DuPont, heralded for their innovation, sustainability approaches, and commitment to global challenges, made an appearance at EnforceTac in Nuremberg, Germany.
Bodyarmornews.com had the privilege of speaking again with Steve LaGanke, Global Business Leader for the Defense Segment, and Melissa Helpinstill, Global Business Director about body armor sustainability and DuPont’s commitment to zero carbon emissions by 2050.
DuPont is a member of RE100, a global initiative led by the Climate Group connecting influential businesses through their values of renewable energy and decarbonization. It’s through this group that DuPont has made the carbon commitment, helping to facilitate sustainability among a diverse range of businesses.
“It’s an aggressive plan. It’s going to take a lot of effort,” LaGanke said, in reference to the outlined plan conceived by Chief Sustainability Officer Alex Dembek. “I think we’re already doing things at our plant sites to try to make sure that we’re reducing the emissions, but also looking at alternative energy sources and things like that.”
Dupont’s Commitment and Over-Achievements
According to the report compiled by Dembek, as of September of 2024 the efforts have already admirably exceeded the company’s goals for 2030. DuPont’s drive for decarbonization is compatible with the Paris Climate Agreement and the standards set by SBTi.
It was in 2019 when DuPont made the original climate strategy of net-zero emissions by 2050. Since then, their targets have been achieved with time to spare. At the time of this report they had reached a 58% decrease in emissions for both Scopes 1 and 2, and 39% for Scope 3. They have also reached the goal of 60% of electricity used for operations sourced from renewable resources, the deadline of which was 5 years from now.
Circularity within the Kevlar® Business
When asked about specifics in the sustainability goals relating to the body armor industry, LaGanke looked into the future of defense in the Kevlar® business. “We’re focusing on a couple of different areas. I think reducing our carbon footprint is one area that we’ve focused on. Renewable energy sources, circularity.
“We’ve started to do some lifecycle analysis work for Kevlar®, just so we better understand our end-to-end footprint from a carbon perspective, to see what opportunities exist for us to get better there.”
DuPont is additionally looking into their raw material sources of supply to evaluate the potential for integrating sustainable materials before becoming explicitly available. Importance for taking better advantage of these opportunities before it becomes a scramble is growing. With more companies looking to increase sustainability efforts, decarbonization and increased circularity is becoming an additional opportunity for competition.
“With Kevlar® EXO™ specifically, we set up an agreement with a body armor recycler in France who can take the material end-of-life,” says LaGanke. Thanks to this agreement, users can donate their expired body armor to the recycler, who can remove the components and convert Kevlar® EXO™ into a staple, a component similar to cotton that can then be re-weaved into fabric.
When asked about the general global business drive for sustainability, Helpinstill agreed that “Europe is definitely driving more of a sustainable footprint, and U.S. or other regions
are following.”
DuPont is in a unique position of global influence, with their stronghold on the European market as well as in North America. Having made such impressive progress with their sustainability goals already, they can be a point of inspiration for other American companies that have yet to take that step.
