf) by the end of 2020. Compared to previous-generation hydrochlorofluorocarbon (HFC) refrigerants, Opteon™ YF reduces GWP environmental impact by more than 99%. Opteon™ YF is based on hydrofluoro olefin (HFO) chemistry and has a GWP of less than 1. By comparison, the most common refrigerant, HFC-134a, has a GWP of 1,300.
For commercial refrigeration applications in Europe, Opteon™ XP40 has been one of the leading retrofit gases for R404A/R507, particularly in the supermarket refrigeration sector. Opteon™ XP40 has played a critical role since 2015 in allowing the market to comply with the F-gas regulations.
In addition, several global companies have recently selected Opteon™ products for residential and commercial air conditioning applications, including Carrier for their ducted residential and light commercial packaged air conditioning products in North America, Carrier Transicold Europe, Mitsubishi Electric Hydronics and IT Cooling Systems SpA (MEHITS), Johnson Controls, and E-Mart, Korea's largest hypermarket chain.
Additionally, last year Chemours announced a multi-year partnership with the National Hockey League focused on providing Opteon™ refrigerants to hockey rinks across North America. The partnership supports the NHL's Greener Rinks Initiative, a league-wide program committed to sharing sustainable business practices with community rink owners and operators.
A different kind of chemistry company
In 2018, Chemours published its first Corporate Responsibility Commitments report, which centers on ten ambitious goals the company will focus on achieving by 2030. These goals are aligned with the United Nations Sustainable Development Goals and include developing and marketing products like Opteon™, which contribute to broader sustainability efforts.
"Consumers are demanding cleaner, greener, and more energy-efficient products, and we're positioning our customers farther up the value chain to meet that demand with products like Opteon™," said Paul Kirsch, president of Fluoroproducts at Chemours. "This is about doing well by doing good; we are dedicated to becoming a different kind of chemistry company for a world that demands more."
About Chemours
The Chemours Company (NYSE: CC) is a global leader in titanium technologies, fluoroproducts, and chemical solutions, providing its customers with solutions in a wide range of industries with market-defining products, application expertise and chemistry-based innovations. Chemours ingredients are found in plastics and coatings, refrigeration and air conditioning, mining, and general industrial manufacturing. Our flagship products include prominent brands such as Teflon™, Ti-Pure™, Krytox™, Viton™, Opteon™, Freon™ and Nafion™. Chemours published its first corporate responsibility commitment report in 2018, which highlights goals aligned with the United Nations Sustainable Development Goals. The company has approximately 7,000 employees and 28 manufacturing sites serving approximately 3,700 customers in over 120 countries. Chemours is headquartered in Wilmington, Delaware and is listed on the NYSE under the symbol CC.
For more information, we invite you to visit chemours.com or follow us on Twitter @Chemours or LinkedIn.
Forward-Looking Statements
This press release contains forward-looking statements, within the meaning of the safe harbor provisions of the U.S. Private Securities Litigation Reform Act of 1995, which involve risks and uncertainties. Forward-looking statements provide current expectations of future events based on certain assumptions and include any statement that does not directly relate to a historical or current fact. The words "believe," "expect," "will," "anticipate," "plan," "estimate," "target," "project" and similar expressions, among others, generally identify "forward-looking statements," which speak only as of the date such statements were made. These forward-looking statements may address, among other things, the outcome or resolution of any pending or future environmental liabilities, the commencement, outcome or resolution of any regulatory inquiry, investigation or proceeding, the initiation, outcome or settlement of any litigation, changes in environmental regulations in the U.S. or other jurisdictions that affect demand for or adoption of our products, anticipated future operating and financial performance, business plans, prospects, targets, goals and commitments, capital investments and projects, plans for dividends or share repurchases, sufficiency or longevity of intellectual property protection, cost savings targets, plans to increase profitability and growth, our ability to make acquisitions, integrate acquired businesses or assets into our operations, and achieve anticipated synergies or cost savings, and our outlook for net sales, Adjusted EBITDA, Adjusted EPS, Free Cash Flow, Effective Tax Rate, and Return on Invested Capital (ROIC), all of which are subject to substantial risks and uncertainties that could cause actual results to differ materially from those expressed or implied by such statements. Forward-looking statements are based on certain assumptions and expectations of future events that may not be accurate or realized. These statements are not guarantees of future performance. Forward-looking statements also involve risks and uncertainties that are beyond Chemours' control. Additionally, there may be other risks and uncertainties that Chemours is unable to identify at this time or that Chemours does not currently expect to have a material impact on its business. Factors that could cause or contribute to these differences include the risks, uncertainties and other factors discussed in our filings with the U.S. Securities and Exchange Commission, including in our Annual Report on Form 10-K for the year ended December 31, 2018. Chemours assumes no obligation to revise or update any forward-looking statement for any reason, except as required by law.
