Sustainability Progress Report: Greenhouse Gas Reduction

The 2008 Sustainability Progress Report highlights the DuPont 2015 sustainability goals, the company’s progress against them, as well as examples of progress.

One goal is to increase annual revenues by at least USD 2 billion from products that create energy efficiency and/or significantly reduce greenhouse gas emissions. It is estimated that the products will result in at least 40 million tons of additional CO2 equivalent reductions by DuPont customers and consumers.

In 2007, DuPont piloted three products to develop a process to verify and report on progress against this goal. In 2008, DuPont will expand to several more products.

An example is DuPont™ Zytel® in auto exhaust system parts. In a breakthrough for structural automotive components, Zytel® nylon resin has replaced steel in exhaust system parts on all Volkswagens built on the current Golf platform, cutting component weight nearly 50 percent. The new Golf catalytic converter bracket, which experiences temperatures up to 175 degrees Celsius due to its proximity to the engine, previously was a complex metal/rubber part requiring multiple assembly steps. The new component is a “global first,” as a metal to plastics transition had previously not been attempted for such parts, which must withstand dynamic forces, chemical exposure and high temperatures.