What was Braskem's leverage in Q1 2021 
market potential for this.
So we are looking even for ways to accelerate the expansion of that business looking at how we can fund that in different ways so that it doesn't hurt or doesn't change our credit metrics. But in the same time, we are able to access new sources of funds to be able to accelerate the capture of that value. So that's another area that we've been looking at very closely. We have also R&D developments around renewables, one that is public is green energy. We are not in the energy business today.
But with this development, green energy could be a breakthrough that could even be, depending on how the technology grows, is still in demonstration scale in terms of the technology. But if it progresses well and then goes into industrial scale, could be a very sizable market for us to get to in the future, again, also investing in developing our footprint in renewable chemicals, which is another way of mitigating the carbon footprint of the company.
Operator
[Operator Instructions] Now I'll turn it over for the company's closing remarks.
Roberto Lopes Pontes Simoes -- Chief Executive Officer
So I'd like to thank everyone for joining us in this call. And I just wanted to end with a couple of remarks. First, as you all noticed, it was a very strong first quarter, driven only by an international scenario, but also by the ability of Braskem's team members and the teams around the world to really operate very efficiently and to capture all the opportunities that the market put out there for us.
So in this scenario, we closed the quarter with a very positive cash flow generation and the leverage of 1.8 turns, which is a very important reduction from what we had in the last quarter. I mean, in three months, we reduced our leverage by more than one turn of EBITDA. Also important to comment that we reduced our gross debt by about $700 million in this three month period, which shows our commitment to keep reducing our gross bench going forward. We're very committed to our financial liquidity and also to get that investment grade from the rating agency. The second point I'd like to emphasize that we are very confident that in the second quarter, we will also have a very good industry dynamics and that our operations will run well.
We will continue to -- we expect to continue to have a good financial performance, given the scenario and also the way that we've been running the business. We will keep deleveraging Braskem, which is one of the main priorities for us this year. So I'd like to thank all of you for your participation and look to talking with you both when we release our second quarter results. But also just to remind everyone, we are holding an ESG Day in May 17. So about a couple -- 10 days from now, 11 days from now, we're having an ESG Day where we're going to disclose some of our achievements and also some new commitments around sustainable development for the company. So thank you all very much.
Operator
[Operator Closing Remarks]
Duration: 90 minutes
Call participants:
Rosana Avolio -- Investor Relation Manager
Pedro van Langendonck Teixeira de Freitas -- Finance, Procurement and Institutional Relations
Roberto Lopes Pontes Simoes -- Chief Executive Officer
Ben Isaacson -- Scotiabank -- Analyst
Christian -- Santander -- Analyst
Guilherme Levy -- Morgan Stanley -- Analyst
Anne Milne -- Bank of America -- Analyst
Luiz Carvalho -- UBS -- Analyst
Regis Cardoso -- Credit Suisse -- Analyst
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market potential for this.
So we are looking even for ways to accelerate the expansion of that business looking at how we can fund that in different ways so that it doesn't hurt or doesn't change our credit metrics. But in the same time, we are able to access new sources of funds to be able to accelerate the capture of that value. So that's another area that we've been looking at very closely. We have also R&D developments around renewables, one that is public is green energy. We are not in the energy business today.
But with this development, green energy could be a breakthrough that could even be, depending on how the technology grows, is still in demonstration scale in terms of the technology. But if it progresses well and then goes into industrial scale, could be a very sizable market for us to get to in the future, again, also investing in developing our footprint in renewable chemicals, which is another way of mitigating the carbon footprint of the company.
Operator
[Operator Instructions] Now I'll turn it over for the company's closing remarks.
Roberto Lopes Pontes Simoes -- Chief Executive Officer
So I'd like to thank everyone for joining us in this call. And I just wanted to end with a couple of remarks. First, as you all noticed, it was a very strong first quarter, driven only by an international scenario, but also by the ability of Braskem's team members and the teams around the world to really operate very efficiently and to capture all the opportunities that the market put out there for us.
So in this scenario, we closed the quarter with a very positive cash flow generation and the leverage of 1.8 turns, which is a very important reduction from what we had in the last quarter. I mean, in three months, we reduced our leverage by more than one turn of EBITDA. Also important to comment that we reduced our gross debt by about $700 million in this three month period, which shows our commitment to keep reducing our gross bench going forward. We're very committed to our financial liquidity and also to get that investment grade from the rating agency. The second point I'd like to emphasize that we are very confident that in the second quarter, we will also have a very good industry dynamics and that our operations will run well.
 We will continue to -- we expect to continue to have a good financial performance, given the scenario and also the way that we've been running the business. We will keep deleveraging Braskem, which is one of the main priorities for us this year. So I'd like to thank all of you for your participation and look to talking with you both when we release our second quarter results. But also just to remind everyone, we are holding an ESG Day in May 17. So about a couple -- 10 days from now, 11 days from now, we're having an ESG Day where we're going to disclose some of our achievements and also some new commitments around sustainable development for the company. So thank you all very much.
Operator
[Operator Closing Remarks]
Duration: 90 minutes
Call participants:
Rosana Avolio -- Investor Relation Manager
Pedro van Langendonck Teixeira de Freitas -- Finance, Procurement and Institutional Relations
Roberto Lopes Pontes Simoes -- Chief Executive Officer
Ben Isaacson -- Scotiabank -- Analyst
Christian -- Santander -- Analyst
Guilherme Levy -- Morgan Stanley -- Analyst
Anne Milne -- Bank of America -- Analyst
Luiz Carvalho -- UBS -- Analyst
Regis Cardoso -- Credit Suisse -- Analyst
More BAK analysis
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