a sustainable future for the chemical industry

Coming Clean is a Green Futures Special Supplement produced in association with the Chemistry Leadership Council, Hydro Polymers, ICI, Johnson Matthey, Marks & Spencer, SC Johnson and WWF.

Whether a business executive or an environmental campaigner, no one in the UK should want our national chemical industry to fail. It is vital that it prospers. It is a critically important engine of wealth creation. Its products are central to our society, and it can help other sectors of industry – such as pharmaceuticals, energy and waste disposal – in their pursuit of economic development. But how many of us realise that the chemical industry is central to the pursuit of a sustainable society? How many of us have woken up to the fact that, without it, the prospects of sustainably meeting the needs of nine billion people by the second half of this century are zero? Sustainability requires the industry to think much more carefully about the long-term implications of its activities, and to measure the future performance of investment against environmental and social criteria, as well as conventional financial criteria. In this Special Supplement, we look at how the industry has started to address the need to adopt sustainable practices. We unveil a vision of a truly sustainable chemicals sector. We look at the work of its principal trade body in setting the pace for change, and encouraging closer contact with customers and consumers. We spotlight on the vital role which innovation plays in future success, and the challenges of facing tough EU chemicals legislation. We hear the views of environmental campaigners. And, crucially, we focus on several companies that are showing that a greener, cleaner approach pays off, both environmentally and economically.
Maria Burke, Editor Freelance journalist Maria Burke is the former editor of Chemistry and Industry Magazine.

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CONTENTS

Coming clean:
Challenge – and opportunity
For an industry facing huge challenges, the sustainability imperative could easily be seen as another unwelcome burden. But, as Jonathon Porritt explains, it can instead drive the innovation needed for a prosperous future Coming clean:
Making things happen
Competition, regulation, consumer pressure... and now the dictates of sustainability. The chemical industry is facing mounting pressures. Coming clean:
Facing up to sustainability
ICI’s journey to sustainability has gone alongside its radical transformation as a company. Coming clean:
The Go-Between
As one of the very few women leaders in a male-dominated industry, Judith Hackitt has learnt the hard way about changing mindsets. Coming clean:
Hearts, minds & chemicals
Getting the public to see the connection between chemistry and quality of life is no small challenge for the industry. Coming clean:
From pandas to politics
With its high-profile public blood testing, WWF is engaging full on with the chemical industry. But it’s not just about confrontation... Coming clean:
Taking the plunge
If chemical companies are going to face up to tougher competition and tighter laws, then the key to future success is novel products and processes Coming clean:
It's green up north
Far from being an industrial graveyard of popular southern prejudice, the north plays host to hotbeds of innovation – with the chemical sector among the sparkiest performers. Coming clean:
Listen to the the experts
Environmentalists can talk about sustainable development till the cows come home, but the people who can really make it happen are engineers. And chemical engineers can be at the forefront of change. Coming clean:
Fuelling change
The chemical industry has a vital role to play in making the shift to a hydrogen economy. Johnson Matthey is one of the pioneers. Coming clean:
Greening the supply chain
As you scrub away at the ring around your bath, have you wondered what effect your cleaning fluid is having on the environment? Well, if you use Mr Muscle®, its makers – SC Johnson – will have a better idea than most. Coming clean:
Annihilation or salvation?
New European proposals are poised to transform the way chemicals are regulated. Cue one of the fiercest political battles yet seen over the future of a key industry. Coming clean:
A sustainable PVC?
If the chemical industry is to persuade the public of the progress it is making, it needs some high-profile successes, says Hydro Polymers. The transformation of PVC might just be one such.

