Team size: Ten

What are the most significant cases and transactions that your legal team has recently been involved in?

With a global vision of a sustainable future, Braskem is engaged to promote sustainability with focus on combating climate change and plastic waste. Following Braskem’s goals including carbon neutrality by 2050, diversifying and expanding industrial footprint, reinforcing the global leadership in biopolymers to meet clients’ needs, and further developing sustainable solutions in circular economy, the legal team has been involved in different fronts, such as commercial, logistics, feedstock, maritime transportation, corporate law, intellectual property, and M&A operations.

Braskem is the global leader in biopolymer and has been producing ‘I’m green bio-based Polyethylene’ for more than 10 years, using ethanol from sustainably sourced sugarcane as a building block for its ‘I’m green bio-based Polyethylene’ production. One of the projects that the legal team has involved was the signing of the Memorandum of Understanding to build a new bio-ethylene and ‘I’m green bio-based Polyethylene’ plant in Thailand. Besides that, the legal team has supported Braskem to move its European storage facility to the Port of Rotterdam. The new Dutch storage facility is the strategic hub for all biopolymers across the European and Asian markets. In turn, Braskem’s storage facility strengthen the Netherlands’ central logistical role in the storage and transit of bioplastics in Europe.

What will be the main focus for the company in the next 12 months and how do you intend to assist with this?

The company’s 8,000 team members are dedicated every day to improving people’s lives through sustainable solutions in chemistry and plastics. With its corporate DNA rooted in innovation, Braskem offers a complete portfolio of plastic resins and chemical products for various industries, such as food packaging, construction, manufacturing, automotive, agribusiness, health, and hygiene, and more. With 40 industrial units in Brazil, United States, Mexico and Germany and net revenue of R$58.5bn ($11.4 bn), Braskem exports its products to clients in over 100 countries.

The legal team can assist with this by having an internal legal background for Environmental, Social and Governance (ESG) from corporate and business perspectives. They will support the projects that involve reducing carbon footprint, renewable raw material and products, chemical and mechanical recycling. To operate on a global scale, there is a challenge to define the requirements to support circular economy and sustainability initiatives combining legislations in different countries.