Dow Chemical and Nature Conservancy announce JV in Brazil

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.