OQ Chemicals was once again recognized for its sustainability management in the supply chain. The corporate division belonging to the OQ Group was rated by the independent international rating agency Ecovadis and achieved gold status for the second time in a row. This result puts OQ Chemicals among the top five percent of the companies assessed in its peer group worldwide. Its 2019 Sustainability Report “Accelerate Sustainability” describes its core topics and objectives. Among other things, OQ Chemicals presents carboxylic acids as ‘hidden champions’, which, for example, make energy-efficient and environmentally friendly synthetic lubricants for the refrigeration industry possible in the first place. OQ, a global integrated energy company that was formed just last year, will publish its 2019 Sustainability Report for the whole group shortly.

“We are very pleased to have achieved Gold status with Ecovadis for the second in a row and that we were able to improve our overall score once again. Among other things, the rating honored our newly introduced measures in the area of sustainable procurement. It shows us that we are on the right track, but are still far from reaching our goal. We see the award as an incentive to continue working on, monitoring and actively promoting the key issues of today and tomorrow,” said Dr. Ina Werxhausen, “Lead Sustainability” at OQ Chemicals. “Finally, our renewed Gold status is an effective contribution to the OQ Group's
sustainability goals,” she continued.

OQ Chemicals' Sustainability Report 2019 is available online at chemicals.oq.com/sustainability2019.

Ecovadis is one of the world's leading providers of sustainability ratings. It uniformly assesses companies worldwide in the four categories of environment, working conditions, responsible management, and sustainable procurement, thus making their sustainability activities comparable. The best five percent of the comparison group achieve gold status.

About OQ Chemicals
OQ Chemicals, formerly Oxea, is a global manufacturer of oxo intermediates and oxo derivatives, such as alcohols, polyols, carboxylic acids, specialty esters, and amines. These products are used for the production of high-quality coatings, lubricants, cosmetics and pharmaceutical products, flavours and fragrances, printing inks and plastics. More information is available at chemicals.oq.com.

About OQ
OQ Chemicals is part of OQ (www.oq.com), an integrated energy company that delivers sustainability and business excellence. OQ operates in 16 countries and covers the entire value chain from exploration and production to the marketing and distribution of its products.