Dow Unveils Its Blueprint for Sustainable Watershed Management

The Dow Chemical Company (“Dow”) today unveiled its Blueprint for Sustainable Watershed Management to a multi-stakeholder session of The CEO Water Mandate. Part of Dow’s 2025 “Leading the Blueprint” Sustainability Goal, the blueprint is built on the Company’s collaborative watershed management practices.

Dow is inviting governments, manufacturers and other stakeholders to discuss replicating and scaling its watershed blueprint in their operations and to share best management practices for a more secure and prosperous water future. Case studies on Dow’s successful collaborations at its sites in Terneuzen, The Netherlands, and Tarragona, Spain, as well as related materials, can be downloaded at the Company’s Blueprint for Sustainable Watershed Management.

“Water is central to our manufacturing process, and safe, accessible water is also essential to the health of the communities in which we operate, critical to ecosystems and integral to economic growth,” said Neil Hawkins, corporate vice president, Environment, Health and Safety, and chief sustainability officer for Dow. “We came to the realization that collaborating in new and meaningful ways with the stakeholders in our watersheds is an absolute must, and is essential to achieving the UN Sustainability Development Goal 6 for clean water.”

Dow has worked with government entities and other stakeholders to reuse municipal wastewater in its operations, helping to reduce freshwater use to combat water scarcity and reducing the Company’s energy use associated with water treatment, among other benefits. By sharing its experiences with successful cross-sector partnerships, Dow seeks to create a community of practice around its watershed stewardship efforts and inspire watershed stakeholders to forge collaborations globally to sustainably manage scarce freshwater.

“We know there are many companies who share our vision and have their own sustainable water management stories,” Hawkins said. “Our vision and our hope are that through this Dow 2025 ‘Leading the Blueprint’ Goal, we inspire watershed stakeholders around the world to collaborate to sustainably manage scarce freshwater that is so vital to life on this planet.”

The CEO Water Mandate session is part of the United Nation’s High-level Political Forum, which is its central platform for review of its 2030 Agenda for Sustainable Development and Sustainable Development Goals. The CEO Water Mandate was launched in July 2007, and Dow was one of the first six companies to commit to the mandate, which is designed to assist companies in the development, implementation and disclosure of water sustainability policies and practices.

Dow’s Blueprint for Sustainable Watershed Management joins the Company’s Blueprint for Unlocking Carbon Reductions, which is based on Dow’s learnings and experience in successfully developing carbon-saving projects for the Olympic Winter Games Sochi 2014 and Olympic Games Rio 2016.

Announced this week, also, was Dow’s Collaborative Blueprint for Carbon Reductions. This Collaborative Blueprint encompasses the Dow Climate Solutions Framework, which is the foundation of Dow’s Official Carbon Partnership with the International Olympic Committee announced in September 2017.

For more information about Dow’s leadership in sustainability and to track our progress, see our latest Sustainability Report.

About Dow
The Dow Chemical Company (Dow) combines science and technology knowledge to develop premier materials science solutions that are essential to human progress. Dow has one of the strongest and broadest toolkits in the industry, with robust technology, asset integration, scale and competitive capabilities that enable it to address complex global issues. Dow’s market-driven, industry-leading portfolio of advanced materials, industrial intermediates, and plastics businesses deliver a broad range of differentiated technology-based products and solutions for customers in high-growth markets such as packaging, infrastructure, and consumer care. Dow is a subsidiary of DowDuPont (NYSE: DWDP), a holding company comprised of Dow and DuPont with the intent to form three strong, independent, publicly traded companies in agriculture, materials science and specialty sectors. More information can be found at www.dow.com.