Sustainability Strategy
Our sustainability strategy is grounded in our purpose to empower the world with the essential innovations to thrive and inspired by the United Nations Sustainable Development Goals (UN SDGs). Established in 2019 and renewed in 2021 with input from multiple stakeholders, our sustainability strategy is built on three pillars: Innovate, Protect and Empower. Within these pillars, our nine 2030 Sustainability Goals continue to shape our innovation portfolio, operations strategy and our commitment to our people and communities. We designed the goals to be challenging—to provoke technical breakthroughs and new ideas for addressing society’s biggest challenges while also addressing the material sustainability topics most relevant to our stakeholders. In 2021 we advanced strategic actions across all nine goals, while accelerating action on three priority goals: Delivering solutions for global challenges, Acting on climate, and Accelerating diversity, equity and inclusion.
Sustainability Governance
Ultimate responsibility for sustainability strategy resides with our Chief Technology and Sustainability Officer (CTSO), Alexa Dembek, who focuses on the link between sustainability and innovation in our operating model and chairs the Sustainability Oversight Committee, a subset of DuPont’s Senior Leadership Team. The Sustainability Oversight Committee reviews and approves sustainability initiatives and policies and oversees the work of the Strategic Leadership Council. Our Strategic Sustainability Leadership Council, chaired by the Vice President of Corporate Sustainability, oversees implementation of our sustainability strategy. Each of our nine goals has a dedicated leadership sponsor who coordinates across the company and tracks progress against our goals. Each DuPont business has a dedicated sustainability leader responsible for overseeing business and product-level sustainability efforts.
The CTSO reports directly to our CEO and routinely engages with the Board of Directors’ Environmental, Health, Safety, & Sustainability Committee and the full Board on ESG and sustainability. Executive management and Board oversight of climate-related risks and opportunities are embedded in our governance processes.
Materiality
In 2021, we updated our materiality assessment and enterprise risk management (ERM) processes to refresh our sustainability priorities aligned to the changing risk landscape and challenges facing our customers and global stakeholders. The multi-stakeholder assessment focused on updating risk assessments for material environmental, social and governance (ESG) issues and further integrating ESG within our enterprise risk management (ERM) process. A workshop, sponsored by the World Business Council for Sustainable Development, along with key customer and executive engagements identified six strategic ESG issues for our company: Sustainable Innovation, Climate Change, Circular Economy, Chemical Stewardship, Diversity, Equity, and Inclusion (DE&I), and Responsible Procurement.
Strategic ESG Issues
Sustainable innovation
Innovation is needed to develop scalable solutions to global challenges, including climate change, water scarcity, waste and resource constraints including equitable access to healthcare, education and technology.
Climate change
Climate change presents widespread risk to ecosystems, biodiversity and the health and livelihoods of people, businesses and supply chains worldwide.
Circular economy
Raw material extraction, industrial and consumer waste are causing increased environmental degradation and resource pressures, accelerating the need for more circular solutions and business models.
Chemical stewardship
Management and disclosure of the health, safety and environmental impacts of products across their lifecycle remains important to a broad range of stakeholders.
Diversity, equity and inclusion
Building a culture of equity and inclusivity to ensure diversity of perspectives and ideas at all levels is critical to understanding the changing needs of customers and consumers.
Responsible procurement
Embedding sustainability and ethics across global supply chains is an expectation of stakeholders and critical to driving progress on key issues such as climate change, circular economy and diversity.
Enterprise Risk Management
In 2021 we continued to improve our ERM process and methodology focusing on process design, governance and accountability, and risk response planning. In the area of governance and accountability, we enhanced our Enterprise Risk Management Team (ERMT) led by DuPont’s Chief Compliance Officer, with representation across the company’s global businesses and functions. We also took significant action to align our governance and risk management processes with the recommendations of the Task Force on Climate-related Financial Disclosures. Working with external experts, we conducted a climate change assessment across our global businesses, from which we developed specific scenarios for material physical and transition risks. We recognize the unique and evolving characteristics of climate risk, which include longer time horizons, changing magnitudes and nonlinear dynamics, may require differential assessment and management strategies for each of our businesses and industry verticals.
Stakeholder Engagement and External Initiatives
We routinely engage directly with our employees, customers, investors, suppliers, communities and other stakeholders on sustainability to ensure they have accurate, credible information about our company and to communicate how we’re considering their priorities in our strategy. We endorse, participate and partner with numerous organizations and industry associations with multiple new partnerships in 2021 to advance sustainability in the markets we serve and to increase our impact.
Here are a few of the many initiatives we support and a full list can be found in our 2022 Sustainability Report:
UN Global Compact
Since 2001, our leadership has committed to aligning our operations and strategies with the ten principles of the UN Global Compact.
World Business Council for Sustainable Development
Brings together the CEOs of over 200 leading businesses to accelerate the transition to a sustainable world.
Responsible Care® Management System
DuPont leaders were among the first to adopt the ACC’s Responsible Care Codes of Management Practices.
CEO Action for Diversity & Inclusion™
A CEO-driven business commitment to advance diversity and inclusion in the workplace.
RE100
Brings together the world’s leading businesses committed to sourcing 100% renewable electricity in their global operations by 2050.
CEO Water Mandate
A commitment to continuous improvement in six core areas of water stewardship practice.
WRI
DuPont is a member of the World Resources Institute (WRI) Corporate Consulting Group (CCG).
Water Resilience Coalition
Brings together companies and organizations committed to advancing net-positive water impact and reducing water stress by 2050.
Water.org
International nonprofit that has positively transformed millions of lives around the world and pioneers market-driven financial solutions to the global water crisis.
Operation Clean Sweep blue (OCS blue)
A voluntary program of the American Chemistry Council and Plastics Industry Association to help achieve zero plastic resin loss in resin handling operations.