ICL@ a glance

KPIs, Trends & Insights

Below are the main sustainability quantitative KPIs (Key Performance Indicators) from recent years. Analysis of KPI trends have outlined the following insights:

Acquisitions/Divestments

In 2016, the data from ICL China YPH JV was integrated into the report. YPH JV is a major facility and its inclusion in the report has had major impacts on various indicators. Other sites purchased/sold since 2008 usually only had minor influences on ICL’s overall sustainability KPIs.

Energy

In August 2018, ICL has made a significant shift to self electricity production, with the full operation of the new, highly efficient and 100% natural-gas based Sdom CHP (combined heat and power) plant. Since then, the new plant is supplying the grand majority of the electricity demand for all ICL’s Israeli sites, and thus replacing most previously externally purchased electricity in ICL Israel. Some surplus electricity from the new plant is also sold by ICL to the Israeli national grid. The plant also supplies the ICL Sdom different facilities with all need steam.
Following the operation of the new Sdom power plant, ICL’s total energy consumption in 2018 has increased by 14% compared to 2017. Direct Energy has increased by 23% while Indirect energy has decreased by 14%. The increase in the overall energy figures which combine both fuels and electricity, is an unavoidable consequence of the major transition to self-electricity generation. Despite the fact that ICL sites have consumed very similar amounts of electricity overall- the 2018 figures now include the increased consumed natural gas ‘gross’ amounts, replacing some of the 2017 ‘net’ electricity amounts. Despite the very high efficiency of ICL’s new plant, not all natural gas is converted to the consumed electricity and steam, and the 2018 energy figure now includes these unavoidable conversion losses. In addition, the major ICL project of establishing the new Sdom CHP plant also required a relatively long period of trial-runs for the plant’s proper operation (In 2018: January to July). During these trial-runs, significant amounts of NG were unavoidably consumed even before the plant could provide electricity for the ICL sites. The company’s analysis that approximately 40% of the increase in fuel consumption in 2018 can be attributed to these trial-runs, which will not be needed as of 2019, in the normal full-year operation of the new plant. In a broader perspective, the new power plant allows for a reduction of the overall energy-related environmental impact in the state of Israel, as evident from the significant reduction in NOx emissions (see below).
By the end of 2018, 95% (40/42) of ICL Israel’s main energy-consuming installations were converted to natural gas (NG). Following the almost completed transition, 90% of the total remote fuel consumption of ICL Global facilities in 2018 was derived of NG (compared to only 26% in 2008, pre-transition).

Greenhouse Gas Emissions

By 2018, ICL’s Global GHG emissions have been reduced by 21% compared with 2008 base year emissions.
Specifically in 2018, emissions have increased by 5% compared to 2017. As explained above, the new highly efficient Sdom power plant has been supplying almost all ICL Israel electricity consumption since August 2018. This electricity is much lower in carbon intensity compared with the previously used external electricity, allowing for significantly decreased Scope 2 emissions. However, the Scope 1 emissions now include more losses from the increased natural gas combustion in the new plant (some losses always exist, despite the highly efficient process). Also, during the relatively long trial-run period for the plant (in 2018: January to July), significant amounts of NG were unavoidably consumed even before the new plant could provide electricity for the ICL sites. The company’s analysis found that the grand majority of the total GHG emissions increase in 2018 (161K tonnes CO2e) is attributed to these trial runs, and therefore these emissions are expected to be avoided with the full year normal operation of the CHP plant- from 2019 and onwards. Some of the Scope 1 increase is also attributed to NG used for surplus electricity sold to the national grid (in relatively small amounts during 2018).

Air Emissions

Since 2008, ICL has lowered SOx emissions by 57%; NOx emissions by 86% and PM emissions by 65%. The most prominent cause of these reductions is the transition to natural gas use at ICL Israel.
SOx emissions are heavily dependent on the operation of the sulphuric acid production plants in ICL Rotem. In 2018, ICL’s global SOx emissions were reduced by 25% compared to 2017, mostly due to the installation of a new, advanced and improved catalyst in one of these sulphuric acid production plants. This has also caused a significant decrease in relative terms of SOx per total phosphate production. Further reductions are expected in 2019 with additional reduction measures.
NOx emissions were reduced by 20% in 2018. The reduction was mostly caused due to the installation of a new highly efficient boiler, in the new Sdom power plant.
However, the new power plant also has caused an unavoidable increase in VOC emissions (+18% in 2018), due to the large increase in natural gas consumption. The 2018 VOC emissions were still 11% lower than in the 2008 base year, and are generally very low compared with other air emissions related to ICL’s operations and described in this report. The major switch to self production of electricity in ICL’s highly efficient new CHP plant, allows for indirect reduction of emissions in other external power plants.
PM emissions have been reduced in 2017 due to a decrease in measured emissions in ICL Rotem, and have remained almost constant in 2018. The PM emissions of ICL Rotem and other ICL sites are expected to be reduced further in upcoming years due to the usage of new reduction technologies, as part of the implementation of the clean air act in Israel.

Water & Wastewater

Potable water consumption has decreased by 5% in 2018, while non-potable water consumption has increased by 3%. Both trends were mostly due to increased availability of non-potable water adequate for the production processes at ICL Rotem and ICL YPH, replacing some of the potable water used in 2017.
ICL expects it’s water consumption to increase somewhat in the next few years, as major production facilities place new air emission filters and scrubbers that require water as part of their standard operation.
In 2018 the amount of output wastewater remained almost constant compared to 2017. Previously, an 8.7% increase occurred in the amount of wastewater in 2017 compared to 2016 due to an increase in runoff (rainwater) measured and released into the sea at ICL UK Boulby.

