DOW INC
For the period ended Dec 31, 2023. Filed Jan 31, 2024.
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FY2023 · Filed Jan 31, 2024
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Environmental Matters
Environmental Policies
Dow is committed to world-class environmental, health and safety (“EH&S”) performance, as demonstrated by industry-leading results, a long-standing commitment to the American Chemistry Council's Responsible Care® program, a strong commitment to achieve the Company's 2025 Sustainability Goals and Dow's drive to deliver against its targets around a circular economy and climate protection. These goals and targets set the standard for sustainability in the chemical industry, focusing on improvements in the Company’s local corporate citizenship and product stewardship, and by actively pursuing methods to reduce the Company's environmental impact.
To meet the Company’s public commitments, as well as the stringent laws and government regulations related to environmental protection and remediation to which its global operations are subject, the Company has well-defined policies, requirements and management systems. The Company's EH&S Management System (“EMS”) defines the “who, what, when and how” needed for the businesses to implement the Company’s policies and requirements and meet performance objectives, leadership expectations and public commitments. To ensure effective utilization, the EMS is integrated into a company-wide management system for EH&S, Operations, Quality and Human Resources.
The Company believes third-party verification and transparent public reporting are cornerstones of world-class EH&S performance and building public trust. Numerous Dow sites in Europe, Latin America, Asia Pacific and the U.S. & Canada have received third-party verification of the Company’s compliance with Responsible Care® and with outside specifications such as ISO-14001. The Company continues to be a global champion of Responsible Care® and has worked to broaden the application and impact of Responsible Care® around the world through engagement with suppliers, customers and joint venture partners.
Dow manages environmental data for reporting with a waste, water and emissions inventory system. All emitting manufacturing sites globally record their emissions and water use in the system. The data is reviewed at the facility level and then by global coordinators before being aggregated for corporate environmental reporting purposes.
Dow's EH&S policies help to ensure the Company achieves its annual health and safety performance targets and the Company seeks to continuously improve on these targets through process and personal safety project implementations. Improvement in these areas, as well as environmental compliance, remains a top management priority, as the Company continues to implement its 2025 Sustainability Goals and progressive, multi-decade sustainability targets that include advancing a circular economy and climate protection. Progress is reviewed annually by management and with the Environment, Health, Safety & Technology Committee of the Board.
Detailed information on Dow’s performance regarding environmental matters and goals is accessible through the Company's Science & Sustainability webpage atwww.dow.com/sustainability. Dow's website and its content are not deemed incorporated by reference into this report.
Chemical Security
Public and political attention continues to be placed on the protection of critical infrastructure, including the chemical industry, from security threats. Sabotage, terrorism, war, natural disasters and cybersecurity incidents have increased global concerns about the security and safety of chemical production and distribution. Many, including the Company and the American Chemistry Council, have called for uniform risk-based and performance-based national standards for securing the U.S. chemical industry. The Company is subject to U.S. regulations with established risk-based and performance-based standards that must be met at U.S. Coast Guard-regulated facilities promulgated by the U.S. Department of Homeland Security. The Company is also subject to the requirements of the Rail Transportation Security Rule issued by the U.S. Transportation Security Administration. The Company continues to support uniform risk-based national standards for securing the chemical industry.
The Company maintains a comprehensive, multi-level security plan that focuses on security, emergency planning, preparedness and response. This plan, which has been activated in response to significant world and national events, is reviewed on an annual basis. The Company continues to improve its security plans, placing emphasis on the safety of Dow communities and people by being prepared to meet risks at any level and to address both internal and external identifiable risks. The security plan includes regular vulnerability assessments, security audits, mitigation efforts and physical security upgrades designed to reduce vulnerability. The Company’s security plans are also designed to avert interruptions of normal business operations that could materially and adversely affect the Company’s results of operations, financial condition and cash flows.
The Company played a key role in the development and implementation of the American Chemistry Council’s Responsible Care® Security Code ("Security Code"), which requires that all aspects of security – including facility, transportation and cyberspace – be assessed and gaps addressed. Through the global implementation of the Security Code, the Company has permanently heightened the level of security – not just in the United States, but worldwide. The Company employs several hundred employees and contractors in its Emergency Services and Security department worldwide. In 2019, the Company established its Global Security Operations Center ("GSOC") to provide 24-hour/day, 365-day/year real-time monitoring of global risks to Dow assets and people. The GSOC employs state-of-the-art social media monitoring, threat reporting and geo-fencing capabilities to analyze global risks and report those risks, facilitating decision-making and actions to prevent Dow crises.
