Demonstrating a commitment to the environment, to society and to the local economies in which we all participate is perhaps one of the greatest enduring challenges faced by companies today. On the environmental front, this is indeed true when it comes to the chemistries that are a mainstay of our business. Still, the most successful driver of new development is a changing regulatory landscape. This is also the most likely driver of operator policy, although without regulatory boundaries in place, the operator has to use internal policy to determine what practices are and are not acceptable. The industry as a whole has made great strides to develop and share best practices for operation. Greater demands for transparency have driven the development of global minimum standards for many corporations, for example governing discharges of drilling fluids on cuttings. The service industry can take an influential role in the pursuit of sustainable business practices and the use of environmentally responsible technologies that demonstrate commitment to the communities and local environments in which the industry operates. Already, highly biodegradable, low toxicity chemicals are available in the market place, but "doing the right thing" as far as environmentally sustainable technology R&D is concerned is often not sufficient to drive the market to adopt the technology. Late adoption or total lack of adoption of more sustainable technologies may be due to many reasons. Examples are higher per barrel product cost, lack of local familiarity with new technologies or extreme technical requirements. However, against this downside, early adoption of more environmentally responsible chemistries may minimize HSE risks, avoid future cleanup costs and even reduce the regulatory burden if the industry demonstrates use of best practice and self government. This paper will discuss the work within a large multinational service company in developing and offering to the market a range of environmentally sustainable oilfield chemicals and the successes obtained as a result of adoption of these technologies.