Spotlight - It's a fitting analogy for a company whose roots lie in chemicals for photographic processes - focusing the lens. Eastman has sharpened the focus on its sustainability efforts in recent years, which has earned the company a spot in the Newsweek Green Rankings two years running. The Tennessee-based maker of chemicals, fibers and plastics material also launched its first sustainability review last year and joined the U.S. Department of Energy's Save Energy Now initiative. Brandi Schuster spoke with Eastman's Global Sustainability Director Anne Kilgore about how sustainability affects every aspect of the company's business, from process improvement to organic and inorganic growth.

CHEManager Europe: Anne, as director of global sustainability at Eastman, what's your take of the use of the word "sustainability" in the industry?

Anne Kilgore: I always try to be careful when I use that word; when used too much, it gives people the idea that companies are just greenwashing when they talk about how sustainable they are. At Eastman, we have always had a focus on process improvement when it comes to eliminating waste. This is something we excel at, because it's good for cost, efficiency and the environment.

Under its environmental goals, Eastman is shooting for annual 2.5% energy-efficiency improvements and a 20% reduction in greenhouse gas intensity over the next 10 years. How does the company plan on doing this?

Anne Kilgore:  This is part of our Save Energy Now leader pledge we made with the U.S. Department of Energy. As only one of 11 chemical companies participating, this commitment will be challenging for our company, but it was very important for Eastman to be a part of this program. With this being a 10-year goal, we don't yet have a clear line of sight of how we're going to get there, which makes it all the more ambitious. We are bringing a level of focus and internal funding to make this happen, and it's being driven from the very top of the company to make sure we stay on track.

One thing we are doing in light of the pledge is conducting assessments and surveys across our facilities. Going in at the actual site level helps those manufacturing areas better pinpoint sources of energy intensity and loss, through things like steam leaks and other sources of degradation. These are just a few aspects that will keep us on track and make sure we reach our goals.

As I said, Eastman has always had a focus on waste elimination process improvement, so we have a natural focus on process excellence. It isn't a surprise to any of our manufacturing sites that they can improve their throughput and their costs by improving the way they deal with energy, be it consumption, capture, recycling, reduction or elimination. In the end, this pledge is about how we can improve our footprint for our customers, and how we can run our plants more efficiently. The combination of these two factors will help us achieve this goal.

Eastman launched its first sustainability review last year, which outlines the company's strategy for using sustainability as a primary driver of growth and innovation. The goal for economic growth states that two-thirds of the revenues from new product launches will offer sustainability benefits compared with the prevailing alternatives in the market. What does this mean specifically for Eastman's product line up and what are some "sustainability benefits"?

Anne Kilgore:  We strive to help our customers deliver safer products that maximize value and minimize environmental impact. For us, sustainable attributes include enhanced safety, reduced carbon footprint, decreased water usage, and renewable raw material sourcing, among many more. Moving forward, a number of our new product lines will offer an improvement in one of those areas compared to alternative products.
One example of our advantaged product lines is the Solus family of performance additives that offer superior performance, productivity and aesthetics for more sustainable VOC-compliant paint and coatings.

Solus is based on Eastman's cellulosic chemistry, which we have been pioneering over the past several decades for use in a variety of paint and coating applications. Because cellulose is nature's most abundant biopolymer, we are able to build the Solus line from renewable and sustainable raw material feedstock.

Would you say that for Eastman, sustainability is more of a term that has to be adapted depending on what area you are talking about, what products, what customers you are working with?

Anne Kilgore:  Sustainability is what it is. I truly believe it is a very broad and holistic way of running a company, and actually participating in the value chain. When companies begin to consider concrete things they want to do to achieve a more sustainable footprint, that is the point where adaptability has to come into play.

Companies have to listen to what their customers and value chains need and what solutions they want. Then a company has to leverage against its own technical expertise, and what it is able to achieve through its own portfolio, within its R&D pipeline and through its inorganic growth focus.