Through the implementation of the Security Code, including voluntary security enhancements and upgrades, the Company is well-positioned to comply with U.S. chemical facility regulations and other regulatory security frameworks. The Company participates with the American Chemistry Council to periodically review and update the Security Code.
The Company continues to work collaboratively across the supply chain on Responsible Care®, supply chain design, emergency preparedness, shipment visibility and transportation of hazardous materials. The Company cooperated with public and private entities to lead the implementation of advanced tank car design, and track and trace technologies. Further, the Company’s Distribution Risk Review process addresses potential threats in all modes of transportation across the Company’s supply chain. To reduce vulnerabilities, the Company maintains security measures that meet or exceed regulatory and industry security standards in all areas in which they operate.
The Company's initiatives relative to chemical security, emergency preparedness and response, Community Awareness and Emergency Response and crisis management are implemented consistently at all Dow sites on a global basis. Each Dow site has established outreach programs designed to engage community stakeholders with objectives centered around awareness of Dow operations, products, and efforts to protect worker and community health and the environment. These programs also educate community members on emergency planning and response, emissions and waste, future site plans to reduce waste and emissions, and process safety systems. Finally, these outreach efforts establish an opportunity for Dow site leaders to hear about community stakeholder expectations and address questions and concerns about safety, health, environmental or other issues. The Company participates with chemical associations globally and participates as an active member of the Global Congress on Chemical Security and Emerging Threats and in positions of leadership in the U.S. Chemical Sector Coordinating Council.
Climate Protection
Evaluation of climate-related risks and opportunities continues to be a catalyst for the development of the Company’s Decarbonize & Grow strategy (Dow’s climate transition plan), its water-intensity goal and its Valuing Nature goal. Dow's science-based strategy includes a phased approach to decarbonize while meeting growing demand for Dow's products and contributing to a low-carbon future through continued investment in new products, technologies and processes. In 2020, Dow announced commitments to reduce its net annual Scope 1 and 2 CO 2 e emissions by an additional 5 million metric tons by 2030 versus its 2020 baseline, a 15 percent reduction versus 2020 and a 30 percent reduction in greenhouse gas emissions since 2005. Additionally, Dow announced its intention to be carbon neutral by 2050 (Scope 1+2+3, as defined by the Greenhouse Gas Protocol Corporate Accounting and Reporting Standard, plus product benefits). In 2021, Dow outlined a path to decarbonize its production processes (Scope 1 and 2 CO 2 e emissions), utilizing a phased approach in which end-of-life capacity is replaced with higher-efficiency, lower greenhouse gas emitting assets. Reflecting Dow's focus to make meaningful progress in the near term, Dow intends to reduce its CO 2 e emissions by approximately 2 million metric tons by 2025 versus its 2020 baseline while growing underlying earnings and plans to build the world's first net-zero Scope 1 and 2 CO 2 e emissions integrated ethylene cracker and derivatives facility in Alberta, Canada, which is expected to add approximately 1,885 KTA of ethylene and polyethylene capacity by 2029. Dow is also committed to advancing water stewardship within the Company's operations and to working collaboratively to enhance water management at the watershed level. As part of this commitment, Dow has set a global target to reduce freshwater intake intensity by 20 percent at six key water-stressed sites by 2025. Additionally, Dow has implemented a robust process to quantify the value of products and projects that are better for nature, including nature-based solutions.
Despite these commitments, climate change-related risks and uncertainties, legal or regulatory responses to climate change, and failure to meet climate change commitments could negatively impact Dow’s results of operations, financial condition and/or reputation. Climate-related risks include both physical and transition risks.
Physical Risks
Climate-related physical risks include more frequent severe weather events, potential changes in precipitation patterns, water scarcity and extreme variability in weather patterns, which can disrupt the operations of the Company as well as those of its customers, partners and vendors.
To evaluate physical risks, Dow partnered with S&P Global Trucost (“Trucost”) to assess the Company’s exposure to physical risks based on the geographic location of its manufacturing operations. The risks assessed included water stress, flood, heat waves, cold waves, hurricanes, wildfires and sea level rise. The analysis included an assessment of the physical risks using a baseline year of 2020 with time periods for medium- (year 2030) and long-term (year 2050) using the Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change representative concentration pathways. These pathways represent varying degrees of global atmospheric greenhouse gas concentrations (low, medium and high), and thus different expectations on global temperature rise. Results will be incorporated into Dow’s long-term assessments of its manufacturing sites, which is a key input into Dow’s capital approval process.
