Dow today announced an expansion of its Protect the Climate targets, introducing new milestones focused on water and nature conservation. These include:
- By 2030: Implementing a comprehensive land management strategy, developing water stewardship plans for its top 20 water-dependent sites, and achieving water resilience at 10 of these sites.
- By 2035: Ensuring all Dow sites have water stewardship plans.
- By 2050: Partnering to conserve 50,000 acres of habitat and achieving water resilience at its top 20 water-dependent sites.
As a science-driven company, Dow recognizes the significant impact of climate change and socio-economic factors on water and natural ecosystems. The new Water & Nature strategy aims to enhance the resilience of its sites and surrounding environments against unpredictable conditions such as droughts and floods.
Leveraging its materials science expertise and advanced engineering capabilities, Dow’s strategy focuses on three key areas:
- Sustainable Site Management: Ensuring business continuity through world-class water stewardship and smart land management practices to positively impact habitats.
- Supply Chain Engagement: Reducing demand and environmental impact on water and natural ecosystems throughout the supply chain.
- Customer and Partner Innovation: Developing products and solutions that benefit water and nature through cutting-edge research and development.
Jim Fitterling, Dow’s Chair and CEO, emphasized the importance of maintaining a balanced relationship with water and nature to achieve Dow’s purpose of a sustainable future for all. The new strategy is designed to support water resilience for Dow’s sites and their communities, conserve critical habitats, and positively impact nature across the supply chain while driving business growth.
Dow uses water primarily for cooling processes, returning over 95% of the withdrawn water to the environment. The interconnection between water, nature, and Dow’s Decarbonize & Grow strategy highlights the emerging dependencies on natural ecosystems for some decarbonization technologies and bio-based resources.
To promote water resilience and healthy ecosystems, Dow will collaborate with water basin stakeholders and conservation organizations to ensure consistent water quality, adequate supply, and infrastructure capable of handling fluctuating conditions. The strategy considers the complexity of water and nature stewardship across Dow’s operations, supply chain, and the dynamics of water basins and land.
Andre Argenton, Dow’s Chief Sustainability Officer and VP of Environment, Health & Safety, noted that the new strategy builds on decades of conservation work at Dow. Recognizing rapidly changing conditions, the company conducted a thorough evaluation of its strategies and commitments, leading to this next step in its sustainability journey.
Dow is committed to reporting progress on these targets through voluntary disclosures under the Taskforce for Nature-Related Financial Disclosures (TNFD) starting with the 2025 reporting year. The company will also continue to report water withdrawal, consumption, and intensity in its annual INtersections progress report.
