A good company has to ensure that it meets the requirements of international and national environmental legislation, protects occupational health and the right of communities to live in a healthy and sustainable environment.

In case of a lawsuit, a company should demonstrate its ability to meet the decision of the court, ensure proper rehabilitation of the contaminated sites and provide compensation to affected communities. It should also demonstrate improvements in its chemicals management.

Where does the data come from?

Information about corporate misconduct has been retrieved from the violation tracker project of Good Jobs First. We have also found information about lawsuits associated with environmental pollution, toxic spills, land or water contamination, and human rights violations through internet research, by local NGO partners and/or affected communities.

Examples of the search words used for internet research are “toxic spills”, “environmental degradation”, “water pollution”, “air emissions”, “hazardous waste”, “occupational health”, “explosions”, “fire”, “community rights”, and “human rights”.

Criteria in this category

• Actual track record of accidents and controversies

Scoring and criteria assessment

ChemSec sums up the total fines connected to environmental pollution, toxic spills, land and/or water contamination, and/or human rights violations caused by the company and its subsidiaries during the last 5 years (2019-2023). In addition to this, ChemSec investigates if any accidents have resulted in fatalities or had a very large impact on the environment.

Fatalities and accidents/spills with a very large impact on the environment will result in zero (0) points being rewarded. Accidents with a small or medium impact and/or personal injuries will also result in a deduction of points. If no such occasions were discovered, points in this category are rewarded based on the aggregated sum of fines during the past five years.

• Over 5 million US$ – 0 points
• Between 3,5 and 4,99 million US$ – 1 point
• Between 2,0 and 3,49 million US$ – 2 points
• Between 1,0 and 1,99 million US$ – 3 points
• Between 0,5 and 0,99 million US$ – 4 points
• Less then 0,49 million US$ – 5 points
• No fines at all – 6 points