Sustainability trends in the process industries: A text mining-based analysis Wan Te Liew a , Arief Adhitya b , Rajagopalan Srinivasan a, * a Department of Chemical and Biomolecular Engineering, National University of Singapore, 4 Engineering Drive 4, Singapore 117576, Singapore b Institute of Chemical and Engineering Sciences, A*STAR (Agency for Science, Technology and Research), 1 Pesek Road, Jurong Island, Singapore 627833, Singapore 1. Introduction In the face of mounting environmental challenges and shortages of natural resources, growing awareness of social responsibility and the need to remain profitable, sustainability has become a key agenda for every industry. The most commonly used definition of sustainability or sustainable development is from the Brundtland Commission: development that meets the needs of the present without compromising the ability of future generations to meet their own needs [1]. While this definition reflects the philosophy of sustainability, it does not provide any specific directions or action items that companies can readily adopt. They may interpret sustainability differently and pursue it through different measures. This paper therefore seeks to understand what sustainability means to companies and how it is translated into practice. Sustainability practices are industry-specific as different industries face different challenges. For example, sustainability issues faced by the electronics industry are human rights labor violations and product recycling or take back [2], whereas the automotive industry is more focused on fuel consumption and emissions [3]. In this paper, we are interested in the chemical process industry, which in particular has a strong emphasis on sustainability due to its nature of business. The industry involves extraction of raw materials such as crude oil, gas and minerals and processes which are highly energy intensive. The industry also handles large volume of toxic, flammable, and hazardous chemicals. Different sectors within the chemical process industry emphasize different aspects of sustainability. This paper focuses on four main sectors of the chemical process industry: oil/petro- chemicals, bulk/specialty chemicals, pharmaceuticals, and con- sumer products. There are many ways that companies can contribute to sustainability. A study by McKinsey shows that sustainability agendas of companies cover the social, environmental and economic aspects – the triple bottom line of sustainability [4]. These include reducing energy and water input in operations, reducing emissions and waste, improving employee retention and motivation, compliance to regulations, and reducing operational risk. Other measures include forging stronger relationships with communities, NGOs, governments, and industry peers. Different companies even within the same sector undertake different measures. These are typically highlighted in sustainabili- ty reports that many companies voluntarily publish to describe their sustainability goals, efforts, and achievements. These reports are usually published on an annual basis, aimed at demonstrating transparency and accountability, as well as to engage stakeholders and governments and to attract investors. It has been proposed Computers in Industry 65 (2014) 393–400 A R T I C L E I N F O Article history: Received 4 March 2013 Received in revised form 12 November 2013 Accepted 13 January 2014 Available online 16 February 2014 Keywords: Sustainability trends Text mining TF-IDF Ontology Chemical industry Corporate Social Responsibility Report A B S T R A C T Sustainability is widely recognized as one of the most important challenges facing the world today. Companies publish sustainability reports that present their efforts and achievements in meeting sustainability goals and targets. In this paper, text mining is used to identify sustainability trends and practices in the process industries. Four main sectors of the industry are studied: oil/petrochemicals, bulk/specialty chemicals, pharmaceuticals, and consumer products. Our study reveals that the top sustainability focuses of the four sectors are very similar: health and safety, human rights, reducing GHG, conserving energy/energy efficiency, and community investment. Sector-specific sustainability issues have also been identified, for example oil spill prevention in the oil/petrochemicals sector and access to medicine in the pharmaceuticals sector. Environment is identified to be the predominant sustainability aspect in the process industries. The text mining methodology, results, and findings are detailed in the paper. ß 2014 Elsevier B.V. All rights reserved. * Corresponding author. Tel.: +65 65168041; fax: +65 67791936. E-mail address: chergs@nus.edu.sg (R. Srinivasan). Contents lists available at ScienceDirect Computers in Industry jo ur n al ho m epag e: ww w.els evier .c om /lo cat e/co mp in d 0166-3615/$ – see front matter ß 2014 Elsevier B.V. All rights reserved. http://dx.doi.org/10.1016/j.compind.2014.01.004