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The Dow Chemical Company recently hosted the first-ever Dow Sustainability Week and Latin American Forum to further exemplify the Company's continuing pursuit to set the standard in sustainability. The international event was held in and around Sao Paulo, Brazil, from July 15 to 18 with more than 1,500 participants from several countries in Latin America and the United States. Activities at the four-day event were designed to accelerate collaboration with customers, employees, partners, non-governmental organizations (NGOs), the press, authorities, associations and communities.
"Sustainability is becoming the way Dow people think and is at the core of our leadership philosophy. It is no longer regarded as a parallel activity or 'special project,' said Pedro Suarez, president of Dow Latin America. "With the Dow Sustainability Week and Latin American Forum, we have accelerated understanding of the relationship between people, our planet and our companies. More importantly, we have cemented sustainability as the key driver for our business strategy."
The primary event - Dow Sustainability Forum - People, Planet, Future - was aimed at accelerating sustainable business strategies through leading a dialogue and collaboration among different publics. It was established to create new mindsets and unbiased actions toward stewardship of environment, health and diversity as keys to the future.
An important keynote address and audience call-to-action were delivered by, Adam Werbach, CEO of Saatchi & Saatchi S, one of the world's premier experts in sustainability. Werbach challenged all to reach across typical barriers and work together for solutions to world problems, but also to match Dow's commitment of improving energy efficiency by 25 percent by 2015. Dow leaders Julie Fasone Holder, chief Marketing & Sales and Reputation officer, and Neil Hawkins, vice president, Sustainability, called for specific actions around collaboration and personal commitment, as well.
Hawkins highlighted new announcements about agreements with key alliance partners such as Ocean Futures Society and The Nature Conservancy. He announced a $1.5 million Dow Foundation grant for The Nature Conservancy to restore shoreline of the Cachoeira reservoir in the Cantareira System in Brazil's Atlantic Forest, arguably one of the most endangered ecosystems on Earth.
The event concluded with a call for commitments to bring new project ideas to Dow and to convene again in 2010. During the event, Dow received more than 100 new project suggestions, and spontaneous positive feedback was given from several attendants recognizing the high-level speeches that appointed new ways to put sustainability actions into practice.
Ocean Futures Society
Additionally, an exclusive Brazilian premiere of Jean-Michel Cousteau's newest documentary film, "Return to the Amazon", sponsored by Dow, was hosted. The private showing celebrated the partnership initiated in 2005 between Dow and Jean-Michel Cousteau's Ocean Futures Society.
Following the film, Dow and Cousteau inaugurated the construction for the first-ever Latin American installation of the Ambassadors of the Environment (AOTE) project at Dow's industrial complex in Guaruja. The program is designed to connect young people with the environment and teach them how to live sustainably on the planet. This will be the first time the AOTE program will be delivered on corporate property.
Wellness Day
Driving the spirit of the week's events closer to home, on July 18 Dow Latin America employees participated across several site locations in a "Wellness Day". In Sao Paulo alone, 350 employees publicly demonstrated their commitments to health during a 7km Walk-Run for Sustainability. The full day of activities was exclusively dedicated to employees and reinforced Dow's health and sustainability strategies.
The Sustainability Week was an important event for Dow, as it represented in a very public way Dow's commitment to discussing ways to solve the world's most pressing problems - a central theme of the Company's 2015 Sustainability Goals. Through this and future sustainability events, Dow will continue to raise awareness and engage all key stakeholders in this challenge.
