Corteva

Corteva is a large American agricultural chemical and seed company that was the agricultural unit of DuPont prior to being spun off as an independent public company. Corteva became a public company on June 3, 2019, when DuPont distributed Corteva shares to its shareholders.

Total score

10 / 48

Grade Summary

Corteva produces eight highly hazardous substances, three of which are included on the EU’s Reach Candidate List. This may not seem so bad compared to some of the other companies in the ranking, but it is still a…

Product Portfolio

5 / 18

Corteva produces/uses 8 highly hazardous substances – 6 SIN List chemicals, 2 PICs, and 4 HHPs – 3 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 40 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

2 / 12

Corteva has a method in place to screen and assess the sustainability of its products, but does not include the intrinsic hazards of ingredients in the screening process. It does not exclude substances with toxic properties from its new products. Corteva actively markets safer alternatives on its own website, but not on ChemSec Marketplace. The company has no true circular product, process or innovation. Corteva does not use bio-based resources. Nor does it source or treat recycled materials in a sustainable way, which is one of the key elements of a circular economy. Corteva is not actively reducing the hazardous waste it generates.

Management & Transparency

3 / 12

The American 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, however, chemical safety information on its website and is following a credible code of conduct standard. Corteva 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). Corteva does not have a circular economy program in place, and it is lacking objective and measurable circular economy targets.