Believing it can do well by doing good, DuPont Co on Tuesday said it will focus over the next decade on developing environmentally friendly products, using renewable resources and meeting new pollution reduction goals.
The Wilmington-based chemical company said it expects to derive additional revenue of US$6 billion or more by 2015 from its new sustainable growth strategy.
A key component of the expanded sustainability effort is doubling the funding for research and development of "environmentally smart" technologies and products to US$800 million, DuPont chief executive Charles Holliday Jr said.
The company also plans to increase annual revenue from products that improve energy efficiency and reduce greenhouse gas emissions by US$2 billion, and to double annual revenue from non-depletable resources such as biofuels to at least US$8 billion by 2015.
A fourth marketplace goal is to introduce at least 1,000 new safety products or services by 2015, Holliday told representatives of the business, environmental and scientific communities at a gathering in Washington.
"What we're talking about today is very much going where the growth is," he said. "We see sustainable growth as the biggest market opportunity on the horizon for the next two or three decades."
The tools DuPont will use to meet its marketing goals include genetically modified seeds to boost yields of crops used for biofuels, synthetic fibers made with biological components instead of petrochemicals, refrigerants with lower global warming potential, and automotive finishes with fewer volatile organic compounds.
At the same time, DuPont will work to reduce its own greenhouse gas emissions, already down more than 70 percent since 1990, by at least another 15 percent from 2004. The company will also reduce water consumption by at least 30 percent over the next 10 years in areas deemed by the UN to have scarce or stressed fresh water supplies.
"We're going to look at conservation; we're going to look at re-use," said Linda Fisher, DuPont's chief sustainability officer.
DuPont also plans to develop a corporate fleet of fuel-efficient and alternative fuel vehicles, and to further reduce its emissions of air carcinogens, already down by more than 90 percent since 1990.
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