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Braskem
Grade summary
Braskem produces ten hazardous substances – none of which are included in the EU’s REACH Candidate List – and no persistent chemicals. However, since there is no available data for the 83 percent of the company’s production that takes place outside of the EU and US, the company is only awarded two points in the Product Portfolio category. This low transparency is a big issue for investors, as it makes it hard to do a proper evaluation of the risks connected to the product portfolio. Another poor area for Braskem is the Lack of Controversies category, where the Brazilian company scores zero points due to several violations and huge penalty fines. In the other categories, Braskem places itself very much in the middle. It does not really excel in anything, but it is not among the worst performers either.
Opportunities for improvement
- Braskem has a circular strategy and is one of few ChemScore companies with measurable and time-bound targets. However, the deadline of 2040 for circular plastic packaging is not very ambitious, which is why Braskem has not received the full circularity score. Nor could we find any specifically circular products, even if the company does have products made from mechanical recycling feedstock.
- We can only rank 17 percent of Braskem’s overall production, since the rest takes place outside the EU and US, where there are no reliable and publicly available sources for identifying producers of hazardous chemicals. Informing ChemSec about hazardous chemical production outside the EU and US could raise the company’s score considerably. We also recommend that Braskem phases out the PIC substance that it still offers. PIC, short for Prior Informed Consent, is one of the key provisions of the Rotterdam Convention, allowing the export of – often domestically restricted – hazardous chemicals to poorer countries with weaker chemical legislation, as long as the receiving country signs a consent that it understands what it is accepting and has a plan for how to handle it.
- Braskem states that its “I’m green” polyethylene is made from sugarcane, a 100 percent renewable raw material. To award the company a point for this product, we would like Braskem to make it clear that it is made from sugarcane waste, thus not competing with food production.
Category breakdown
Braskem produces/uses 10 highly hazardous substances – 10 SIN List chemicals, 1 PIC, and no HHPs – none of which are included on the EU’s REACH Candidate List. None of these highly hazardous substances are either banned or severely restricted, with set dates when production needs to cease (no Authorisation List substances, and no POPs). The company produces no persistent chemicals.
Please note that there is no available data for the 83 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.
Braskem 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. Braskem actively markets safer alternatives both on its own website as well as on ChemSec Marketplace. The company has no true circular product, process or innovation. Braskem uses biobased resources, but at the expense of occupying extra land or competing with food production. It sources and treats recycled materials in a sustainable way, which is one of the key elements of a circular economy. Braskem is not actively reducing the hazardous waste it generates.
The Brazilian company does not produce only sustainable products. Nor does it have a 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. Braskem responded to ChemSec’s attempts to communicate around its ChemScore ranking. However, the company does not share any information about what kind of chemicals it produces in regions with low regulatory demands for transparency (e.g. Asia). Braskem has a circular economy program in place, with objective and measurable targets.
Although none of Braskem’s incidents have resulted in casualties, the company has been involved in quite a few controversies over the past decade. In May 2020, a study showed that only 20 companies are behind more than half of the world’s single-use plastic waste. Braskem was one of them. In August 2019, Brazil’s Federal Public Ministry filed a public civil action holding Braskem responsible for societal and environmental damage worth five billion USD. This was based on the findings of Brazil’s Geological Survey that linked the company’s salt mining operations with fissures and other geological damage in Maceio, Brazil. In December 2016, Braskem and another company (Odebrecht) pleaded guilty and agreed to pay 3.5 billion USD in combined global penalties to, according to the US Department of Justice, resolve the largest foreign bribery case in history.
Download Controversies Braskem (PDF, 117 KB)
