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Environmental Research Digest – July 2012

Summary

The Swedish-based environmental NGO unveiled a chemical cataloging tool aimed to help investors determine risk and put pressure on companies to move away from hazardous chemicals. It contains a set of 38 indicators intended to cover all aspects of chemical risks and opportunities for chemical manufacturers.

Key Findings

• This criteria catalogue is the first of its kind aiming to cover all aspects of chemical risks and opportunities for chemical manufacturers.
• The use of hazardous chemicals entails huge financial risks.
• These can take the form of production plant accidents, product recalls, or workers’ and consumers’ health being adversely affected.
• It is also important to take into consideration the increased costs associated with reformulating products and modifying processes due to increased regulatory control of hazardous chemicals.
• Increased public awareness and consumer demand also intensify the pressure on corporate brands not to be associated with chemicals that harm the environment and human health.
• There are today an increasing number of companies, not only well-known consumer brands, but also a few chemical producers, that are developing their product portfolio away from the risk of hazardous chemicals.
• Green chemistry, cradle-to-cradle and other forms of new design and production development thinking that take into account the whole life cycle of substances or products, are gaining market shares.
• Therefore there is now the possibility to invest in this development, and at the same time avoid the risk of investing in hazardous chemicals.
• As financial investors have a huge impact on the strategic decisions of companies, they can, along with governments, companies, NGOs and the scientific community, play a crucial role in striving for a less toxic and contaminated world.
• The pressure on companies to substitute hazardous chemicals increases when, besides regulatory requirements and consumer demands, financial investors also require change towards safer alternatives.

Author(s)

ChemSec

Source

PDF report

Tags: catalogue, chemicals, ChemSec, criteria, hazardous, risk