Dow and The Nature Conservancy Announce Collaboration Pilot Site in Brazil
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Minas Gerais, Brazil - June 13, 2012
The Dow Chemical Company (NYSE: DOW) and The Nature Conservancy(TNC) announced today that they are teaming with Santa Vitória Açúcar e Álcool Ltda., a joint venture between Dow and Mitsui & Co. Ltd. (SVAA), to utilize SVAA's Santa Vitória, Brazil site as the second pilot site location of their collaboration. Executives from Dow SVAA, and TNC were present at the governor's office in Minas Gerais and Dow and TNC delivered the news to an audience including Governor Antonio Augusto Junho Anastasia, members of his staff, members of the press, and The Secretary of Economic Development of Minas Gerais, Dorothea Werneck.
Neil Hawkins, Dow's vice president of Sustainability and Environment, Health & Safety, and João Campari, The Nature Conservancy's Program Director of the Atlantic Forest and Central Savannas and Yoshinobu Watanabe from SVAA were present with the Governor to share an overview of the collaboration's purposes and progress – as well as their joint intentions for the second pilot site. Dow and TNC shared how the work in Santa Vitória can benefit local communities and society at large by improving decisions around agricultural lands, ensuring access to clean water, creating natural habitats, and informing protection and restoration of vital forests.
"The big picture starts with the production facility, where SVAA will construct the world's largest integrated plant for the production of biopolymers from renewable sugar cane, including the use of waste biomass to power the plant," said Hawkins "This pilot affords our collaboration the opportunity to understand how Dow's operations will rely on and impact nature, to develop approaches that deliver sustainable solutions to a variety of local and global challenges."
"This particular pilot site gives us an opportunity to work with SVAA in the early stages of planning for expanded agricultural production and future site development," said Campari. "It is located in the heart of the agricultural region of Brazil, where less than 6 percent of natural vegetation remains. With the right stakeholders working together on smart science, we can inform land use decisions for agriculture siting and forest restoration to optimize both sugarcane production and habitat value for local communities, business and the environment."
Dow with the Dow Chemical Company Foundation and The Nature Conservancy launched their collaboration in January 2011 to examine how Dow's global operations rely on and affect nature, in order to incorporate the value of nature into business goals, decisions and strategies. One of the major objectives of this collaboration is to share tools, results and lessons learned publicly and through peer-review so that other companies, scientists and interested parties can test and apply them. Dow and the Dow Chemical Company Foundation together are committing $10 million to the collaboration over five years.
The first pilot site, at Dow's Texas Operations in Freeport, was announced earlier this year, where scientists from both organizations are analyzing water supply, air quality, and coastal storm protection.
About Dow
Dow (NYSE: DOW) combines the power of science and technology to passionately innovate what is essential to human progress. The Company connects chemistry and innovation with the principles of sustainability to help address many of the world's most challenging problems such as the need for clean water, renewable energy generation and conservation, and increasing agricultural productivity. Dow's diversified industry-leading portfolio of specialty chemical, advanced materials, agrosciences and plastics businesses delivers a broad range of technology-based products and solutions to customers in approximately 160 countries and in high growth sectors such as electronics, water, energy, coatings and agriculture. In 2011, Dow had annual sales of $60 billion and employed approximately 52,000 people worldwide. The Company's more than 5,000 products are manufactured at 197 sites in 36 countries across the globe. References to "Dow" or the "Company" mean The Dow Chemical Company and its consolidated subsidiaries unless otherwise expressly noted. More information about Dow can be found at www.dow.com.
About SVVA
Established in 2011, SVAA is a joint venture between The Dow Chemical Company and Mitsui & Co. Ltd. SVAA is a sugar cane and sugar cane-derived ethanol company located in Santa Vitoria, Minas Gerais, utilizing leading edge mechanized farming technology.
About The Nature Conservancy
The Nature Conservancy is a leading conservation organization working around the world to protect ecologically important lands and waters for nature and people. To date, the Conservancy and its more than one million members have been responsible for the protection of more than 48 million hectares of land and over 8,000km of river worldwide.. Visit The Nature Conservancy on the Web at www.nature.org or www.portugues.tnc.org.
For editorial information:
Mike McCaffrey
The Dow Chemical Company
+1 989 636-3045
Daniela Grelin
Dow Brasil S.A.
+55 1151884039
Geraldine Henrich-Koenis
The Nature Conservancy
+1 703-314-1137