A joint announcement was recently made by Andrew Liveris, chairman and CEO of The Dow Chemical Co., and Mark Tercek, CEO of The Nature Conservancy, on a new collaboration between the organizations to help Dow and other companies recognize, value, and incorporate nature into global business goals, decisions, and strategies.

The global organizations will work together to apply scientific knowledge and experience to examine how Dow’s operations rely on and affect nature. The aim of the collaboration is to advance the incorporation of the value of nature into business, and to take action to protect the earth’s natural systems and the services they provide people, for the benefit of business and society. A major objective of the collaboration is to share all tools, lessons learned, and results publicly and through peer review so that other companies, scientists, and interested parties can test and apply them.

“This collaboration is designed to help us innovate new approaches to critical world challenges while demonstrating that environmental conservation is not just good for nature-it is good for business,” Liveris said. “Companies that value and integrate biodiversity and ecosystem services into their strategic plans are best positioned for the future by operationalizing sustainability. At Dow, we see sustainability as an adjective and one that we apply to almost everything we do: sustainable manufacturing, sustainable solutions and sustainable opportunities to constantly add to the quality of life for our communities and fellow citizens.”

“This project is an example of the type of cooperation required to make real, long-term progress in protecting the earth’s natural systems and the services they provide people,” Tercek said. “As the world population surges, it will take public and private sector collaboration like this to make the health of the environment not just an afterthought, but a fundamental consideration in everything we do in every part of our society. We hope that the results of this effort will demonstrate to other organizations and companies that incorporating nature’s services into decisions is a responsible, smart and viable business strategy.”

For additional details, visitwww.dow.comorwww.nature.org.