DuPont is committed to reducing greenhouse gas (GHG) emissions 30% by 2030, including sourcing 60% of electricity from renewable energy and delivering carbon neutral operations by 2050 or sooner. The company is making contributions to a low-carbon economy by driving sustainable innovation to reduce GHG emissions across the value chain.
Ambitions
Moving Toward Carbon Neutral Facilities and Renewable Electricity: DuPont’s work to combat climate change begins with implementing its Integrated Energy Strategy to address all sources of GHG emissions, including efforts to create low-carbon industrial processes, source low-carbon and renewable energy, and reduce overall energy use.
- In 2021, DuPont announced its first Virtual Power Purchase Agreement (VPPA) with a subsidiary of NextEra Energy Resources, LLC to develop new wind energy in Texas. The wind project will have a generation capacity of the equivalent of 135 megawatts and is expected to be operational by the end of 2022. To further affirm its commitment to renewable energy procurement, DuPont joined RE100, a global environmental initiative led by the Climate Group, which brings together companies committed to sourcing 100% renewable electricity by mid-century. Through RE100, DuPont also commits to addressing market and policy barriers to sourcing renewables alongside member companies.
- One success story is DuPont’s Spruance site in Richmond, VA, which is the company’s largest manufacturing location. In partnership with Veolia, DuPont converted the fuel for the on-site, co-generation facility from coal to natural gas in order to produce steam and electricity more efficiently and with fewer GHG emissions. Combusting natural gas produces approximately half as many GHGs as coal combustion, which will reduce DuPont’s GHG emissions by more than 100,000 MTCO2e annually. The project was completed near the end of 2019, and in 2020 the company started to realize the resource and environmental benefits.
- DuPont’s Asturias and Valencia sites in Spain purchase renewable energy that covers 100% of their electricity needs for these buildings. The electricity contract for these two sites includes Green Origin certificates for all on-site annual energy consumption. In 2020, the company also began a partnership with Schneider Electric to support its long-term renewable energy procurement strategy, including development of virtual power purchase agreements (VPPAs) for electricity sourced from wind and solar energy.
Innovations
DuPont partners with customers and suppliers to drive sustainable innovation to reduce GHG emissions in its value chains across its businesses.
- One example is the phased launch of DuPont’s new, reduced global warming potential (GWP) Styrofoam™ Brand Insulation. Beginning in 2021, the Styrofoam™ Brand Insulation family of products includes lower GWP options, advancing DuPont’s 2030 Sustainability Goals and complying with adopted and upcoming state and provincial hydrofluorocarbon (HFC) regulations throughout the U.S. and Canada. This multiphased project will deliver GHG reductions in support of the Paris Climate Agreement along a timeline that is more aggressive than the Kigali Amendment to the Montreal Protocol.
Here are more examples of DuPont’s contributions to a low-carbon economy:
- Reducing energy intensity in the transportation sector by providing materials that enable automotive light weighting and electrification.
- Enabling more energy efficient buildings through sustainable insulation, thermal, steam, and other building systems.
- Facilitating the recovery, recycling, and reuse of its products in diverse industries to lower GHG impacts.
For more information, visit https://www.dupont.com/about/sustainability.html and https://www.dupont.com/position-statements/climate-change.html.