Waste

Non-Hazardous waste: There are no clear trends in regards to the amount of waste produced in ICL’s plants. Amounts can vary greatly from year to year. The main reasons are the large amounts of wastes usually created in one-time construction/renovation projects, and certain wastes types which are accumulated in storage ponds or areas for several years before being transferred to treatment by external professional companies. Non-Haz waste quantities decreased by 16% in 2018 for such reasons.
Hazardous waste: These quantities can also significantly fluctuate between years, since certain wastes types are accumulated for several years before being transferred to treatment by external professional companies. In 2018, overall haz-waste quantities increased slightly (1%). This was caused by some ICL Europe sites, where there was an increase in removal of hazardous packaging material; an increase in sludge removal from on-site effluent treatment and some increased production volumes. However, this increase was almost completely conutered by a reduction in filter cake removal amounts in ICL Israel.

Safety

The IR rate was reduced by 12% in 2018 compared to 2017, due to decrease in company employees LWDC accidents. However, company employees absent days after such accidents have increased, resulting in a 12% increase in the SI rate. the grand majority of these absent days resulted from 5 specific un-severe leg-twisting and tripping incidents that have caused relatively long work absences.
The total number of LWDC incidents has increased by 7% in 2018, due to an increase in contractor employee accidents. This increase was partially caused by large on-site CAPEX projects conducted in 2018 in ICL Dead Sea and ICL Iberia, involving extensive work by contractor employees (significantly more than in 2017). Proactive measures are taken to enhance safety and prevent accidents for both company and contractor employees. Read more
Unfortunately, one death of a contractor employee occurred during 2018. See Health & Safety for the details and actions taken following this incident.

Community Engagement

Community spendings have increased by 51% between 2017 and 2018. The grand majority of this increase is derived from ICL’s investment in the new Dead Sea Heritage site and visitor center, see details here.

	units	2016	2017	2018
Sales	$ millions	5,363	5,418	5,556
Operating Income (loss)	$ millions	-3	629	1,519
Employees	#	13,414	12,660	12,125
Employees unionized	%	75%	75%	70%
Community Spending	$ millions	5	5	8
ISO 9001 or an eqv. standard for quality	% of facilities certified	80%	89%	93%

Environmental Performance

		units	2016	2017	2018
Environmental Protection Spending	Investments	$millions	13.2	33.8	46.7
	Expenditures	$millions	64.7	62.4	74.5
Certification	ISO 14001 or an eqv. standard for environmental management	% of production sites certified	80%	89%	91%
	ISO 50001 or an eqv. standard for energy	% of production sites certified	19%	32%	32%
Energy	Total energy use	GJ (millions)	30.2	30.8	35.2
	Direct	GJ (millions)	22.3	23	28.4
	Indirect	GJ (millions)	7.9	7.8	6.8
	Electricity	GJ (millions)	7.1	7.2	6
	Natural Gas	GJ (millions)	18.7	19.8	25.8
Water	Total water use	m3 (millions)	70.9	68.5	69.1
	Potable	m3 (millions)	19.2	20.2	19.2
	Non-potable	m3 (millions)	51.7	48.3	49.9
	Grid (Municipal) water use	m3 (millions)	17.3	18.6	17.4
	Wastewater discharge	m3 (millions)	22.3	24.4	24.4
GHG	Total GHG Emissions 1+2+3	CO2e tonnes (thousands)	3,155	3,162	3,323
	Scope 1	CO2e tonnes (thousands)	1,905	1,932	2,278
	Scope 2 (market based)	CO2e tonnes (thousands)	1,159	1,140	952
	Scope 3	CO2e tonnes (thousands)	91	90	93
Air	NOx	tonnes (thousands)	1.5	1.9	1.5
	SOx	tonnes (thousands)	6	5.2	3.9
	PM	tonnes (thousands)	1.5	0.98	0.96
	NH3	tonnes (thousands)	0.05	0.021	0.087
	VOC	tonnes (thousands)	0.05	0.06	0.07
Waste	Total Waste	tonnes (thousands)	67.1	70.1	63.5
	Total Haz Waste	tonnes (thousands)	23.6	25.5	25.8
	Total Non-Haz waste	tonnes (thousands)	43.5	44.6	37.7
	Recycling Rate - Haz	%	21%	26%	30%
	Landfill Rate - Haz	%	66%	67%	62%
	Recycling Rate - Non Haz	%	52%	47%	48%
	Landfill Rate - Non Haz	%	46%	52%	51%

Health & Safety

	units	2016	2017	2018
OHSAS 18001/ISO45001 or eqv. standard for safety	% of facilities certified	80%	89%	89%
Rate of work accidents (IR Rate)		0.73	0.82	0.73
Rate of lost workdays (SI Rate)		22.5	25.6	28.6
Company Employees Accidents		85	87	76
Contractor Employees Accidents		34	24	43
Fatalities Company Employees		1	0	0
Fatalities Contractor Employees		1	1	1

12.6

Encourage companies, especially large and transnational companies, to adopt sustainable practices and to integrate sustainability into their reporting cycle.

Sustainability Reporting Disclosures:

Disclosure: 103-3

Disclosure: 102-15

Disclosure: 305-1

Disclosure: 305-7