Why Great Chemistry Is Key to a More Sustainable Future

Originally published on Fortune

People often don’t associate chemistry companies with sustainability, clean tech, or decarbonization. However, upon closer examination, the technologies propelling us toward a net-zero economy are fundamentally rooted in chemistry.

Global chemistry company Chemours creates products that are essential components in everything from smartphones to semiconductor chips, refrigeration systems that preserve food and vaccines, and durable coatings for infrastructure. Additionally, the company is harnessing its chemistry to advance innovative green technologies. These include driving down the cost of renewable hydrogen, data-center immersion cooling, and manufacturing polymers for batteries that both reduce the financial cost of electric vehicles and extend their charge density and range.

Modeling responsible climate innovation 

While green technologies are critical for a sustainable future, the responsible manufacturing of these innovative products is equally important to protect human health and the environment.

Chemours has sought to model how its industry should embrace responsible manufacturing and drive momentum toward a more sustainable planet. The Chemours Discovery Hub, a state-of-the-art, sustainably designed 312,000-square-foot research facility colocated on the University of Delaware Science, Technology, and Advanced Research (STAR) Campus, is at the heart of this initiative.

“A number of the innovations at the Chemours Discovery Hub are improving our process technology with a view to reducing emissions, improving our environmental signature, and putting the company on a path to achieve net zero [become carbon neutral] by 2050,” says Mark Newman, president and CEO of Chemours.

The company is now driving its processes in the direction of several ambitious environmental targets under its corporate responsibility commitment goals.

These include a reduction in air and water process emissions of fluorinated organic chemicals by at least 99%, and a 60% absolute reduction of operations-related greenhouse gas emissions by 2030. The company is already more than halfway to achieving each target. Chemours is also seeking ways to grow its sustainable offering contribution, with 48% of its revenue already coming from offerings that make a specific contribution to the UN’s Sustainable Development Goals.

Growing the number of STEM change-makers 

On top of that, Chemours is contributing to a robust and diverse pipeline of future science, technology, engineering, and mathematics (STEM) talent who will help solve the challenges and meet the demands of an ever-changing world.

The colocation of its Chemours Discovery Hub at the University of Delaware showcases the company’s desire to encourage greater cross-disciplinary collaboration in chemical engineering and to help open the door for a young and diverse group of people to enter the industry at a time of progressive change. “Our Discovery Hub provides Chemours and the next generation of scientists the opportunity to collaborate, inspire one another, and develop new technologies,” says Amber Wellman, chief sustainability officer of Chemours. “It’s a difficult environment to imitate elsewhere and will continue to generate new ideas for our business.”

To ensure more people from more backgrounds have access to early STEM education and other resources, Chemours aims to invest $50 million in increasing access to STEM skills, safety initiatives, and sustainable environment programs across its local communities by 2030. Eighteen million dollars of that has already been committed. “Partnerships like the Chemours Discovery Hub and other programs are critical to investing in the next generation of innovators so that they can continue to solve the world’s biggest challenges using sustainable chemistry,” says Newman.

The environmental and community investment goals set by Chemours are innately tied to the company’s commitment to helping to create a better world through the power of its chemistry. “We’re going beyond what’s required,” says Wellman. “And we’re doing what’s right.”

Chemours is a different kind of chemistry company, driven by our purpose to help create a better world through the power of our chemistry. From smart phones to other advanced electronics, high-speed communications, and connected devices via the Internet of Things to more climate-friendly refrigerants in our homes and cars, chemistry is at work.

The world needs our chemistry, so we are hard at work bringing solutions that are better, safer, more reliable, and sustainable. For more information, please visit www.chemours.com/en.

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