BUSINESS
BUILDING CREDIBILITY ACC leadership takes firm stand on industry reputation, advocacy and security initiatives
L
ESS THAN SIX MONTHS AFTER AN-
nouncing its reputation initiative, the American Chemistry Council, including recently appointed President and Chief Executive Officer Gregori Lebedev, isn't mincing words about the challenges facing the industry 'At no time in history have our companies been as operationally efficient, as socially responsible, or as essential to our well-being," Lebedev told the nearly 200 chemical company executives attending ACC's annual meeting in Houston on Oct. 28. Nevertheless, the companies are viewed with suspicion and apprehension by the general public. The social proposition that we can "love our way of life, yet fear the people that bring it to us, is intellectually unacceptable, socially unhealthy, and cannot be permitted to persist," Lebedev warned. He laid much of the fault at the feet of the industry itself, noting that a lack of communication on its part has created an industry without definition, and it drives a cycle with severe and lasting consequences. In the cycle, the information void is filled by an "activist industry—extreme environmentalists, health terrorists, and predatory trial lawyers" who in turn feed the media. Next, he said, the media influ-
ences "well-intentioned but not always well-informed" politicians and government executives who regulate in response. "In truth, we enable the activists, the editors, and the regulators," Lebedev said, by "not telling the rest of the story." To bring about an understanding ofwhat the industry does and how it 0 does it, companies must per- I form relentlessly and begin « to communicate aggressive- | ly about their contributions " to employment, the econo- = my, technology, everyday life, health, and efforts in testing, security, and environmental performance. For example, Lebedev believes that Responsible Care should be deepened and broadened, as well as deployed and enforced globally Lebedev "If we fail to perform in a successful and transparent fashion, we will have relinquished our right to the high road forever," he told attendees. TO IMPROVE the public's view, ACC is using industry performance as the basis of a reputation initiative (C&EN, June 17, page 18). However, much of the performance improvement that's been achieved
through the Responsible Care program in its first 10 years has been invisible to the public, saidThomas E. Reillyjr., CEO and chairman of Reilly Industries and ACC chairman. Thus the program has been redesigned in the past year to address its shortcomings in that regard. Today Responsible Care is more than just an inward-looking environment, health, and safety program, Reilly explained. It's been broadened to be a basis of the industry's sustainable development program, now includes a security code, and incorporates mandatory third-party certification. Success in returning the industry to aposition oftrust and respect rests on three activities: understanding what the public needs from the industry, providing it, and making sure the public knows that the industry has done so, Reilly noted. "In short, listen, perform, and communicate." Reilly challenged Lebedev to take the industry's advocacy processes to new levels. "He must continue to enhance our reputation as a partner rather than an adversary among government agencies and more realistic nongovernment advocacy organizations," Reilly said. And he emphasized the need to engage in public policy development at the international level. Reilly pointed to success he saw at the recent World Summit on Sustainable Development in Johannesburg, where he
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represented the International Council of Chemical Associations. He was surprised and pleased to see how far the industry's credibility has risen in the 10 years since the last sustainable development meeting in Rio de Janeiro. "In Rio, we were the whipping boy," Reilly said, "while inJohannesburg, we were viewed as a viable partner since we've done real things since Rio." Examples he gave included ACC's LongRange Research Initiative, the Children's
Health project, and the High Production Volume Chemical program. A key aspect of these programs is the use of good sci ence, which, he added, "is not biased and not afraid of the truth, and welcomes dia logue and transparency and does not seek to support an agenda. "Demonstrating our commitment to good science is a crucial step on the road to regaining the trust and respect we de serve," Reilly continued. "But if and when good science goes against our in terests, we, too, must accept it and be good stewards." Daniel S. Sanders, president of Exxon Mobil Chemical, will assume the role of ACC chairman from Reilly in 2003. Attendees at the ACC meeting also heard presentations from guest speakers— Rep. Tom DeLay (R-Texas), U.S. Ambas sador to the United Nations Richard C. Holbrooke, and several outside consult ants—who discussed more specific issues in legislation, the chemical economy, cor porate governance, crisis management, cybersecurity, and foreign policy On a relatively brighter note, Avi Nash, senior securities analyst at Goldman Sachs, suggested that there is some good economic news for chemical companies. "In the next three to four years, I'm ac tually quite optimistic," he said, despite a general trend toward more "commoditization" and volatility. "The industry is pretty much at the bottom in the near term and can expect an up-tick in the intermediate term and some major headwind in the longer term," Nash concluded.-ANN THAYER HTTP://PUBS.ACS.ORG/CEN
