Dow Turkey receives Low Carbon Hero award

ISTANBUL

Dow Turkey announced in a press release on April 21 that it had received the Low Carbon Hero award at the Istanbul Carbon Summit, which was organized for the third time by the Sustainable Production and Consumption Association (SPCA). 

The Istanbul Carbon Summit was held on April 14–15 at Istanbul Technical University’s Süleyman Demirel Cultural Center and brought together senior-level government officials, academicians and private sector representatives from Turkey and abroad.

Their thermoplastic polyolefin membranes, developed in cooperation with Dow client Multiplan Insulation Systems, helped the company win the award, according to the statement. 

Dow Turkey and Central Asia President İhsan Necipoğlu highlighted how Dow’s contributions to sustainability and energy efficiency had helped the company reduce its carbon footprint.

Necipoğlu pointed out that they employ 6,800 scientists and researchers and invest $2 billion in R&D annually, saying he had great confidence in their ability to make new scientific breakthroughs. 

“One billion people have been added to the world population in the last decade alone. Therefore energy consumption has increased by 50 percent in the last 15 years. Water consumption has risen by 50 percent. However, 35 percent of the world’s population experience severe water shortages and the new population of one billion faces food shortages. So productivity in food and agriculture must be increased, new water sources must be discovered and current water sources must be cleaned,” Necipoğlu said.

He spoke about their solution for one of the world’s biggest problems, food shortages, noting almost one-third of the world’s food production is wasted, according to the U.N. database. 

“The solution depends on wrapping and packaging. Good packaging raises the performance and extends the shelf life [of food]. Dow makes significant contributions to the value chain while designing the raw material of the flexible package. We save energy by 4 percent and water by 40 percent. We decrease the thickness of the package to achieve savings. We also enable fuel savings in transportation. We cooperate with industry for recycling. In the meantime, we strive to minimize the carbon footprint of the food industry,” Necipoğlu said.