Grade summary

Asahi Kasei does not produce any SIN List substances or chemicals that are officially recognised as chemicals of high concern by the EU. However, data is only available for 11% of the Japanese company’s production, as the rest takes place outside the EU and US. The company has a method in place to screen and assess the sustainability of its products and includes intrinsic hazards of ingredients in the screening process. It does not, however, have a phase-out strategy for hazardous substances. The company follows several voluntary standards of good conduct and has not been involved in any major environmental scandals over the last ten years.

Opportunities for improvement

1. Add transparency to the hazardous product portfolio. We can only rank one tenth of Asahi Kasei’s overall production since the rest takes place outside the EU and US. For other regions there are no reliable and publicly available sources for identifying producers of hazardous chemicals. Informing ChemSec of hazardous chemical production outside the EU and US could help raise the company score.
2. Asahi Kasei’s strategy to “promote compliance with laws and regulations on management of chemical substances in Japan and overseas” is in no way progressive. Compliance with laws and regulations is the bare minimum of what is required. Asahi Kasei should go beyond legislation, implement green chemistry principles and offer safer alternatives.
3. Like many other Japanese companies, Asahi Kasei has virtually no controversies linked to its name, and no environmental litigation fines to pay. The way the Japanese Environmental Dispute Coordination Commission settles pollution-related complaints seems to have an extraordinarily positive impact. Asahi Kasei should be more vocal about this to inspire the implementation of similar systems in other parts of the world.

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