THE PEW CHARITABLE TRUSTS [www.pewtrusts.com]

Problem
The Pew Charitable Trusts (the Trusts), a leading national philanthropic foundation, was seeking to develop a market-based program to encourage U.S. manufacturers to reduce their use and release of persistent toxic chemicals. The Trusts was interested in developing a long term solution that would lead to major systemic reductions in chemical use in U.S. manufacturing. The Trusts stated the primary goals for the cooperative program were to:

• Significantly reduce the use of persistent toxic chemicals.
• Instigate long-term organizational change by promoting the integration of pollution prevention methods into business decision making.

Solution
CEA worked with The Tellus Institute to design a national program to promote chemical use reduction as a long-term business strategy. Specifically, CEA:

• Reviewed best practices in pollution prevention nationally.
• Developed an innovative program based on mutual financial incentives for chemical suppliers and manufacturers to reduce chemical use reduction.
• Analyzed several industry sectors to identify an appropriate industry to target for the pilot program.
• Engaged an advisory team to review the program design with representatives from the target industry, chemical suppliers, and environmental experts.
• Implemented the program with three pilot companies in the electronics industry.

Results

• CEA engaged three companies to participate in a pilot program.
• Worked with corporate staff and facility professionals in each company to win approval of company executives to participate in the pilot program.
• Secured over $1.7 million in funding to implement the pilot program and create the non-profit, Chemical Strategies Partnership (CSP).
• Currently, CEA serves as the management team for CSP, and created a membership arm, the CMS Forum.
• CSP has collaborated with more than 10 companies to assist them in analyzing current chemical management costs and designing a chemical management services (CMS) program. CSP also serves as an information clearinghouse, disseminating the model and introducing CMS to new industry sectors.