Sustainability

Local employment and skills development are at the heart of our global model.  98% of our highly skilled workforce in Trinidad & Tobago are Trinbagonian citizens, and we are proud to have majority-local teams in our methanol operations in Oman and the United States.

As the leading petrochemicals producer in Trinidad & Tobago, we train many of the world-leading specialists who sustain Trinidad’s petrochemicals sector. 48% of Proman’s current employees in Trinidad are graduates of our Engineering & Maintenance, Graduate or Process Operator Trainee schemes. Over 500 individuals have entered the job market since 2012 as a result of our Technical and Non-Technical training programmes.

This focus on local skills developments ensures that our success is always shared with the communities where we live and work.

Our nitrogen-based fertilisers contribute to healthy plant growth and high crop yields. 75% of the nitrogen-based product we produce is subsequently sold as fertilizer, supporting farmers around the world.

We are committed to improving access to fertiliser products worldwide, to develop local agriculture, increase food availability and improve diets.

We adhere to the most rigorous industry health and safety standards, including comprehensive disaster risk reduction and preparedness training at all of our production sites.

Our HSEQ policies place employee well-being at the forefront, supporting a range of physical as well as mental health provisions.

Improving access to quality education is a central focus of our global ESG efforts and underpins our skilled workforce globally.

Working with local partners, we invest in better education at all levels, from primary to tertiary learning. Within Proman, we offer cross-disciplinary training schemes and scholarships to support local talent development, and provide ongoing vocational and other workplace training programmes for all employees.

We are committed to providing an equal opportunities workplace. We constantly review our policies to ensure that we continue to recruit, motivate and progress talented women within our global business, at all levels of decision-making.

We are proud to have female participation at every senior management level, including leadership of a number of our core business functions. Our female leaders currently hold over 30% of the management positions in our US subsidiary and 25% of management positions in Trinidad & Tobago. We are actively working towards greater gender parity at all levels.

We are committed to being responsible stewards of this essential resource.

We always utilise recycled water in our operations where possible, and uphold stringent criteria for waste water discharge. We have maintained a record of zero citations for our waste water discharge throughout our 30+ year operating history in Trinidad and Tobago.

Proman is always seeking new ways to innovate, improve resource efficiency and protect the environment in which we live and operate.

We are committed to developing sustainable methanol and ammonia as cleaner alternatives to fossil fuels, and we are a global leader in developing the market for methanol as a safe, clean-burning and high-scalable sustainable energy product.

Green methanol, produced from non-recyclable waste, bio-mass or renewable energy, can play an important role in the global energy transition. We are working with leading technology providers and other partner to progress sustainable methanol production in Belgium, Quebec and Trinidad and Tobago.

For us, local content means local value added, and the generation of economic activity that drives employment and the distribution of wealth to all levels of society. This principle extends across our operations, from local capacity-building and skills development, to fair and transparent sourcing and procurement.

Proman is actively working to promote a more sustainable shipping future by driving the take-up methanol as a low-emission alternative marine fuel. As the shipping industry rises to the challenge of reducing the carbon intensity of the sector by 40% in 2030 and 70% by 2050, cleaner fuels such as methanol and ammonia, which can be produced from sustainable sources, provide a clear pathway to reducing greenhouse gas emissions, in line with global climate targets.

As a marine fuel, methanol generates significantly lower emissions and the near total elimination of sulphur oxides compared with conventional fuels. Traditional ‘grey’ methanol produced from natural gas brings an immediate 10-15% CO₂ reduction compared to conventional marine fuels, which increases to over 90% with renewable methanol. Reducing sulphur and nitrogen oxide emissions will help reduce damaging air pollution in coastal communities and worldwide.

We work with our global CSR partners Habitat for Humanity to support a range of home building, disaster resilience and emergency response projects across the Caribbean, Europe, and the United States.

Over the course of our initial two year partnership, around 800,000 people have benefited from our education and community projects.

Our production sites are built and maintained to industry-leading standards, to ensure the highest levels of safe, efficient and environmentally responsible operations.

We utilise state-of-the-art technologies to ensure efficient production as a key criteria for all of our new projects and developments, while always optimising towards efficiency upgrades and improvements for our existing operations.

We oversee all projects, processes and products through their life cycles, protecting our employees and local communities while minimizing environmental impact.

Proman continuously seeks to improve resource efficiency across our plants, combining best-in-class technology with rigorous ongoing maintenance to optimise performance.

At the same time, we are actively developing the global marketplace for methanol as low-cost, low-carbon alternative energy source, reducing consumer reliance on non-renewable traditional fuels.

Methanol is significantly safer for the marine environment in the event of spillage than other forms of fuel, being both water soluble and readily bio-degradable.

Combined with our pioneering new low-emission eco-tankers and deliberately reduced vessel speeds, Proman Shipping leads the way in developing a more sustainable global shipping industry.

Over the last two decades, we have worked closely with our local communities to regenerate coastal areas, supporting livelihoods and driving sustainable regional economic development.

We have been recognised for a number of long-standing regeneration projects around the Point Lisas shoreline and Carli Bay area in Trinidad and Tobago, including an award-winning partnership with the Lisas Gardens Welfare Community Group to convert a once-abandoned site into a popular community recreation park and sponsorship of the popular annual Carli Bay Fish Festival. We have ongoing Mangrove and Wetland restoration projects underway in Trinidad and Lake Charles, Louisiana.

We adhere to a rigorous code of conduct and shared values throughout the business, which promote the development of effective, accountable and transparent institutions in all of our markets.

We are a fundamentally partnerships-led business. In all of our markets, we choose the best-in-class technologies, operating and health and safety practices in the development of locally-led, world-class production facilities.

We constantly innovate, seeking new partnerships to shift the paradigm of our industry.