Air Liquide

Air Liquide S.A. is the second largest supplier of industrial gases by revenue and has operations in over 80 countries. Through its subsidiaries, the French multinational company produces, markets, and sells industrial and healthcare gases, including liquid nitrogen, argon, carbon dioxide and oxygen. The company also produces welding, diving, and technical-medical equipment. Air Liquide sells its products throughout Europe, the United States, Canada, Africa and Asia.

Total score

18 / 48

Grade Summary

Air Liquide produces one hazardous chemical – not included on the EU’s REACH Candidate List – and no persistent chemicals. Despite this relatively low number, the company is only awarded nine out of a maximum 18 points in…

Product Portfolio

9 / 18

Air Liquide produce/use 1 highly hazardous substance – 1 SIN List chemicals (no PICs and no HHPs) – which is not included on the EU’s REACH Candidate List. This highly hazardous substances are neither banned or restricted (no Authorisation List substances, and no POPs). The company produces no persistent chemicals.

Please note that there is no available data for the 47 percent of the company’s production that takes place outside of the EU and US. Lower EU/US production means higher uncertainty with regard to the total production of hazardous chemicals, which will have a negative impact on the company’s score in this category.

Development of Safer Chemicals

6 / 12

Air Liquide has a method in place to screen and assess the sustainability of its products, and includes the intrinsic hazards of ingredients in the screening process. However, it does not exclude substances with toxic properties from its new products. Air Liquide actively markets safer alternatives on its own website, but not on ChemSec Marketplace. The company has not any true circular products, processes or innovations. Air Liquide uses biobased resources without occupying extra land or competing with food production. It does not source and treat recycled materials in a sustainable way, which is one of the key elements of a circular economy. AirLiquide is actively reducing the hazardous waste it generates.

Management & Transparency

3 / 12

The French company does not produce only sustainable products, and it does not have a timed phase-out strategy for hazardous substances that go beyond regulatory compliance. It shares chemical safety information on its website and is following a credible code of conduct standard. Air Liquide responded to ChemSec’s attempts to communicate around its ChemScore ranking, but does not share any information about what kind of chemicals it produces in regions with low regulatory demands for transparency (e.g. Asia). Air Liquide does not have a circular economy program in place, thus lacking objective and measurable circular economy targets.