PHILADELPHIA, PA, 2007 – Rohm and Haas Company (NYSE:ROH) has received the 2007 Hydro Sustainability Award during a recent conference held in Hafnersee, Austria. The award was presented by Dr. Karl-Henrik Róbert, founder of The Natural Step, a non-governmental organization that has pioneered an extensive set of principles to advance society toward sustainability. The conference and a multi-day workshop was hosted by Chemson but organized by Hydro for 10 top global suppliers. It provided a forum for participating companies in the PVC supply chain to report their progress in utilizing the sustainable development methodology developed by The Natural Step during the last year.  | | Rohm and Haas employees (from left) Louis Sederel, Muriel Hebrard, Gareth Oubridge, Jon Hastings and Robin Madgwick accept the Hydro Sustainability Award from The Natural Step founder, Dr. Karl-Henrik Róbert (second from right). |
Rohm and Haas was elected as the best performing company by Hydro and The Natural Step at the conclusion of the conference. “This award, and the fact that many other very worthy participating companies chose to recognize Rohm and Haas for our work in sustainability, is quite gratifying,” says Jon Hastings, European general manager for Rohm and Haas’s Packaging and Building Materials business. “The close working relationship we have with Hydro Polymers has greatly influenced our sustainable efforts. It has paved the way for coordinated efforts between our companies, and enabled us to further elevate sustainability values in our company.” As winner of the award, Rohm and Haas will act as a leader for sustainable development issues within its circle of suppliers, co-suppliers and customers. The company will co-sponsor a distance learning course regarding The Natural Step sustainability development principles scheduled to begin this fall. The course is created for professionals in the chemical industry and aims to equip ‘agents of change’ with information to address sustainability within their own companies. Hastings adds that Rohm and Haas has been spurred on by the award. “We recently completed a presentation on the The Natural Step program to the senior leadership within Rohm and Haas, and there already exists new and exciting proposals for its continued use throughout our company.” About Hydro Polymers
Hydro Polymers is part of Norsk Hydro ASA, a Fortune 500 company that was founded in 1905 and is a leading off-shore producer of oil and gas, the world’s third-largest integrated aluminum supplier, and a pioneer in renewable energy and energy-efficient solutions. The company’s Norwegian heritage influences Hydro’s approach to valuing the earth. In their opinion, business performance and societal needs are inseparable and interdependent. In June 2007 it was announced that the Hydro Polymers business, which operates production facilities in Scandinavia and the United Kingdom, is being acquired from Hydro by Ineos ChlorVinyls, Europe's largest producer of the plastics raw material polyvinyl chloride (PVC). About The Natural Step
Since 1988, The Natural Step has worked to accelerate global sustainability by helping companies, communities and governments find an ecologically, socially and economically sustainable path with a set of principles the organization pioneered. More than 70 people in eleven countries assist an international network of sustainability experts, scientists, universities and businesses to create solutions, innovative models and tools that will lead the transition to a sustainable future. |
