DuPont: Climate Change Legislation will Provide US Companies the Certainty Needed to Innovate

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DuPont Chair Tells Senate Subcommittee American Businesses will Seize Opportunities

WASHINGTON, D.C., May 26, 2009 –Properly designed climate change legislation will provide U.S. companies with the certainty they need to innovate, creating new market opportunities and jobs for American workers, DuPont Chair Charles O. Holliday, Jr. told the U.S. Senate Environment and Public Works Committee here last week.

“Environmentally effective and economically sustainable climate legislation will encourage markets to turn increasingly to greater energy efficiency, low carbon energy forms and bio-based products, accelerating development and deployment of technologies that will be critical for a low-carbon economy,” Holliday said. “This opportunity will help American companies grow, invest and add jobs.”

According to Holliday, enacting climate legislation, such as that recommended by the United States Climate Action Partnership Blueprint for Action with provisions like “cap-and-trade,” will provide a roadmap for growth across multiple industry sectors.

“It will drive innovation in large, established companies like DuPont and in startups across the United States,” Holliday said, citing several examples of innovation within DuPont that could be accelerated with responsible climate legislation. “Federal legislation will help create the marketplace that will drive innovation, economic growth and environmental progress.”

Alternative Energy

* DuPont provides more than 10 products that are critical to the manufacture of solar modules. Company scientists are working to enhance the efficiency of solar technology. DuPont expects company sales to this industry to triple by 2012 to $1 billion.

Next Generation Refrigerants

* DuPont provides a broad portfolio of refrigerants technologies, recently introducing a new automobile air conditioning refrigerant that possesses 300 times lower global warming potential than current refrigerants.

Bio-Based Products

* DuPont is actively engaged in technologies to produce valuable products from renewable sources, rather than hydrocarbons, and nearing market readiness for two next-generation biofuels. Cellulosic ethanol, through a joint venture with Danisco, has a low lifecycle greenhouse gas profile, with an initial focus on non-food feedstocks like switchgrass and corn cobs. Biobutanol, a high-performance fuel, is under development with BP specifically to expand the performance of biofuels.
* DuPont creates other value-adding materials from renewably sourced feedstocks, like Bio-PDO™. Bio-PDO™ spawned an array of products that are displacing hydrocarbon-based materials, including DuPont™ Sorona® polymers and fibers, which can be found in Mohawk’s SmartStrand carpet; renewably sourced airplane de-icing fluids and bio-based ingredients for cosmetics and household cleaners.

Low Carbon Agriculture

* Pioneer Hi-Bred, a DuPont business, provides farmers with seeds that are increasingly resistant to adverse weather conditions, pest resistant, fertilizer efficient and high yielding. With legislation, DuPont predicts an increase in demand for agricultural practices like no-till that help sequester carbon across hundreds of millions of acres. This will increase demand for seeds and related agricultural products that expand yield while enabling low-carbon growing practices. DuPont provides these products.

Energy Efficient Buildings and Cars

* DuPont makes products that enable greater energy efficiency in building construction, such as Tyvek® HomeWrap®. For example, in a typical two-story Midwestern U.S. house, Tyvek® can increase energy efficiency by 20 percent. Additionally, reducing vehicle weight and enhancing engine efficiency has the potential to provide significant reductions in greenhouse gases. DuPont provides a range of specialty plastics that contribute to “lightweighting” and reducing friction in moving parts, all while maintaining safety.

In 2006, DuPont committed to increase annual revenue by at least $2 billion from products that create energy efficiency and/or significant greenhouse gas emissions reductions by 2015. Additionally, the company committed to a 15 percent reduction in greenhouse gas emissions from company operations between 2004 and 2015, in addition to a 72 percent reduction that was achieved between 1990 and 2004.

DuPont has broadened its sustainability commitments beyond internal footprint reduction to include market-driven targets for both revenue and research and development investment. The goals are tied directly to business growth, specifically to the development of safer and environmentally improved new products for key global markets.

Source: DuPont