Ideagen Radio
Ideagen Radio
2025 Future of Summit: Covestro's Sustainable Chemical Future with Daniel Kochik
The boundaries between chemical innovation, policy development, and sustainability are blurring, creating new opportunities and challenges for industry leaders. Daniel Kochik, Manager of Government Relations at Covestro, offers a fascinating glimpse into how a global chemical giant navigates complex regulatory landscapes while pursuing ambitious sustainability goals.
"You're never six feet away from a Covestro product," Kochik explains, highlighting the ubiquitous yet often invisible role that advanced materials play in our daily lives. From automotive components and renewable energy infrastructure to countless consumer goods, the company's polyurethanes and polycarbonates serve as building blocks for modern life. This omnipresence creates both responsibility and opportunity for driving sustainability through innovation.
Kochik articulates the tension between regulatory frameworks and technological advancement that shapes the industry's evolution. While robust oversight is essential, he notes that government processes can sometimes become barriers to bringing beneficial new technologies to market. His work focuses on helping policymakers understand how chemical innovations enable broader sustainability transitions – from lightweighting vehicles to improving thermal management in electric batteries. The goal is creating regulatory environments that protect public health while allowing innovation to flourish.
Perhaps most compelling is Kochik's perspective on changing public perceptions of the chemical industry. Far from the "smokestacks and dirty outputs" of yesteryear, today's advanced manufacturing facilities often release water cleaner than when it arrived and employ sophisticated emissions reduction technologies. These efforts reflect a fundamental shift as sustainability moves from peripheral concern to core business strategy. For young professionals seeking purpose-driven careers bridging science and policy, this evolving landscape offers rich opportunities to make meaningful impact.
Ready to explore how chemical innovation is driving the circular economy? Visit covestro.com to learn more about sustainable materials transforming industries worldwide.
Welcome to the IdeaGen Future of Global Summit here in Washington DC. Live at the NED here today with Daniel Kolchik, Manager Government Relations. Daniel, welcome, yeah, hi, Great to see you. So, Daniel, you're dealing with Government Affairs on behalf of Covestro here in Washington. What are you doing specifically to drive the sustainability goals over the next decade? Daniel Kolchik.
Speaker 2:Sure. So Covestro is a global chemical company. We make polyurethanes and polycarbonates. Our products are in everything you touch and see. Our company slogan is you're never six feet away from a Covestro product. And so when you think of that context, think of us as a major global producer of these chemicals. Major global producer of these chemicals. Our global circularity and sustainability goals originate in all the markets where we operate, but they have to be consistent across. And so for us, here in DC, as a government affairs team, our goal is to make sure that policymakers are aware of what our priorities are and ensuring that we can get some level of global alignment across the business entities across the across the world. And so, for us, we're constantly reinforcing the need for government to both invest in, but also promote and support new investments in these technologies that help us as a company to meet our goals, but also help the industry to transition into that direction and continue to grow our overall footprint as a leader in that space.
Speaker 1:And so, in terms of policies and regulations, what are the most critical to enabling the circular economy and, with that, innovation, in the United States specifically?
Speaker 2:Yeah, I think for us, you know, a big element is finding a way to help offset a lot of the costs associated with both the scale up of those new technologies, but also a regulatory environment that encourages new technologies.
Speaker 2:Regulatory environment that encourages new technologies and we see this not only in the chemical industry but across industries that a lot of times the barrier to getting a new product to market, be it a chemical or be it a pharmaceutical product, is government. In a lot of ways, there's maybe a lack of understanding of what the benefits of a new product are. There may be a long queue of chemicals or products that are in an approval stream, and so for us, you know, we see the need for government to continue to find ways to allow for that innovation to take place. And I think you know, in this current environment we're confident that you know we have some of the best scientists, some of the best innovations right here in the US. We have a great regulatory framework to help bring a lot of these products to market. We just really need that impetus from policymakers to encourage companies and support that scale up so we can be prepared for the future.
Speaker 1:Well, that's an incredible trajectory and wide range of issues that you're dealing with, everything from plastics to transportation, right. And so how do you prioritize and message these in such a complex policy environment? And you mentioned, like how do you rise above the den in this complex policy environment?
Speaker 2:It can certainly be a challenge, I mean, I think, for us. You know we look at as a company that that provides our inputs into pretty much everything, every end market, you know. But let's take automobiles, for example. You know the future of cars are that they're getting bigger, they're getting heavier. Um, they may be converting to different energy propulsion systems, so electric vehicles or internal combustion. And you know, with that transition, as things get bigger, they need to be safer.
Speaker 2:We at Covestro, we're able to produce new polymers that can help to lightweight an automobile, that can deal with the different thermal capacities of these plastics, that can help to encourage and allow for new technologies to be adopted. And so we need government to understand that and recognize that. But we also need a continued push by our peers in the industry to showcase what the benefits of using those polymers are. And so you know. So for us it's really getting an understanding of being able to show what those benefits are to policymakers and also change the understanding of it's not necessarily that this is a plastic which may, to some people, have a different connotation, but it's a high-tech new technology that can help and deliver on those results.
Speaker 1:It's an incredible perspective, daniel, and so how do you work with internal teams at Covestro to translate this policy into action? Yeah, and you know, really, at the facility and R&D level.
Speaker 2:Yeah, absolutely. I mean, I think you know I'm not a chemist right here in DC, we're not science experts, but we do rely on very strongly our folks both in our R&D department, our regulatory affairs department and also right on our sites all across the US and across the globe, to help to explain to us what we need to be telling policymakers. And so you, you know, I think our goal is to be sort of that driver of information and we can help to translate. Very complex, as you said, these things are becoming more complex as time goes on and as technologies evolve. So we're trying to, you know, work with them, but helping to refine the message and how we communicate that at a high level to policymakers, and so we do work very closely with our internal folks on that level to policymakers, and so we do work very closely with our internal folks.
