From an investor’s point of view, a product portfolio with a low hazard profile is considerably less likely to be hit by regulatory measures and future litigation connected to workers’ health, consumer exposure, or accidents and spills. Also, it is more likely to meet customers’ needs for non-toxic products. This category, therefore, assesses each company’s total production of hazardous chemicals.

Different hazardous substances carry different financial risks according to both their regulatory status and chemical properties. This category takes that into account.

Weighted hazard penalty

The scores in this category are weighted according to company revenue to avoid unfairly disfavouring large chemical producers, where each hazardous chemical most likely makes up a smaller percentage of revenue. We use total revenue, even if some companies have business units unrelated to chemicals.

The scores also take into account the percentage of each company’s production that takes place within the EU or the US, where stricter legal requirements have increased transparency and reliable data availability. The more production that occurs inside the EU and/or the US, the better the multiplier. We believe this is the best way to level the playing field between companies, acknowledging the lack of information in other regions. Companies with substantial production in Asia, for example, may otherwise avoid being penalised by disclosing their production.

The lower the weighted hazard penalty, the higher the category score (see figure below).

Where do the product data come from?

All information in this category is in the public domain: EU production data from the European Chemicals Agency (ECHA), and US data from US EPA Chemical data reporting under TSCA. In addition to these sources, individual companies can choose to provide us with more information about their production through public statements. Please note that production here refers to the number of individual chemicals, not the volume.

Criteria and calculations in this category

• Total number of SIN List chemicals, POPs, PICs and HHP substances produced
• Number of individual EU REACH Candidate List chemicals produced
• Number of chemicals produced on EU’s REACH Authorisation List and/or POP substances
• Number of persistent chemicals produced on the SIN List and POP substances
• Percentage of EU/US revenue

Read more about substance lists and what chemicals we track