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Persistent Pollutants

Chemours sustainability champion leaves

Paul Kirsch leaves on eve of book and movie critical of the firm

by Marc S. Reisch
October 12, 2019 | A version of this story appeared in Volume 97, Issue 40

 

A photo of Chemours executive Paul Kirsch.
Credit: Chemours
Paul Kirsch

Paul Kirsch, the public face of Chemours’s corporate social responsibility plan, is leaving the company. Despite the departure, a Chemours spokesperson says, the firm still aims to be a corporate responsibility role model for the chemical industry and will appoint a new executive-level champion for the effort in the next month.

Kirsch is leaving to become CEO of 4THBIN, a New York City–based electronics recycling business he founded with his brother. Taking over Kirsch’s responsibilities as president of Chemours’s fluoroproducts business is Edwin Sparks, who continues as head of its chemical solutions business.

“These leadership changes have no impact on our company’s dedication to our sustainability programs,” says the Chemours spokesperson. He points to the firm’s second corporate responsibility report, issued last month, which discloses 2018 baselines for achieving sustainability goals set under Kirsch’s leadership.

For instance, air and water emissions of fluorinated organic chemicals were 1,589 metric tons in 2018. The firm promises to reduce those emissions 99% or more by 2030.

Kirsch is leaving just as a new book, Exposure by Robert Bilott, and a soon-to-be-released movie based on the book, Dark Waters, subject Chemours’s fluorochemical operations to scrutiny. Promotional copy for the book describes it as telling “the truth about PFAS—unregulated toxic chemicals used in the manufacturing of Teflon and a host of other household goods.”

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