"As a science company whose mission is sustainable growth, DuPont puts priority on research and development that provides societal and shareholder value while reducing environmental impact," said DuPont Chairman and CEO Charles O. Holliday, Jr. "We are honored to be recognized for our role in addressing and helping resolve one of the most challenging environmental issues the world has faced."
This is the fourth National Medal of Technology Award affiliated with DuPont in 13 years. In 1990, DuPont received the award for pioneering the development of high-performance polymers such as nylon, neoprene rubber and engineering plastics that revolutionized materials globally. DuPont scientist George Levitt was honored in 1993 for the development of sulfonylureas – environmentally friendly herbicides for every major food crop in the world. In 1996, DuPont scientist Stephanie Kwolek was recognized for the discovery and development of the high-performance aramid fiber DuPont™ Kevlar® – which has helped save nearly 3,000 lives in law enforcement applications.
U.S. Secretary of Commerce Don Evans today congratulated DuPont and the other five recipients of the National Medal of Technology, which is awarded by the Department of Commerce.
"I join the President in honoring this year's National Medal of Technology laureates," said Secretary Evans. "Their revolutionary innovations and discoveries in microelectronics and materials science, clean air technologies and industrial leadership to improve our environment have given American producers a leading competitive edge on a global level and set a high standard for excellence. As teachers, role models and managers of change, they have transformed personal achievement into inspiration for future generations of innovators."
In the 1930s, DuPont commercialized CFCs to provide less hazardous alternatives to the sulfur dioxide and ammonia that were then used as refrigerants. Because of their superior safety and performance characteristics, CFCs became widely used in a number of applications – including refrigeration, air conditioning and medical inhalers for asthma patients.
DuPont understood in the early 1970s that CFCs were accumulating in the atmosphere and led a global research effort to gain a better scientific understanding of the environmental fate and potential impact of CFCs. The company also recognized that ozone depletion was a complex global issue with scientific, environmental, technological, societal, and economic aspects – including over $135 billion worth of installed equipment dependent on CFC products at the time. DuPont helped facilitate unprecedented cooperation among scientists, environmental organizations, governments and industry that led to a number of significant international policy achievements such as the Montreal Protocol.
The company was the first to commercialize environmentally acceptable hydrofluorocarbon refrigerants such as DuPont™ Suva®, which enabled major industries – like refrigeration and air conditioning – to continue meeting societal needs with products that reduced the impact on ozone depletion. This effort led to the successful development of a series of alternatives for CFCs which substantially reduced the time from research to commercial production.
DuPont has been recognized as a leader in sustainability, earning a number of awards including the World Environment Center's Gold Medal. DuPont has consistently earned high marks on social responsibility and environmental progress in surveys such as Fortune Magazine's "Most Admired Companies" and the Financial Times PriceWaterhouseCoopers "World's Most Respected Companies."
As part of its environmentally responsible sustainable growth mission, DuPont has set four goals for 2010, supplementing existing goals:
- To derive 25 percent of revenues from non-depletable resources.
- To reduce global carbon-equivalent greenhouse gas emissions by 65 percent, using 1990 as a base year. The company has already surpassed this goal with a 68 percent reduction.
- To hold energy use flat using 1990 as a base year.
- To source 10 percent of the company's global energy use in the year 2010 from renewable resources.
Earlier this year, DuPont became a founding member of the Chicago Climate Exchange, a voluntary cap-and-trade program for reducing and trading greenhouse gas emissions. Members of the Chicago Climate Exchange have made a commitment to reduce their emissions of greenhouse gases by 4 percent below the average of their 1998-2001 baseline by 2006. In June, the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) presented its Presidential Green Chemistry award to DuPont for the company's innovation that uses corn – instead of conventional petroleum-based processes – to produce its latest polymer platform for use in clothing, carpets and automobile interiors. In addition, DuPont is working with the U.S. Department of Energy in research leading to the world's first integrated "bio-refinery" – capable of producing ethanol fuel and value-added chemicals from renewable resources such as corn.
DuPont is a science company. Founded in 1802, DuPont puts science to work by solving problems and creating solutions that make people's lives better, safer and easier. Operating in more than 70 countries, the company offers a wide range of products and services to markets including agriculture, nutrition, electronics, communications, safety and protection, home and construction, transportation and apparel.
The DuPont Oval, DuPont™, The miracles of science™, and Kevlar® and Suva® are registered trademarks or trademarks of DuPont or its affiliates.