CEO message

We are executing on our plan to decarbonize our business and grow value. To reach our 2030 and 2050 carbon emissions targets we have a plan to replace end-of-life assets with new, more carbon-efficient technologies. In 2021, for example, we announced plans to build the world’s first net-zero carbon emissions, integrated ethylene cracker and derivatives site in Fort Saskatchewan, Alberta. In addition, we outlined a detailed roadmap to reduce current CO₂ emissions from our operations in Terneuzen, the Netherlands, by more than 40% by 2030. We are one of the top 20 global corporations using renewable, clean energy, and we expanded our access to renewable energy to more than 900 megawatts. We also continue to invest in next-generation, carbon-efficient technologies such as e-cracking, fluidized catalytic dehydrogenation (FCDh) technology and ethane dehydrogenation (EDH).

We are accelerating our sustainability investments to enable design for recyclability and more circular plastics through mechanical and advanced recycling. To advance our 2030 targets to Stop the Waste and Close the Loop, our team is working across our value chains to enable packaging design with recyclability in mind. We also have our own product line of recycled-content resins under the brand name REVOLOOP™. Today, 85% of our products sold into packaging applications are reusable or recyclable. As we continue down our path to enable more recyclability and keep plastic waste out of the environment, we are scaling supply partnerships with companies such as Mura Technology and Fuenix to produce circular feedstocks from advanced recycling processes. In fact, we are committed to delivering circular polymers from advanced recycling by the end of 2022. We also are investing in collaborative actions to minimize and manage plastic waste through partnerships such as the Alliance to End Plastic Waste.

We continue to take deliberate actions to drive inclusion, diversity and equity throughout our organization and beyond. We believe diverse teams make more innovative and better-performing teams. That is why we are institutionalizing inclusion in everything we do – from hiring to who has a seat at the decision-making table. We are creating a culture that embraces and values differences. In 2021, we introduced new global paid time-off policies that will provide employees with equal opportunity for parental leave, to take care of their families, and to volunteer and engage in Employee Resource Group (ERG) activities. Our ERG participation is redefining best-in-class performance, with nearly 100% of People Leaders and more than 50% of global employees participating. We also continue to advance supply chain diversity. Since launching four years ago, our Supply Chain Diversity Program has led to more than $1.74 billion in spend with small and diverse suppliers and delivered over $15 million in EBIT to our bottom line.

We are mobilizing alliances of diverse stakeholders to create meaningful social change across our communities. In 2021, we increased our commitment to $13 million for Dow ACTs, a framework designed to address systemic racism and inequality. We joined OneTen, a coalition of businesses that have pledged to upskill, hire and advance 1 million Black individuals in the United States over the next decade. We also continued engagement with historically Black colleges and universities (HBCUs) to reinforce the STEM and Ph.D. pipelines. Through the Future of STEM Scholars Initiative (FOSSI), we are underwriting the education of 10 students per year who are pursuing STEM degrees at HBCUs to help increase the number of underrepresented professionals in the chemical industry. And because we believe sustainable business creates positive social change, we invested $2 million in seed grants for projects in 12 countries, including infrastructure projects that help keep plastic waste out of the environment and back into the circular economy.

We are improving governance, transparency and accountability across Dow. We have raised the bar in our ESG reporting and disclosures through improved carbon emissions and circularity reporting and improved climate risk disclosures and greenhouse gas intensity metrics. And we are working with the World Economic Forum’s International Business Council to help develop consistent international frameworks for reporting and accounting standards for ESG matters. We continued to actively deepen and diversify our Board, electing three new directors in 2021 and 2022. Also, we modified our Annual Performance Award and Executive Compensation Program metrics to include ESG components – holding every member of Team Dow accountable for the same metrics that we report to all our stakeholders.