Transition Risks
Climate-related transition risks include the availability, development and affordability of lower greenhouse gas emissions technology, the effects of CO 2 e pricing, and changes in public sentiment, regulations, taxes, public mandates or requirements as they relate to CO 2 e, water or land use.
Climate-related risks, including both physical and transition risks, are assessed with input from internal and external sources including corporate, business, function and geographic leaders; subject matter experts; investors; and other stakeholders. The evaluation of climate-related risks and opportunities is integrated into an annual company-wide risk management process, known as enterprise risk management (“ERM”). ERM identifies significant or major risks to the Company and develops action plans to modify or mitigate risks.
Every few years, Dow also utilizes a robust scenario analysis to assess the long-term materiality and impact of climate-related risks and opportunities. Scenario analysis is used to challenge business-as-usual assumptions and strengthen the resiliency of the Company’s Decarbonize & Grow strategy. Scenarios are used to evaluate both physical and transition risk and are particularly useful in evaluating the potential and impact of emerging risks.
Decarbonize & Grow
Dow’s Decarbonize & Grow strategy involves specific actions to mitigate identified climate-related physical and transition risks, while also advancing opportunities in several key areas. These include:
Optimizing Manufacturing Facilities and Processes for Sustainability: Dow is investing approximately $1 billion in annual capital across the economic cycle to decarbonize assets, in a phased approach, while growing capacity.
Increasing Clean Energy in Purchased Power Mix: Dow continues to invest in cost-efficient clean energy, including wind, solar, biomass and hydropower, across operations.
Developing Next Generation, Low-Carbon Manufacturing Technologies: Dow is investing in longer-term, future-focused manufacturing technologies that will be critical in the decarbonization of the Company's manufacturing.
Building a Value-Generating Scope 3 Decarbonization Pathway: Approximately two-thirds of Dow’s emissions footprint fall into the Scope 3 categories and more than half of those come from the raw materials, transportation and other services purchased as a company. The Company was recognized as a Supplier Engagement Leader for the second straight year by CDP, a global non-profit that directs the world’s environmental disclosure system for companies, cities, states and regions. Dow has significantly advanced its Scope 3 strategy by improving emissions accounting, advancing transparency along the value chain, and working closely with key suppliers to set and meet emissions reduction targets.
Developing Low-Carbon Products, Technologies and Services: Dow products are essential to a low carbon future, and the Company wants the world’s best brands to look to Dow to help them achieve their goals and make their products more sustainable. Dow is helping its customers achieve their climate goals by providing products that facilitate energy efficiency, lightweighting, fuel transition, circularity, increased operational efficiency, resource reductions and reduced emissions.
Advancing Water Stewardship and Resilience
As one of the largest materials science companies in the world, Dow depends on a steady supply of fresh water to create the products that are essential for everyday life and human progress. Dow strives to use the Company’s technology, expertise and partnerships to help conserve and promote regenerative water use, protect watersheds and create a future where clean water is abundant and available to all. Effective water stewardship is also required for long-term company viability and Dow’s senior executive leadership team oversees the Company’s water strategy.
Dow’s water risk management approach recognizes that every site and every business is accountable for water while certain watersheds require additional measures to address specific water stress challenges. Key Dow locations have specific water action plans to address risk to operations given their dependence on a stressed watershed. These action plans include mitigations for local water scarcity or quality issues and consider the needs of other local users for freshwater. Additionally, Dow identified six sites in 2015, located in Texas (2); Bahia Blanca, Argentina; Terneuzen, The Netherlands; Böhlen, Germany; and Tarragona, Spain; where operations are located in a water-stressed watershed, have local water quality issues, have competition among local users for water, or have some local knowledge of watershed challenges, and these six sites have been the focus of actions since that time.
Advancing a Circular Economy
Dow is committed to turning the tide on plastic waste and meeting customers’ increasing demands for more sustainable and circular products through Dow's materials science expertise and its investments in circular innovations and partnerships – from designing for recyclability at the beginning of a product’s life to building materials ecosystems that will help turn plastic waste into a valuable resource that can be used to create new products. Dow is working to advance circularity for its key materials and, to this end, is working to deliver on its enterprise target to Transform the Waste, which entails transforming plastic waste and other forms of feedstocks to deliver 3 million metric tons of circular and renewable solutions annually by 2030. To reach the target, Dow is collaborating with other stakeholders across value chains to build materials ecosystems to collect, reuse or recycle plastic waste. This, in turn, will enable Dow to return more plastic waste into the circular system, and scale production of circular and low-carbon emissions solutions.
