Dow Chemical 2009 Annual Report Download - page 23

2009 Annual Report 21
Breakthroughs to World Challenges
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GOAL: Achieve at least three breakthroughs that will significantly help solve world challenges
In 2009, Dow continued to make significant progress in addressing the global challenges
of water, health, housing, food, energy and climate change. For example, through Dow
Venture Capital’s investment in Water Health International, we have enabled access to
clean drinking water for more than one million people in villages throughout India. Dow
AgroSciences, working with Monsanto, has developed a new all-in-one corn trait platform
called
SmartStax ™. Corn farmers who plant hybrids with SmartStax will benefit from
increased productivity due to improved pest protection and a reduced refuge (from the
typical 20 percent to 5 percent for SmartStax in the U.S. Corn Belt and Canada, and
from 50 percent to 20 percent in the U.S. Cotton Belt). These are just two examples
of Dow’s efforts that promise to have a positive impact on millions of lives.
Contributing to Community Success
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GOAL: Achieve individual community acceptance ratings for 100% of Dow sites where we have
a major presence
See the following page on Contributing to Community Success for a complete report on our
progress toward this goal.
2009 Recognitions
Third-party validation is often the best measure of a company’s sustainability leadership.
In 2009, Dow continued to garner recognition for our transparent reporting, technology
innovations and overall leadership.
• ฀POWERHOUSE™฀Solar฀Shingle฀named฀one฀of฀“The฀50฀Best฀Inventions฀of฀2009”฀by
TIME Magazine.
• ฀Dow฀China฀Limited฀named฀among฀the฀top฀10฀companies฀in฀
Business Watch Magazine’s
“50 Green Companies” list.
• ฀Dow฀and฀BASF฀received฀the฀Institution฀of฀Chemical฀Engineers฀Innovation฀and฀Excellence฀Award
for their jointly developed Hydrogen Peroxide to Propylene Oxide production technology,
which reduces wastewater by 70–80 percent and energy usage by 35 percent.
• ฀Dow฀AgroSciences฀received฀the฀Michigan฀Green฀Chemistry฀Governor’s฀Award฀for฀spinetoram
insecticide derived from fermentation of natural soil organisms.
• Dow฀achieved฀an฀A+฀Rating฀for฀
Global Reporting Initiative report for the second year in a row.
• Dow฀named฀for฀the฀ninth฀time฀to฀the฀Dow฀Jones฀Sustainability฀World฀Index.
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Our POWERHOUSE Solar Shingle was named
one of “The 50 Best Inventions of 2009” by
TIME Magazine.