Control of carbon footprint

Given that 96% of energy use in SQM is solar, the carbon footprint of lithium hydroxide and lithium carbonate, based on brine, is very small.

SQM’s lithium hydroxide production process produces less than 9 kg of CO2 eq/kg with 56% of the emissions from the external raw materials used in the production process. In comparison, the carbon footprint of cobalt is similar and that of gold is ~ 2000X the lithium hydroxide carbon footprint of SQM.

Since 2015, SQM has reduced its emissions by more than 20%.