Asahi Kasei

Grade summary

To our knowledge, there are no hazardous chemicals in Asahi Kasei’s product portfolio. However, the company is only awarded three points in the first category, due to the fact that there is no available data for the 85…

Asahi Kasei produces/uses no highly hazardous substances. However, much about the company’s product portfolio is unknown due to the its large production that takes place outside of the EU and US.

Please note that there is no available data for the 85 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.

Asahi Kasei 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. It does not, however, exclude substances with toxic properties from its new products. Asahi Kasei actively markets safer alternatives on its own website, but not on ChemSec Marketplace. The company has at least one true circular product, process or innovation. Asahi Kasei does not use biobased resources. It does, however, source and treat recycled materials in a sustainable way, which is one of the key elements of a circular economy. Asahi Kasei is not actively reducing the hazardous waste it generates.

The Japanese company does not produce only sustainable products, and has no 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. Asahi Kasei did not respond to ChemSec’s attempts to communicate around its ChemScore ranking, and it does not share any information about what kind of chemicals it produces in regions with low regulatory demands for transparency (e.g. Asia). Asahi Kasei has no circular economy program in place, thus lacking objective and measurable circular economy targets.