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.
TYPHOON: The storm’s path indicates a high possibility of Krathon making landfall in Pingtung County, depending on when the storm turns north, the CWA said Typhoon Krathon is strengthening and is more likely to make landfall in Taiwan, the Central Weather Administration (CWA) said in a forecast released yesterday afternoon. As of 2pm yesterday, the CWA’s updated sea warning for Krathon showed that the storm was about 430km southeast of Oluanpi (鵝鑾鼻), Taiwan’s southernmost point. It was moving in west-northwest at 9kph, with maximum sustained winds of 119kph and gusts of up to 155kph, CWA data showed. Krathon is expected to move further west before turning north tomorrow, CWA forecaster Wu Wan-hua (伍婉華) said. The CWA’s latest forecast and other countries’ projections of the storm’s path indicate a higher
SLOW-MOVING STORM: The typhoon has started moving north, but at a very slow pace, adding uncertainty to the extent of its impact on the nation Work and classes have been canceled across the nation today because of Typhoon Krathon, with residents in the south advised to brace for winds that could reach force 17 on the Beaufort scale as the Central Weather Administration (CWA) forecast that the storm would make landfall there. Force 17 wind with speeds of 56.1 to 61.2 meters per second, the highest number on the Beaufort scale, rarely occur and could cause serious damage. Krathon could be the second typhoon to land in southwestern Taiwan, following typhoon Elsie in 1996, CWA records showed. As of 8pm yesterday, the typhoon’s center was 180km
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The Central Weather Administration (CWA) is set to issue sea and land warnings for Tropical Storm Krathon as projections showed that the tropical storm could strengthen into a typhoon as it approaches Taiwan proper, the CWA said yesterday. The sea warning is scheduled to take effect this morning and the land warning this evening, it said. The storm formed yesterday morning and in the evening reached a point 620 nautical miles (1,148km) southeast of Oluanpi (鵝鑾鼻), Taiwan proper’s southernmost point, moving west-southwest at 4 kph as it strengthened, the CWA said. Its radius measured between 220km and 250km, it added. Krathon is projected
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