Environmental - Nature & Environment | PETRONAS Chemicals Group Berhad (PCG)

Why It Matters

As a chemicals manufacturer, our business relies on energy, water and minerals.

This is why preventing environmental pollution is crucial, especially within the local communities where we operate. It’s why we aspire to grow responsibly by protecting biodiversity to mitigate any harm on local ecological systems.

Through environmental stewardship, we recognise the physical climate-related risks such as water availability which can directly impact our operations. Employing best practices in managing our environmental footprint will enable us to contribute to the relevant United Nations Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs) while complying with local regulatory requirements and recognised industry standards.

Our Approach

We adhere to all applicable environmental regulations in the areas where we operate and remain guided by environmental standards which we subscribe to. Nearly all of our operations have attained ISO 14001:2015 certifications, reflecting our credibility, high standards and commitment to environmental management systems.
We are also advancing towards digitalising our business operations to reduce the consumption of paper and waste generation.
We continue to be guided by our Health, Safety and Environment (HSE) policy, as well as the PETRONAS Mandatory Control Framework and Technical Standards, which provide guidelines and best practices to achieve optimal management of our water, waste and air emissions.
Going beyond compliance, we have adopted the Circular Economy approach to strengthen our environmental stewardship. This involves transforming waste generated from our facilities — including air emissions, discharges and hazardous/non-hazardous waste — into resources, or repurposing them to keep it out of landfills, which emit methane that’s harmful to the surrounding natural environment.

How We Provide Value

Water and Wastewater Management

We comply with the PETRONAS Guidelines on Water Practices (WAPS), the PETRONAS Technical Standards (PTS) on wastewater management, as well as other local regulation standards.

We utilise a water strategy to manage our water consumption with the following three objectives: conducting water accounting, understanding water availability and increasing water use efficiency.

As we share water resources with local communities and industrial plants, we make it a point to regularly engage with stakeholders to stay updated on issues affecting water supply in the short and long term.

We also conducted a scenario analysis to identify potential conflicts due to water resource scarcity or other water-related risks. While the analysis showed that there were no conflicts, we have put in place preventive measures and mitigation actions to deal with any potential disputes in the future.

We employ a Freshwater Management Procedure to support strategic long-term plans and provide standardised practices for freshwater management. This includes identifying and quantifying major water sources, developing water initiatives and improvement plans, using water system performance as evaluation criteria, as well as developing and executing a maintenance plan for utility and wastewater systems.

We also have contingency plans in place for extreme emergencies, such as when the primary water supply is disrupted for an extended period.

In managing wastewater, the standards we adhere to ensure maintenance of critical equipment and wastewater management during abnormal plant conditions.

At the Kerteh Integrated Petrochemical Complex in Terengganu, we have our solar-powered Automated Water Quality Monitoring System (AWQMS) with a lower alarm threshold for early detection and proactive measures, enabling us to go beyond regulatory standards. We developed these internal standards by conducting a water assimilative capacity study, which involves the estimation of pollution loads in rivers.

Wastewater discharge, Chemical oxygen demand (COD, tonne)	2021	2022	2023
Overall PCG	182.2	215.0	227.8
Malaysia (Commodity)	171.4	204.2	219.4
International (Specialty)	10.8	10.8	8.5

Recorded 227.8 tonnes of COD in wastewater discharge

COD intensity (tonne/kilotonne)	2021	2022	2023
Overall PCG	0.02	0.02	0.02

Recorded 56.5 mil m3 for freshwater withdrawal

Freshwater withdrawal (mil m³)	2021	2022	2023
Overall PCG	63.7	62.7	56.5
Malaysia (Commodity)	38.5	39.0	37.7
Water Stress	10.6	10.6	10.5
Non Water Stress	27.9	28.5	27.2
International (Specialty)	25.2	23.6	18.8

Freshwater withdrawal intensity (m /tonne)	2021	2022	2023
Overall PCG	5.6	5.8	5.5
Malaysia (Commodity)	3.7	3.9	4.0
International (Specialty)	23.3	26.8	23.4

Waste Management

We are guided by the PTS on hazardous waste management and established our Waste Minimisation Blueprint as an overall guide that promotes the 3R’s (Reduce, Reuse and Recycle) for hazardous waste.

Through the 3R’s programme and other efforts such as Operation Clean Sweep® (OCS) , we aim to achieve an 82% hazardous waste 3R target by 2024.

We conduct risk and pre-qualification assessments on our contractors prior to their appointment, as well as regular quality assurance reviews thereafter, to ensure responsible management of waste, right up till its final disposal.

When new types of waste are generated, we conduct assessments to identify its characteristics, which we then report to the Department of Environment (DOE) via its centralised online system.

We also maintain our own up-to-date digital inventory list of waste being generated to track and monitor waste movement from site to third party facilities.

Hazardous waste generation (kilotonne)	2021	2022	2023
Recycled and recovered 24,190 tonnes of hazardous waste

Overall PCG	97.0	88.8	80.6
Malaysia (Commodity)	26.0	29.2	30.4
International (Specialty)	71.0	59.6	50.2

Hazardous waste underwent 3R (kilotonne)	2021	2022	2023
Overall PCG	20.4	23.4	24.2
Malaysia (Commodity)	19.7	22.3	23.1
International (Specialty)	0.71	1.04	1.07

Hazardous waste final disposal (kilotonne)	2021	2022	2023
Overall PCG	76.5	64.9	54.7
Malaysia (Commodity)	6.25	6.55	5.63
International (Specialty)	70.1	58.4	49.1

COD intensity (tonne/kilotonne)	2021	2022	2023
Overall PCG	76%	77%	76%

Air Emissions

We conduct real-time monitoring of air emissions via our Continuous Emission Monitoring System (CEMS) and Predictive Emission Monitoring System (PEMS).

We continue implementing our Leak Detection and Repair programme (LDAR) to identify equipment leaks and methane fugitive emissions through a structured maintenance and repair plan.

Air emissions, NOx (kilotonne)	2021	2022	2023
Reduced Sulfur Oxides (SOx) emissions to 0.16 kilotonne

Overall PCG	25.2	18.7	22.0
Malaysia (Commodity)	25.1	18.5	21.8
International (Specialty)	0.17	0.15	0.12

Air emissions, SOx (kilotonne)	2021	2022	2023
Overall PCG	0.27	0.19	0.17
Malaysia (Commodity)	0.27	0.19	0.16
International (Specialty)	<0.01	<0.01	<0.01

Air emissions intensity (tonne/kilotonne)	2021	2022	2023
Overall PCG	2.22	1.78	2.14
Malaysia (Commodity)	2.44	1.88	2.31
International (Specialty)	0.17	0.18	0.16

Biodiversity

We are guided by PETRONAS’ position on Nature and Biodiversity, introduced to accelerate our momentum in establishing plans and ensuring internal alignment on nature and biodiversity matters.

Our focus is on activities aimed at conserving and rehabilitating ecosystems and habitats.

We proactively manage the potential impacts surrounding biodiversity and ecosystem services through the adoption of the PETRONAS Technical Guideline on Biodiversity and Ecosystem Services (BES) Management, which outlines specific steps to identify and mitigate the impact of our operations on nature and biodiversity.

ecocare, our signature environmental conservation initiative launched in 2005, involves reforestation of the ecologically sensitive mangrove habitat along Sungai Kertih in Terengganu.

Over the years, ecocare has evolved to include the ecoCare Environmental Education Centre (EEC), a resource centre that promotes awareness and understanding of environmental conservation among teachers, students and community.