Speaker 1:And then how do you take that policy, development and influence et cetera in?
Speaker 2:terms of that with the influence on your innovation strategy. Yeah, absolutely. I think you know we and sort of coming back to what we said earlier we need government to be a driver of innovation. We need them to support an environment in which companies can continue to innovate and be able to bring these products to market. And so I think by having that internal connection and really showcasing you know, there's a real opportunity for us to bring products that we're innovators We've been innovators since our roots as a company bring products that we're innovators We've been innovators since our roots as a company, dating back, you know, to the original foundation of polyurethane back in the 1930s or polycarbonate back in the 1950s. We want to continue to scale up these new technologies to adopt to what our customers want, and to do that we do need that support from government, but we also need our internal R&D and our scientists, who are, you know, very, very, very much experts in this space, to help us bring those issues to government, to then allow for them to create that environment for us to operate.
Speaker 1:And then, how do you balance this global policy alignment while engaging the US regulatory environment along with the congressional stakeholders?
Speaker 2:Yeah, absolutely, I think you know for us, you know we're headquartered in Germany, so we have, you know, we have 18,000 people across the globe different ideas where you know we're innovating for the markets in which we operate. And we also produce in the markets where we you know, for example, in the United States. You know a lot of our customers are right here, but we also take our products and they go overseas or they go into other countries where our customers will use them to refine them into additional products, and so, for us, we need that alignment. We need to ensure that we're able to have that ability to have regulatory certainty and ensure that the standards are similar, and so we're advocating on the Hill for those types of, you know, a general alignment with certain standards that allow us then to have that assurance internally that we can continue to grow from our US base Incredible.
Speaker 1:And so then we move on to misconceptions. What are some of the biggest misconceptions about the chemical industry and the role you have in sustainability, and how is Covestro working?
Speaker 2:to change that Absolutely. I mean, I think, the one area that you know, I think folks like to think back to, you know the smokestacks and the dirty outputs from chemical facilities and you know, in the modern era that's just not the case. We're really proud of new technologies that we have on site to reduce our emissions. You know we've set very ambitious global goals on greenhouse gas emission reduction. I mean also reusing the water that we use on site. You know the one example is that we bring water in use, it through our processes, and the water that comes out is clean and that which came in. So we have these technologies and we're working to scale them up, and here in the US is a great place to do that with the amount of investment and the amount of opportunity to do so. But I think for us our real goal is to continue to encourage both policymakers at the state, federal and local level to see that advantage and to showcase it for us, because as an industry we want to build and make our products here in the US that we can then set the standard for everyone else.
Speaker 2:Our customers demand it. Our end customers want newer, better, innovative technologies that allow them to then sell their products with those elements built in all the way through their production chain, and so, in order for us to kind of change the message, we see our technologies as helping to enable the future. We think of a wind turbine on a windmill, for example the polymers used to make that. Or think of an electric vehicle. Some of the panels and the battery components that are used there use our high-tech materials, and so you can't do that without using these new technologies, and so I think we continue to stress that as our journey to help enable a more sustainable and circular economy.
Speaker 1:Incredible, incredible perspective. And so, in terms of your internal communications, including your newsletter, your briefings, etc. How does that help build a more informed, innovation-driven culture amongst your employees?
Speaker 2:at Covestro. Yeah, absolutely, I mean, I think one thing that we've really worked to do is to get the perspectives from folks all over the world. We'll sort of share what we're doing here in the United States. Our folks, especially here in the US and abroad and more senior levels, they really enjoy policy. They want to be part of it.
Speaker 2:In this very complex regulatory and policy environment, they have to be engaged, and so the emphasis is on us to communicate everything that we see as a potential risk or an opportunity for us to pursue and using that framing that in the lens of what we as an innovative company can do, while also understanding some of those nuances. We take our strategic direction from our executives and, if they're informed on how we can help to show them what the potential impacts of not taking action on a certain area or not being proactive it does pose some reputational risk to us, and so I think for us continuing to constantly educate our internal colleagues and get a better understanding from them what we need to be focusing on. It creates that internal communication and conversation, and then we can relay that back to policymakers.
Speaker 1:That's incredible, and so just a final question on advice what advice would you provide to rising leaders interested in bridging science, policy and business?
Speaker 2:for public impact. Yeah, I mean, I think, finding an organization that aligns with your goals. We're seeing that more and more, that folks want, especially among the new generation, want to work in a place where they feel like they can have a purpose. And when they ask, well, how do you find purpose in? Like a chemical company, for example? And the reality is everything we've talked about, we're enabling new technologies, bringing new technologies to the market that have real, a real capacity to help transform our economy and really continue to establish the United States as the place to do manufacturing.
Speaker 2:And so, for me, you know it's something that drove me to Covestro. And so, for me, you know it's something that drove me to Covestro. But finding a place that really aligns with your own values and what you, how you feel that you can contribute to that mission, I think is critical connections that we have to consider as we're bringing any product to market. What's the regulatory environment? Who are the policymakers that are interested in this? Those are all very important to get an understanding of how a company can continue to be a leader and be innovative. And so really finding that organization that supports your values, I think, is really key to that.
Speaker 1:Incredible, daniel. And so if folks want to find out more about Covestro, how can they do that? Yeah sure.
Speaker 2:You can visit our website, covestrocom, and directly outreach to me. For sure, we can provide you with any information you need as well.
Speaker 1:Daniel Kolchik Covestro, thank you. Changing the world, thank you. One day at a time, Yep. Information you need as well. Daniel Kolchik Covestro, changing the world, thank you. One day at a time, yep. Thank you. Absolutely. Thank you, thank you, thank you.