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Sponsors’ profiles CHEMISTRY LEADERSHIP COUNCIL
The Chemistry Leadership Council was set up in 2003, a key part of the DTI’s follow-up to the report from its Chemicals Innovation and Growth Team. Its remit is to bring forward new thinking on some of the major challenges facing the chemical industry: skills, innovation and reputation. The reputation challenge is particularly pressing. Chemistry-using enterprises already make a huge contribution to the quality of people’s lives today, and will become even more critical in the future. But levels of trust are low; businesses find it hard to recruit the right kind of talent; and media coverage is often unrepresentative and partisan. The Chemistry Leadership Council convened a Special Futures Group to produce a visionary response to these pressures. The resulting Vision for the Sustainable Production and Use of Chemicals features prominently in this Special Supplement. HYDRO POLYMERS
Hydro Polymers is one of Europe’s major manufacturers of PVC and caustic soda. Because of its wide range of properties, PVC has become ubiquitous in society today. However, many of PVC’s benefits are often overlooked. Over recent years, PVC has come under intense, and sometimes hostile, scrutiny from environmental campaigners because of its strong association with chlorine chemistry. Such attention is often highly emotive and low in objectivity. Hydro has engaged with a leading NGO called The Natural Step on a sustainable development journey for PVC within a robust scientifically based framework. The challenge is to reconcile the achievement of genuine sustainability with practical economics – to balance the need to operate as a profitable business with the needs of society, while continuously reducing the company’s environmental footprint. Hydro Polymers is delighted to support this Green Futures Special Supplement alongside other like-minded companies. By sharing our approach to sustainability, we believe that we can demonstrate that there really is a profitable business case for sustainable development within the chemicals industry. ICI
ICI has been a leading chemicals manufacturer for 79 years, first as a producer of bulk chemicals, now as a leader in formulating speciality chemicals, paints and coatings. Its sustainability principles, based on longstanding safety, health and environment (SHE) and employee values, were formalised into the company’s sustainability policy published in 2002. This goes beyond the impact of manufacturing operations to encompass product stewardship across the supply chain and relationships with employees, suppliers, customers and the communities where ICI operates. Since 1990 ICI has made public commitments as part of its five-yearly ‘Challenge’ programmes and has delivered significant improvement in safety, health and environmental performance, and more recently in the social arena. How do we do it? Leadership, clarity of purpose, communication, involvement of all employees, inventiveness and ideas for improvement across the global organisation. Why do we do it? Because it matters. From any perspective. It makes sense to be a sustainable business. We are a science-based company with proven skills to innovate and provide solutions for consumers and society. Our company is committed to the principles of sustainable development, and by responsibly implementing our policy we will do our part to deliver it. Through forums such as Green Futures we can raise awareness of the progress and potential for sustainability within the chemical industry. JOHNSON MATTHEY
Johnson Matthey is a speciality chemicals company focused on catalysts, precious metals and fine chemicals. The company has operations in 34 countries and employs around 7,500 people. Its products are sold across the world to a wide range of advanced technology industries. Johnson Matthey’s products range from anti-cancer compounds to vehicle catalyst technologies that improve air quality around the world. Its process catalyst technologies are used to improve the efficiency of industrial processes and its fuel cell technologies aim to make a significant contribution to the generation of clean energy and security of supply. The company is also involved in the refining, fabrication and marketing of precious metals; and the manufacture of colours and coatings for the glass and ceramics industries. At Johnson Matthey, our main contribution to sustainable development is through the excellence of our products, but we also seek to achieve similar levels of excellence in our business management and manufacturing operations. Our expertise in processing valuable precious metal materials provides the company with expertise in the conservation, re-use and recycling of natural resources – principles which are now applied throughout the business. MARKS & SPENCER
Marks & Spencer is one of the UK’s leading retailers, with 15 million people visiting its stores each week. Its aim is to offer customers high quality, great value clothes, food and home products in easy-to-shop stores. It employs 65,000 people in 399 UK stores and offices. It also has a growing international business including wholly owned stores in the Republic of Ireland and Hong Kong, franchises in 30 territories and Kings supermarkets in the US. It works with suppliers all over the world to develop new and innovative products that meet its quality and ethical standards. SC JOHNSON
SC Johnson is a family-owned and -managed business headquartered in the US. It is one of the world’s leading manufacturers of household cleaning products and products for home storage, air care, personal care and insect control. The 119-year-old company employs approximately 12,000 people globally and sells in more than 110 countries including the UK, with products such as Pledge®, Glade® and Mr Muscle®. SC Johnson is committed globally to sustainable development principles. In 2001 it devised an environmental classification system that has transformed the way it measures, tracks and advances its products. The Greenlist™ classifies raw materials used in SC Johnson products according to their impact on the environment and human health. Over the past four years, Greenlist™ has helped the company continue to phase in more and more materials considered to be environmentally ‘better’ and ‘best’. It has also helped increase awareness among company scientists about the impact of their raw material choices. At SC Johnson we also work to improve international understanding of important topics such as sustainability. We hope our participation in this Special Supplement will help foster continued dialogue on how we can continue to conduct business in a way that protects and preserves our environment for generations to come. WWF
WWF’s mission is to stop the degradation of the planet’s natural environment, and to build a future in which humans live in harmony with nature, by conserving the world’s biological diversity; ensuring that the use of renewable natural resources is sustainable; and promoting the reduction of pollution and wasteful consumption. WWF is campaigning for the elimination of certain hazardous man-made chemicals and their replacement with safer alternatives. It believes that a robust EU chemical regulation – REACH – is a long overdue step towards chemical safety, but it is only one step. Real progress towards sustainability rests in the hands of the chemical industry itself and its response to REACH. WWF recognises the role of the chemical industry in bringing enormous benefits to society but, to date, these have come at a price. It believes that it is not enough for the industry to reduce energy use and waste. To be truly responsible means halting the production of chemicals that are persistent and toxic, or that build up in humans and wildlife, or that interfere with hormone systems. The challenge of sustainability is huge, but, for companies willing to innovate, there is an opportunity waiting to be seized.

21 September 2005

Maria Burke