By Emma Walker, Commercial Director, OQEMA

Having been in touch with Tony Duncan for many years, I was thrilled when OQEMA signed an agreement with Circa to supply Circa’s green solvent Cyrene™ in the UK and Europe.

For OQEMA, the Circa partnership both supports the growth of Cyrene™ in the market and puts us at the forefront of sustainability. As the flagship product in our renewable chemicals portfolio, Cyrene™ offers many benefits over traditional petro-based solvents. We also partner with our customers to help them transition to greater sustainability with as little disruption as possible.

I’ve always been inspired by Circa’s mission and ambition and since the IPO, I’ve been impressed by the high-level additions to the leadership team, new funding, industry partnerships and the launch of the Circa Renewable Chemistry Institute.

I believe the time is right for Circa and for sustainable chemicals in general. Regulators recognise this and large chemical companies also realise that they need to make a change.

By formalising our partnership with Circa, we have taken an important step forward in our sustainability journey. My ambition is for Circa’s products to be sold in large volumes all over Europe. When that happens, I will be able to look back and know that I played my part in the Circa success story – for Cyrene™ and all the other green chemicals which will follow.

Circa has taken a leadership position by creating something new in a solvent sector which has seen very little innovation for decades, despite the incumbent products being harmful. The passion that the Circa team has for their products and the support they have from the financial markets combined with an ambitious, strategic leadership team is truly impressive.