MIDLAND, MI - June 28, 2012
The Dow Chemical Company today issued its 2011 Global Reporting Initiative (GRI) Sustainability Report with UN Global Compact Communication on Progress. Dow utilizes GRI's reporting guidelines to communicate the Company's sustainability efforts and achievements. Through a consistent and balanced summary on progress on Dow's 2015 Goals, this report underscores the Company's commitment to addressing social and environmental challenges through chemistry and innovation.
"This year, we reported to the expanded requirements of the GRI 3.1 format," said Mark Weick, Dow's director of Sustainability Programs. "We also made the report more engaging for readers with enhanced graphics and navigation options, including the ability to navigate by materiality. We continue to have the report assured by a third party."
For the fifth year in a row, the report achieved an "A+" designation. The "A" signifies that the report reaches the highest level of completeness and the "+" assures stakeholders of the report's accuracy through verification by an external third-party. The GRI framework assists reporters in basing their communication on the following principles: balance, comparability, accuracy, timeliness, clarity and reliability.
GRI is the globally recognized sustainability reporting framework with a mission to make sustainability reporting a standard practice for all organizations. This year marks the eighth time Dow has published a report using the GRI framework.
A summary of the report is also available, which highlights 2011 progress and many of the metrics used to track Dow's 2015 Sustainability Goals.
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.
For editorial information:
Mike McCaffrey
The Dow Chemical Company
+1 989 636 3045