Since 2020, Dow has invested more than $200 million into impact funds, recycling infrastructure, venture capital, research and development and key technologies to transform waste into solutions that support a circular economy. Dow is catalyzing a circular economy for plastics through global partnerships with non-governmental organizations and investors, such as the Alliance to End Plastic Waste, The Recycling Partnership, Circulate Capital, Closed Loop Partners and Lombard Odier Global Plastic Circularity Fund. Additionally, Dow is making progress on its Transform the Waste target through several recently announced circular and renewable offtake agreements and projects that will help contribute to achieving the new target. See Item 1. Business for updates on these investments, partnerships and projects.
In support of, and in collaboration with, value chain partners and customers, Dow is aligning its innovation and application development programs so its products are recycle-ready at the outset or enable circularity in customers’ products and processes. Designing for circularity at the molecular level expands the possibilities for recycling across a variety of applications, and ultimately lessens the environmental impact of Dow's customers’ products.
Dow's efforts under Transform the Waste expand beyond packaging. In 2023, the Company launched and/or commercialized a number of other circular solutions like SPECFLEX C, a recycled polyurethane solution for the automotive sector and Propylene Glycol CIR.
Developing Safer Materials
How the Company manufactures, distributes and enables the proper use and disposal of its products can have a large and meaningful impact on the environment. Dow’s vision is a future where every material it brings to market is sustainable for the people and the planet. Dow is working to deliver that sustainable future through its materials science expertise and collaboration with its customers. By constantly innovating how it sources, manufactures and delivers material solutions, Dow helps customers achieve their goals and create a better tomorrow. Dow has an impact on safer materials directly through the manufacture and delivery of solutions and indirectly through the chemicals that are sourced.
Dow is committed to demonstrating the value of chemistry and materials science to society and improving the way the world understands and considers science in decision-making to maximize benefits to businesses, society and the planet. Through Dow’s 2025 Safe Materials for a Sustainable Planet goal, the Company has made progress toward this vision by innovating sustainable materials of tomorrow, leading candid conversations about product safety and committing to the advancement of open and transparent chemistry with value chain partners, customers and the public.
Environmental Remediation
For comparison of environmental remediation-related matters for the fiscal years ended December 31, 2022 and 2021, see Part II, Item 7. Management’s Discussion and Analysis of Financial Condition and Results of Operations of the Company's Annual Report on Form 10-K for the fiscal year ended December 31, 2022, filed with the SEC on February 1, 2023.
The Company accrues the costs of remediation of its facilities and formerly owned facilities based on current law and regulatory requirements. The nature of such remediation can include management of soil and groundwater contamination. The accounting policies adopted to properly reflect the monetary impacts of environmental matters are discussed in Note 1 to the Consolidated Financial Statements. To assess the impact on the financial statements, environmental experts review currently available facts to evaluate the probability and scope of potential liabilities. Inherent uncertainties exist in such evaluations primarily due to unknown environmental conditions, changing governmental regulations and legal standards regarding liability, and the ability to apply remediation technologies. These liabilities are adjusted periodically as remediation efforts progress or as additional technical or legal information becomes available. The Company had an accrued liability of $939 million at December 31, 2023, related to the remediation of current or former Dow-owned sites. At December 31, 2022, the liability related to remediation was $948 million.
In addition to current and former Dow-owned sites, under the federal Comprehensive Environmental Response, Compensation and Liability Act ("CERCLA") and equivalent state laws (hereafter referred to collectively as "Superfund Law"), the Company is liable for remediation of other hazardous waste sites where the Company allegedly disposed of, or arranged for the treatment or disposal of, hazardous substances. Because Superfund Law imposes joint and several liability upon each party at a site, the Company has evaluated its potential liability in light of the number of other companies that have also been named potentially responsible parties (“PRPs”) at each site, the estimated apportionment of costs among all PRPs, and the financial ability and commitment of each to pay its expected share. The Company’s remaining liability for the remediation of Superfund sites was $241 million at December 31, 2023 ($244 million at December 31, 2022). The Company has not recorded any third-party recovery related to these sites as a receivable.
Information regarding environmental sites is provided below:
| Environmental Sites | Dow-owned Sites 1 | Superfund Sites 2 | ||
|---|---|---|---|---|
| 2023 | 2022 | 2023 | 2022 | |
| Number of sites at Jan 1 | 171 | 171 | 130 | 134 |
| Sites added during year | 6 | — | 4 | 2 |
| Sites closed during year | (23) | — | (1) | (6) |
| Number of sites at Dec 31 | 154 | 171 | 133 | 130 |
Dow-owned sites are sites currently or formerly owned by the Company. In the United States, remediation obligations are imposed by the Resource Conservation and Recovery Act or analogous state law. At December 31, 2023, 24 of these sites (24 sites at December 31, 2022) were formerly owned by Dowell Schlumberger, Inc., a group of companies in which the Company previously owned a 50 percent interest. The Company sold its interest in Dowell Schlumberger in 1992.
