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NATURAL RESOURCE MANAGEMENT

We are committed to being a leading steward of our planet.

We use our expertise and ingenuity to meet environmental and societal needs for today and for generations to come.

Our Governance

As responsible stewards of the environment, we monitor and manage our environmental impacts including energy, GHG emissions and climate, responsible water management, air quality, and waste and circularity. Our CEO and Executive Leadership Team are accountable for Albemarle's environmental performance, and the Sustainability, Safety & Public Policy (SSP) Committee of our Board of Directors provides oversight of Albemarle's natural resource management programs. The committee meets quarterly with our Vice President, Investor Relations and Sustainability, to review our natural resource management performance and progress towards our environmental targets, and the SSP Committee reports to the Board on a quarterly basis. Our environmental policy outlines our commitment to our environmental stewardship.

ENERGY, GHG EMISSIONS AND CLIMATE

As a world leader in the transformation of essential resources into critical ingredients for mobility, energy, connectivity and health, we must do our part to reduce energy use and emissions from our own operations.

Our Approach

  • We strive for continuous improvement and benchmark our performance against our top performing peers.
  • We collect scope 1, 2 and 3 GHG emissions data for all Albemarle sites within our footprint using the principles of the GHG Protocol.
  • We use an integrated environmental data management platform to help us gain greater visibility into our sustainability performance across the company.
  • For larger capital projects (over $25 million), we analyze the sensitivity of project economics by varying the carbon price between zero and $200/mt.

 

Programs & Initiatives

  • We increasingly power our operations with renewable electricity. In 2024, 24% of our total electricity consumption was from renewable resources, up from 16% in 2023.
  • We invest in innovative process technologies such as heat recovery and integration systems to optimize energy efficiency.
  • We use Life Cycle Assessment (LCA) methodologies to develop Product Carbon Footprints (PCFs) to help us better understand the climate change impacts of our products and to help our customers gain greater visibility into their scope 3 emissions.
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CLIMATE STRATEGY

We analyze the risks and opportunities climate change presents to our business which strengthens our resilience and provides a basis for risk mitigation strategies.

The Albemarle Climate Strategy outlines our approach and responsibility to address the impact of our operations on the environment. We remain committed to reducing our carbon footprint. Developing a roadmap is the first step to enhance our resilience in a decarbonizing world while balancing stakeholder expectations, technological availability, and financial feasibility.

As part of our Climate Strategy, we complete the CDP Climate Change and Water Security questionnaire annually.

 

Learn more about the CDP Climate Change and Water Security Questionnaire
LIFE CYCLE ASSESSMENTS

Just as our customers are interested in the environmental footprint of our products, we strive to understand the footprint of our raw materials.

In 2021, we completed our first Life Cycle Assessments (LCAs) related to rock-based lithium hydroxide and brine-based lithium carbonate performed in accordance with ISO 14040/14044 standards using primary data from our Salar de Atacama, La Negra, Greenbushes and Talison operations and design data for the Kemerton production facilities.

In 2024, we expanded the development of externally verified Product Carbon Footprints for select bromine and lithium products from locations in the U.S., Jordan and China.

We are in the process of building out LCAs for a variety of products and existing LCAs are regularly reviewed.

DECARBONIZATION ROADMAP

We acknowledge the necessity of developing a long-term strategy to manage our GHG emissions that is consistent with our commitment to environmental responsibility and in response to stakeholder expectations and global climate legislation.

While we continued to work toward our 2030 climate ambitions, in 2024, we also initiated the development of a decarbonization roadmap for reducing our carbon emissions beyond 2030. Our cross-functional team mapped hotspots where most of our emissions occur and that require significant interventions to meet our decarbonization ambitions. Across our facilities the following hot spots contribute the most emissions:
 

  • Purchased Electricity
  • Steam Generation
  • Drying
  • Transport and Stationary Engines
  • Electricity Generation
  • High Temperature Calcination
  • Process CO2 and Fugitives

 

RESPONSIBLE WATER MANAGEMENT

Water is key to a sustainable future and critical for socio-economic development, energy and food production, healthy ecosystems and human survival. Responsible management of freshwater resources is a core component of Albemarle’s sustainability strategy.

