The Chemours Company announced its Corporate Responsibility Commitment—the company’s first, formal corporate responsibility program—during its Plunkett Awards ceremony in Philadelphia.The commitments are anchored by goals targeted for completion by 2030 across eight key areas: Safety Excellence, Vibrant Communities, Vibrant Employees, Climate, Water Quality, Waste, Sustainable Offerings, and Sustainable Supply Chain.
“I am delighted to reveal our Corporate Responsibility Commitments (CRC), which are an extension of our growth plans for Chemours,” said CEO Mark Vergnano. “Having completed our transformation plan, we are embarking on our next chapter characterized by growth borne of meeting the demands of customers, investors, communities, and employees. We will keep delivering essential, chemistry-powered solutions that enable modern life, while committing to making bigger, positive social impacts.
Chemours plans to invest in its global facilities and surrounding communities to achieve ten specific goals
- Reduce greenhouse gas emission intensity by 60
- Reduce air and water process emissions of fluorinated organic chemicals by 99% or greater
- Reduce landfill volume intensity by 70
- Improve employee, contractor, process, and distribution safety performance by at least 75
- Invest to advance STEM education, improve the environment, and make work and home safer in our communities
- Globally, fill 50% of company positions with women
- Within the U.S., achieve 20% ethnic diversity in our workforce
- Generate 50% of our revenue from solutions that contribute to the 2030 United Nations Sustainable Development Goals
- Show a 15% improvement in the sustainability performance of 80% of suppliers by spend
- By 2030, progress our plan to become carbon positive by 2050
Chemours began executing against its CRC goals ahead of today’s formal announcement with several programs and actions, including investing $190M in water and air emissions management technology at its Fayetteville, NC plant and its Dordrecht plant site to achieve a significant reduction of overall emissions of organic fluorinated compounds. These actions create an industry-leading emissions control model for the future.In addition, earlier this year Chemours established the Future of Chemistry Scholarship program—a commitment of over $400,000 to benefit students pursuing STEM fields of study after high school.
“These investments will be reflected in our future annual outlook estimates,” said Mark Newman, Chemours Chief Financial Officer. “And we remain committed to our 2018 to 2020 shareholder value creation and capital allocation strategy.
In the weeks to come, Chemours will unveil elements of the CRC program, including the October 2018 release of its first corporate responsibility report, which will include a detailed review of the company’s Corporate Responsibility Commitment initiative and the ten CRC goals.
“We have set very ambitious goals for ourselves to show we have both the skill and the will to be a different kind of chemistry company,” said Paul Kirsch, president of the Chemours Fluoroproducts business and executive sponsor of Chemours’ CRC. “Chemours is a performance-driven company, and our Corporate Responsibility Commitment is no different. That’s why we decided to put down clear markers by which to measure and report our progress. Achieving these goals means that we are moving towards being the best in the world at using chemistry to make life better for people the world over.
