LANXESS promotes FIA’s Make Cars Green campaign

Sept. 22, 2010 - PRLog -- Singapore – As excitement builds up for the upcoming 2010 Formula 1 Night Race in Singapore, LANXESS takes the opportunity to share with employees the Make Cars Green international environmental campaign. An initiative by Formula One racing’s governing body Fédération Internationale de l'Automobile (FIA), the campaign aims to help reduce the impact of cars on the environment and help drivers think green before they drive.

Through posters, employee newsletters, e-mails, in-house TV screens, Intranet and Internet sites, LANXESS has launched an awareness campaign to promote the ten points for greener motoring (read the details at http://www.makecarsgreen.com/10-points.html). The campaign will end with an online quiz where winners will receive F1 merchandise as prizes. The campaign from 23 to 29 September will outreach to around 200 employees in Singapore, Vietnam and Australia.

“For LANXESS, sustainability goes beyond the workplace; it needs to be permeate our thoughts and lifestyles,” said Kaye Lim, LANXESS’ Vice President of Corporate Communications for the Asia Pacific region.

Lim added, “The ten tips in the Make Cars Green leaflet explain the what, why and how of green driving in a concise manner. From it, we can learn many good habits that can help reduce fuel consumption, cut expenses and lower carbon emissions.”

LANXESS also promotes environmentally responsible lifestyles through its support for various community projects. On 19 September, LANXESS sponsored Jurong Secondary School’s gravity-driven soap box derby car at Singapore’s inaugural G1 race which aimed to promote alternative energy options in transportation.

In 2008, LANXESS was behind the success of Japanese photojournalist Shusei Yamada, who completed a Biodiesel Adventure Tour─a 60,000-kilometer-long trip around the world. "LANXESS provided ion exchange resins and technical support that allowed me to forego the use of fossil fuel and instead run my Land Cruiser on biodiesel refined on the go‚" said Yamada.

Additionally, LANXESS is at the heart of defining the technologies for sustainable mobility. Environmentally friendly tires produced with high-performance rubber from LANXESS have lower rolling resistance, good wet grip and longer service life. High-tech plastics from LANXESS have opened up new frontiers in fuel efficiency, crash resistance and car design. Used in some of the latest Audi models, they are able to increase strength of body parts while reducing weight in certain structural components by up to 50 percent.

Between 2007 and 2009, LANXESS reduced its direct greenhouse emissions by more than 50 percent. Annual emissions from the group’s plants were cut from 3.5 million to 1.5 million metric tons of CO2 equivalents.

LANXESS is a leading specialty chemicals company with sales of EUR 5.06 billion in 2009 and currently around 14,400 employees in 23 countries. The company is represented at 42 production sites worldwide. The core business of LANXESS is the development, manufacturing and marketing of plastics, rubber, intermediates and specialty chemicals. More information at http://www.lanxess.sg, http://www.lanxess.com.au, http://lanxess.vn.

Forward-Looking Statements
This news release may contain forward-looking statements based on current assumptions and forecasts made by LANXESS AG management. Various known and unknown risks, uncertainties and other factors could lead to material differences between the actual future results, financial situation, development or performance of the company and the estimates given here. The company assumes no liability whatsoever to update these forward-looking statements or to conform them to future events or developments.

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LANXESS is a leading specialty chemicals company with sales of EUR 5.06 billion in 2009 and currently around 14,400 employees in 23 countries. The company is represented at 42 production sites worldwide. More information at http://www.lanxess.sg.