Our Approach

  • We understand that water is a shared resource, and as a signatory to the UNGC CEO Water Mandate, we are committed to continuous improvement of our water management practices.
  • We invest in advanced technologies to reduce our freshwater footprint and prioritize initiatives in countries with a high or extremely high baseline water stress indicator as classified in Aqueduct 3.0 by the World Resources Institute (WRI).
  • We disclose our water management actions through our annual CDP response  and our TCFD Report,  which outlines how we identify and manage water-related risks and opportunities related to our business.
  • We continue to support the International Lithium Association (ILiA) Sustainable Lithium Subcommittee in its work on product environmental footprint guidance that focuses on water use. We aim to conserve freshwater where possible and to lower our water footprint through monitoring and investment in technologies that improve water efficiency.
  • We collect water withdrawal and consumption data according to the SASB Chemicals Industry Standard and calculate the percentage of freshwater consumed in areas with high and extremely high overall water risk, as defined by the World Resources Institute (WRI) Water Risk Atlas tool.
  • Our measurement of water use does not include brine (a source of bromine and lithium) due to its extreme salinity, which makes it unsuitable as a freshwater source.
     

 

Programs & Initiatives

  • We identify opportunities to reduce freshwater consumption through significant investments in our facilities and with our research and development efforts.  
    • In our lithium operations, we continued to optimize the efficiency of our thermal evaporator at our La Negra facility in Chile. This technology enables us to significantly increase our lithium production without a corresponding increase in freshwater usage.
    • We continued with the construction of our NEBO project at our Jordan Bromine Company (JBC) joint venture in Jordan and are progressing in bringing the project online. NEBO, an innovative process upgrade, takes a bromine co-product stream and converts it to a saleable product without the need for additional freshwater consumption. Once NEBO is fully operational, we anticipate bringing JBC’s water intensity in line with 2030 targets. NEBO reached mechanical completion in March 2025 and is currently in commissioning. 
CIRCULARITY AND WASTE MINIMIZATION

The success of our business is dependent on the efficient stewardship of finite brine and hard-rock resources.

Our Approach

  • We aim to reduce waste through the implementation of process improvements and to enable a circular economy through recycling initiatives and partnerships across our value chain.
  • We seek to ensure our co-products are valuable raw materials in other industries, assisting those industries with their sustainability goals and improving our own natural resource management and efficiency.

 

Programs & Initiatives

  • We align our tailings management with industry best practices at our sites globally.
    • Brine-based lithium mining co-products are typically salts. At Albemarle’s Chilean sites, we work to diligently upcycle these salts into commodity raw materials for the fertilizer, mining and construction industries. Bischofite, one of the co-products from our lithium extraction, is being successfully applied in a solution that acts as a dust suppressant. This  solution uses approximately 95% less water than the use of water alone and is 30% more effective in the control of dust on dirt roads. In 2024, Albemarle sold enough bischofite as dust suppressant in Chile to save approximately 51 billion liters of water. 
    • In Australia, we are partnering with key stakeholders to find alternatives for the safe use of delithiated beta spodumene (DBS), a fine sand product, which can be used as an alternative to freshly quarried sand for infrastructure projects.
BIODIVERSITY

We understand the importance of protecting, sustainably managing and restoring biodiversity.

Our Approach

  • Our Biodiversity Statement highlights our commitment to protect, sustainably manage and restore biodiversity within and near our existing areas of operation.

 

Programs & Initiatives

  • To minimize the impact of our operations on biodiversity, we work with local communities and other stakeholders to develop and implement site-based biodiversity initiatives.
    • After an acoustic survey at our Kings Mountain, North Carolina, site suggested a potential habitat for the tricolored bat, one of the region’s smallest bat species and currently proposed to be listed as endangered, Albemarle committed to developing appropriate management strategies to mitigate potential impacts of our operations on the bat’s natural habitat.
    • At our Australian operations, we are proactively engaged in the federal nature policy space and with our First Nations custodians as well as pursuing on-ground biodiversity offsets.
    • In the Peine-Punta La Negra lagoon in Chile, we have donated over $1 million since 2016 to support the monitoring of the migration of flamingo populations and have seen an increase in the bird population since the program’s inception.
    • Through collaboration with the Nevada Division of Wildlife and the U.S. Fish & Wildlife Service, the Silver Peak facility has developed a robust avian protection program.
  • We apply international best practices in conducting thorough analyses and site surveys across our operations.
    • Our commitment under IRMA (Initiative for Responsible Mining Assurance) obligates us to prevent and mitigate negative impacts of our mining operations on natural habitats and sensitive ecosystems.