Superfund sites are sites, including sites not owned by the Company, where remediation obligations are imposed by Superfund Law.
Additional information is provided below for the Company’s Midland, Michigan, manufacturing site and Midland off-site locations (collectively, the "Midland sites"), as well as a Superfund site in Wood-Ridge, New Jersey, the locations for which the Company has the largest potential environmental liabilities.
In the early days of operations at the Midland manufacturing site, wastes were usually disposed of on-site, resulting in soil and groundwater contamination, which has been contained and managed on-site under a series of Resource Conservation and Recovery Act permits and regulatory agreements. The Hazardous Waste Operating License for the Midland manufacturing site, issued in 2003, and renewed and replaced in September 2015, also included provisions for the Company to conduct an investigation to determine the nature and extent of off-site contamination from historic Midland manufacturing site operations. In January 2010, the Company, the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency ("EPA") and the State of Michigan ("State") entered into an Administrative Order on Consent that requires the Company to conduct a remedial investigation, a feasibility study and a remedial design for the Tittabawassee River, the Saginaw River and the Saginaw Bay, and pay the oversight costs of the EPA and the State under the authority of CERCLA. See Note 14 to the Consolidated Financial Statements for further information relating to Midland off-site environmental matters.
Rohm and Haas, a wholly owned subsidiary of the Company, is a PRP at the Wood-Ridge, New Jersey, Ventron/Velsicol Superfund Site, and the adjacent Berry’s Creek Study Area ("BCSA") (collectively, the "Wood-Ridge sites"). Rohm and Haas is a successor in interest to a company that owned and operated a mercury processing facility, where wastewater and waste handling resulted in contamination of soils and adjacent creek sediments. In 2018, the Berry’s Creek Study Area Potentially Responsible Party Group (“PRP Group”), consisting of over 100 PRPs, completed a Remedial Investigation/Feasibility Study for the BCSA. During that time, the EPA concluded that an “iterative or adaptive approach” was appropriate for cleaning up the BCSA. Thus, each phase of remediation will be followed by a period of monitoring to assess its effectiveness and determine if there is a need for more work. In September 2018, the EPA signed a Record of Decision ("ROD 1") which describes the initial phase of the EPA’s plan to clean-up the BCSA. ROD 1 will remediate waterways and major tributaries in the most contaminated part of the BCSA. The PRP Group has signed agreements with the EPA to design the selected remedy. Although there is currently much uncertainty as to what will ultimately be required to remediate the BCSA and Rohm and Haas's share of these costs has yet to be determined, the range of activities that are required in the interim Record of Decision is known in general terms. The PRP Group has been approached by the EPA to convene discussions for the Remedial Action Consent Decree the EPA is preparing for the Berry’s Creek Site. The group submitted the 60 percent design for EPA review and has identified and contracted with a Remedial Action contractor to support completion of the 95 percent design. Allocation remains incomplete.
At December 31, 2023, the Company had accrued liabilities totaling $319 million ($339 million at December 31, 2022) for environmental remediation at the Midland and Wood-Ridge sites. In 2023, the Company spent $48 million ($37 million in 2022) for environmental remediation at the Midland and Wood-Ridge sites.
In total, the Company’s accrued liability for probable environmental remediation and restoration costs was $1,180 million at December 31, 2023, compared with $1,192 million at December 31, 2022. This is management’s best estimate of the costs for remediation and restoration with respect to environmental matters for which the Company has accrued liabilities, although it is reasonably possible that the ultimate cost with respect to these particular matters could range up to approximately two times that amount. Consequently, it is reasonably possible that environmental remediation and restoration costs in excess of amounts accrued could have a material impact on the Company’s results of operations, financial condition and cash flows. It is the opinion of the Company’s management, however, that the possibility is remote that costs in excess of the range disclosed will have a material impact on the Company’s results of operations, financial condition and cash flows.
The amounts charged to income on a pretax basis related to environmental remediation totaled $203 million in 2023 and $176 million in 2022. The amounts charged to income on a pretax basis related to operating the Company's current pollution abatement facilities, excluding internal recharges, totaled $758 million in 2023 and $773 million in 2022. Capital expenditures for environmental protection were $228 million in 2023 and $137 million in 2022.
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