Riyadh, Saudi Arabia – Wednesday 11th October 2023 – 3M today drove the climate tech conversation along with cross-sector peers during the thought-provoking panel discussion entitled “Accelerating Scientific Innovations for a Sustainable Future.” Maintaining momentum from the September edition of Climate Week in New York in one of the final milestone events before COP28 in the UAE, 3M were joined in Saudi Arabia by senior spokespeople delivering next-generation case studies of burgeoning technology solutions to mitigate the effects of global warming.

“At 3M, we recognize the urgency for delivering scalable climate solutions across various industries to best serve our customers and partners,” said Laszlo Svinger, Global VP Commercial Operations 3M Healthcare and Managing Director 3M Middle East & Africa. “MENA Climate Week provides us with the platform to ideate and strategize alongside fellow climate champions, prioritizing how we can expedite implementation of science-based solutions for this pressing global issue. The crucial ingredient here is the regionalisation of the discussion, showcasing Middle Eastern innovation in the run up to COP28 hosted in the UAE.” 

Accelerating Science & Innovation for a More Sustainable Future

“3M is proud to open such a vital dialogue session in the MENA region, bringing together a diverse set of industry leaders solving for climate change. Innovation is the best way we can fight together for a brighter future, and it is heartening to see such diverse and progressive solutions in the spotlight in this panel alone as we continue to research and develop sustainable technologies together,” said Camila Cruz Durlacher, Area Vice President of 3M EMEA for Research, Development and Innovation.

Panel representatives included:

  • Ibrahim Al Zubi, Group Chief Sustainability Officer, ADNOC
  • Ibrahim Helali, Executive Director, UNGC Saudi Arabia
  • Dr. Turki Baroud, Founding Chairman of Materials and Engineering Department, King Fah’d University of Petroleum and Minerals
  • Raya Makawi, Regional Leader, Sustainability & Innovation, 3M Middle East & Africa

During the session, with an introductory keynote from Camila Cruz Durlacher, Area Vice President of 3M EMEA for Research, Development and Innovation follows yesterday’s morning session organized by the UNFCCC focused on water stewardship strategies and climate resilience.

Accelerating the global reduction of water use by 3M

Another vital discussion, the goal of the session brought together key stakeholders to showcase their distinct success strategies and spark collaboration in a wider context during the UNFCCC panel titled System Innovations in the Water Sector. Representative from the KSA Ministry, UNICEF, King Abdullah University of Science and Technology and ESCWA were amongst the distinguished guests.

“Private and public sectors collaboration is critical when it comes to acting on and advancing on Net Zero as well as Net Positive Water Impact,” said Raya Makawi, Regional Sustainability Leader for 3M Middle East & Africa who was also amongst our panellists.  “Water stewardship is a key pillar of 3M’s environmental initiatives, as can be seen in 3M a leader member of the Water Resilience Coalition (WRC),” she added.

As announced during NYC Climate Week, the company will be collaborating to reduce water stress in target basins on three dimensions: availability (quantity), quality, and access—applying takeaways from the Net Positive Water Impact (NPWI) Piloting Workshop it hosted at World Water Week in August. The WRC program will also assess how NPWI is best evaluated, informing a guidance document that will be published in January 2024 and made available for companies around the world to operationalize. 

The NPWI pilot program builds on work within 3M to reduce overall water use—targeting a 25% reduction by 2030—and return higher quality water to the environment after use in operations. 3M is accelerating progress toward these goals through process improvements and the installation of new technologies, and reached a 16.8% reduction in water use at the close of 2022 (benchmarked to 2019 levels). 

Driving climate innovation at MENA Climate Week 

In addition to the CEO Water Mandate event, 3M recently shared developments in key areas of climate innovation, including direct air capture (DAC) technology, when last month 3M presented with Svante Technologies, Inc. (Svante) at The Nest Climate Campus. Cory Sauer, 3M’s global carbon capture lead, shared the stage with Claude Letourneau, Svante’s president and chief executive officer, to discuss how the two companies are accelerating the development and scalability of DAC solutions, which can trap carbon dioxide found in the atmosphere and sequester it. In collaboration with Svante, the world leader in the solid sorbent method of carbon capture and removal, 3M is developing a proprietary material called Sorbents-on-a-Roll—or SOAR. Sheets of this nanoengineered material are to be stacked in parallel layers in Svante’s carbon removal filters.  

To learn more about 3M’s commitments to climate innovation and how 3M solutions are improving lives around the world, visit www.3M.com/ESG.