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With over 200 years of history, chemical company Chemours produces solutions for industries as diverse as automotive, paints, plastics, electronics, construction, energy and telecommunications. Focused on making environmentally friendly chemicals, it has 35 production plants and customers in around 120 countries. In Spain, it has had an office in Gijón (Asturias) since 2015.

 

Among the US company's most innovative products are its membranes for producing green hydrogen, a refrigerant that reduces global warming potential by 99.9% and a pigment that, when applied to paints, allows a surface to be perfectly covered with a single coat.      

 

        

 

What values characterise The Chemours Company?

Chemours is a different kind of chemical company, driven by our purpose to create a better world through the power of our chemistry. Across all business units, our innovative products make many of the comforts of modern life possible. We provide better, safer, more reliable and sustainable solutions through responsible chemistry in order to meet the needs of an increasingly demanding world. We have three business lines: titanium technologies, thermal and specialised solutions and advanced performance materials.

 

Why was the Spanish subsidiary created?

Chemours Spain has been based in Asturias ever since our foundation in 2015, where we have grown from being a small shared services centre to a strategic office for the company.

 

What infrastructure and how many employees do you have in Spain?

At present, the staff is made up of approximately 180 employees, 60% of whom are women, including management positions. We also have five scholarship holders working with us in collaboration with the Fundación Universidad de Oviedo. Chemours, based in Asturias, supports key areas of the company worldwide, such as finance, human resources, IT, legal services, communication, purchasing and logistics. We employ innovative techniques at our Gijón office such as process automation, artificial intelligence, data analytics and cloud solutions. Digital transformation is key for our work culture, fostering automation and data visualisation. All employees have access to training in new technologies to improve processes and become more efficient. For three consecutive years, we have been certified as a Great Place to Work at national level, and in 2023 we were also recognised as one of the five best companies to work for in Asturias. These awards are a testament to the culture that the team has worked so hard to foster over the years.

 

What have been your most important investments in Spain?

In recent years, Chemours has implemented an ambitious transformation plan to consolidate our leadership position, and we continue to attract other activities that can be carried out from Asturias, with a consequent increase in talent in the region. To provide these services, we employ highly qualified professionals of 22 different nationalities, enabling us to employ native speakers of up to 14 different languages.

 

How important is Spain for the company's strategy?

It is clear to our headquarters in Delaware (United States) that Asturias is a centre of excellence where key processes are carried out on a day-to-day basis, providing solutions that generate high added value for our businesses. Spain is strategic for Chemours.

 

Do you have plans to increase the weight of the Spanish subsidiary within the group?

By maintaining access to exceptional Asturian talent, I am confident that we will continue to strengthen our Spanish subsidiary. The pandemic has shown that having specific resource talents in a given location is no longer as crucial as it used to be. What is crucial is to have access to capacities and skills, and in Asturias we have found these.

 

What is your customer profile in Spain?

Chemours' products are central to many clean energy breakthroughs and to meeting many countries’ climate and decarbonisation goals. We supply a wide range of industrial and speciality chemicals to around 2,700 customers worldwide. While our Nafion^TM ion exchange membranes for the hydrogen economy are currently among the most critical technologies on the path to Net Zero, Chemours' chemicals are highly important to a range of industries and products that are driving the sustainable transition of our economy. For example, our materials help make wind turbines robust and less prone to failure, and in the solar industry they provide electrical insulation and extend the life of modules by up to 25 years. Similarly, speciality chemicals are a central component of heat pumps and insulating paints and foams, which are already becoming key elements of a sustainable and energy-efficient building industry. They are also crucial to the semiconductor manufacturing process in multiple ways, and are used in setting up a broad 5G infrastructure. They are also used in the latest fuel cells and batteries in electric vehicles, and increase efficiency and safety in many motor vehicles.

 

Innovation is very present in your products, as well as sustainability. How do these two factors come together in a chemical company?

The green economy and emerging sustainable technologies rely on Chemours chemistry and products in applications that will address major challenges in the fight against climate change, from transitioning to clean energy to lessening the impact of data centres at the heart of the digital transformation. As we grow to meet the demand for products that enable low-carbon and energy-saving technologies, we are focused on doing so while reducing our environmental impact. In 2018, we announced our ambitious sustainability goals to be achieved by 2030, to embed sustainable and inclusive practices in all aspects of our operations. Our sustainability goals are aligned with the Paris Agreement and each one is mapped to at least one UN Sustainable Development Goal and, more specifically, the sub-goals within each broader category. We see our sustainability goals as a business imperative, essential to our long-term growth and success as a company. We are making significant progress towards our goals, and we are enhancing our efforts through initiatives like our service day, where employees participate in volunteer activities for the community.

 

^{Photos: The Chemours Company}