Behind government “moonshots” and corporate sustainability pledges lie multitudes of technological innovations required to make these aspirations possible. The fuel and petrochemical industries play critical roles in advancing and scaling the new technologies that will help us address the dual challenge of providing the products the world needs to thrive while operating in an increasingly sustainable way.
Publicly owned companies, like many U.S. refineries, have a fiduciary responsibility (which is a legal obligation) to act in the best interest of their shareholders, and that extends to how companies spend their earnings. Often, earnings are spent on a combination of the following: direct dividends, stock buy back programs, paying down debt and capital investment projects.
Marathon Petroleum Corporation has a longstanding tradition of supporting community and educational initiatives around the country, such as the Boys & Girls Club in Carson and Los Angeles Harbor, California.
It was 2010 and Jerry Wascom, ExxonMobil’s Americas refining director, was worried. Despite fuel and petrochemical manufacturers making significant improvements in the safety of their individual operations, across the industries there was an uptick in serious incidents. Workers were getting injured, surrounding communities were losing confidence, the reputation of the industries was being tarnished and regulators were becoming increasingly engaged. Wascom turned to his counterparts within the American Fuel and Petrochemical Manufacturers Association (AFPM), the industry trade group, and asked, “Are we doing enough to protect people?”