How Tricon Advances Sustainability in Trade & Distribution

Tricon Energy, an industry leader in the global trade and distribution market, is setting a strong example in sustainability.
It has been consistently ranked in the top 1% of companies globally for sustainability by EcoVadis and participates in ESG initiatives around the world.
Elizabeth Carlson, Chief Sustainability Officer at Tricon, says: “The journey continues. We still have gaps to fill, actions to progress, data quality to improve, processes to matur, and so many systemic issues to find our way through collaboratively.”
Tricon’s history
Tricon was founded in 1996 by Ignacio Torras, the company’s President and CEO, to distribute caustic soda.
It expanded overseas from its Houston, Texas, USA home to Korea in 1999 is now in 22 offices around the world.
In Tricon’s tenth anniversary year the company formed Tricon Plastic and first surpassed US$1bn in sales.
Two years later, Tricon Dry Chemicals was established to grow its plastics business.
Tricon created its charitable initiative Tricon Cares in 2014 to benefit society through volunteering, charitable fundraising and donations.
It created its Liquid Fuels and Dry Bulk Divisions in 2015 to expand into new markets and founded Lighthouse Chartering in 2016 aimed at optimising freight and logistics.
Tricon also joined the Alliance to End Plastic Waste in 2019, investing funding, expertise and resources to enable the Alliance’s shared vision to eliminate plastic waste from the environment.
It now employs professionals in nearly 40 countries and conducts business in more than 100.
How Tricon is advancing sustainability
The company has achieved Platinum EcoVadis ratings since 2022, placing it in the top 1% of organisations ranked globally for sustainability.
It is a member of Together for Sustainability and the Vinyl Sustainability Council, collaborating with other major companies to solve sustainability challenges in the industry.
It is not just the environment - Tricon is supporting initiatives across ESG as a whole.
In 2023, 100% of its workforce was trained in anti-corruption and it launched EcoVadis supply chain assessments as part of its responsible sourcing programme.
It also completed more than 6,500 training hours in the year — an average of 11.2 hours per person — and nearly 1,500 of these were in social or environmental fields.
Meet Tricon’s CSO
Elizabeth Carlson is Tricon’s Chief Sustainability Officer and has more than 15 years of experience advancing sustainable development and collaboration across both private and non-profit sectors.
She earned a BA in International Studies from the University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill and an M.Phil in Development Studies from the University of Cambridge.
Elizabeth is experienced across a variety of sustainability functions including stakeholder engagement, government relations, human rights, ESG reporting and communications.
Her previous roles include Global Head of Sustainability at McDermott and Social Responsibility and Communications Manager at Odebrecht.
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